Many of our articles have provided extensive information about the requirements needed to apply for Italian citizenship by descent and all the stages involved in preparing an application, such as retrieving the vital records required to prove the applicant’s Italian lineage (and amending them, if needed), legalizing the documents with Apostilles and finally translating them into Italian. While some of our articles have described the application process via a municipality in Italy, via a court in Italy, or via an Italian consulate abroad, this article will focus specifically on applying for citizenship via an Italian consulate in the U.S. Where do I apply? How much does it cost? How long do I have to wait? Can my family and I apply at the same consulate? This article will address these questions and many more with the ultimate goal of providing you with everything you need to know about applying for Italian citizenship by descent at a consulate in the U.S.
Eligibility
Firstly, in order to apply for citizenship by descent, you need to prove that have you have an “unbroken” chain of Italian descendants starting from the ancestor who emigrated from Italy. In order to prove this, you need to provide evidence to support the argument that the ancestor who was born in Italy did not naturalize as a US citizen before the birth of his/her child in the United States. When you file an application you will also need to declare in an affidavit that none of your deceased ascendants in your Italian lineage ever renounced their Italian citizenship. With regards to this, it is worth mentioning that it was very unlikely for individuals of Italian descent who were born in the US to expressively renounce their Italian citizenship (unless they obtained citizenship in a third country). As for your living ascendants, they will need to sign a self-declaration stating that they never renounced their Italian citizenship in order for you to be able to file an application at the consulate.
Individuals born before January 1, 1948 can claim citizenship only through their father. A woman can transfer citizenship to her child only if the child was born on or after January 1, 1948. Therefore, if there is a woman in your Italian lineage whose child was born before January 1, 1948, you cannot apply for citizenship via an Italian consulate or municipality, but you might be able to apply via the court system instead. This is due to the fact that prior to January 1, 1948 Italian women did not have the same rights as men and thus could not pass their citizenship on to their children, which is now considered to be unlawful, and consequently, you can try your case in court.
Please note that if your male Italian ancestor became a naturalized U.S. citizen before June 14, 1912 you cannot apply for Italian citizenship (even if your ancestor was naturalized after his child’s birth).
Consular jurisdictions
Prior to start preparing an application you need to determine which consulate you will need to apply to. The rule is that you need to apply to the consulate that covers the jurisdiction where you reside. Each consulate has jurisdiction over a number of states. The consulate in Miami, for example, covers the jurisdiction of the state of Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, among others. For the complete list of consulates and their respective jurisdictions click here. When you attend your appointment at the consulate, the clerk will ask you to provide proof that you reside under the consulate’s jurisdiction. Proof of address may include a recent utility bill, a driver’s license, or a bank statement. If you do not hold any of these it is advisable to enquire with the consulate as to which other type of proof of address they will accept
Applying with family
If you are applying for Italian citizenship with your minor children they will be automatically included in your citizenship application, provided that you submit certified copies of their birth certificates with Apostille and translation into Italian. Therefore, they will not need a separate appointment and they will be granted citizenship automatically when your application has been approved. If you have children after you are granted Italian citizenship, it is important to remember to register their births before they turn 18 in order for them to be recognized as Italian citizens. Registering their births entails filling out a form, signing it and mailing it to the consulate that covers the jurisdiction where you reside together with the child’s birth certificate with Apostille and translation into Italian. The consulate will then notify you when the vital record has been registered in Italy.
If you are applying with adult children or other family members please note that you will all need separate appointments and each applicant will need to pay the consulate a fee to process his/her application. Some consulates might schedule appointments for different family members on the same day, however, depending on when you book you might also happen to have appointments months or years apart. Regardless of when the appointments are scheduled, in most cases you will only need to retrieve one set of vital records pertaining to the individuals in your Italian lineage starting from the ancestor who was born in Italy and who emigrated to the United States. The individual who will file the application first will submit all the documents pertaining to the individuals in the Italian lineage, whereas the rest of the family members applying afterwards will only need to submit their vital records, i.e., birth, marriage and divorce records (if applicable). Nevertheless, it is advisable to check the requirements of the consulate to which you will be applying to as some consulates may require the photocopies of the vital records which were submitted by the first applicant and which prove the applicant’s Italian lineage; in some rare cases a consulate may require that each applicant provides their own set of certified/legalized/and translated vital records going back to the Italian ancestor.
On the other hand, if you and your family apply via different consulates, each adult applicant will need to retrieve certified copies of the vital records pertaining to the family members in the Italian lineage starting from the ancestor who was born in Italy and who emigrated to the United States as different consulates cannot share documents with one another.
Preparing an application
When you prepare an application for a consulate you will need to check the consulate’s requirements as to the vital records and document needed to file an application for Italian citizenship jure sanguinis. While some consulates only require the vital records pertaining to the individuals’ in the direct line of descent, others require the respective spouses’ vital records or the photocopies, therefore it is advisable to check the consulate’s requirements. As a general rule, you will need to collect certified copies of all your family’s vital records and proof that the ancestor through whom you are claiming citizenship was naturalized or was never naturalized. The records will need to be authenticated with Apostilles and translated into Italian. If the records you are submitting were issued outside the U.S. you will need to make sure that they comply with the obligations provided for by law in relation to legalization/apostille and translations. The translations of documents originating from countries like Argentina, for instance, will need to be certified prior to being submitted to the consulate. However, there are consular offices such as the one under the Embassy in Washington DC, for example, which at the time of writing this article requires applicants to mail their US vital records to the Embassy in order for the translations to be certified prior to filing an application.
An appointment for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent can be made by visiting the consulate’s website and by registering with the consulate’s online booking system Prenotami. Once you have registered and confirmed your account you can log into your account and book an appointment for citizenship by descent. The consulate will then send you an email a few weeks prior to your appointment to provide you with instructions regarding the submission of your application.
On the day of the appointment, you must attend your appointment in person and you cannot be accompanied by other individuals who are not listed on the appointment confirmation.
During the health emergency, some consulates started to process citizenship applications via mail. On the other hand, others replaced in-person appointments with short interviews conducted over the phone, and required applicants to submit their application electronically first and then mail their citizenship kits after their online submission had been assessed.
Please bear in mind that when you submit your citizenship kit comprising all your documents, be it by mail or by attending your appointment in person, you will need to provide the consulate with additional documentation such as a copy of your passport and/or driver’s license, proof of address, a few forms that the consulate will email you prior to your scheduled appointment, and a money order made payable to the consulate you will be applying to – the fee changes every three months but it is generally around $300. Please check the website of the consulate that covers the jurisdiction where you reside to view an updated list of application forms and other requirements needed for your citizenship application.
On the day of your appointment: language used and questions
Clerks in Italian consulates in the U.S. speak English and Italian. Since speaking Italian is not a legal requirement to apply for citizenship by descent (the interview will be conducted in English. The consular clerk will ask you to provide all the vital records needed to support your claim and the required application forms.
Please note that there will not be any tests, so you will not be asked any questions related to Italian history, laws, or culture.
What happens after you submit your application?
You will need to allow up to two years, by law, for the consulate to process your application. The processing time will vary depending on the consulate you used. In fact, some consulates have fewer applications to process than others and thus may have faster processing times. If the consulate needs additional documents to assess your application, or if the clerk examining your records requires that you make some specific amendments, the consulate will allow you time to submit the required/missing documentation.
When your citizenship application has been approved you will receive an email from the consulate stating that they have sent your vital records to the municipality in Italy where your ancestor was born. The municipality will then register them; In fact, only when the municipality has registered your vital records and has registered you with the AIRE will you be able to apply for an Italian passport. This entails booking an appointment at the consulate and submitting a duly completed and signed form. Being registered with the AIRE (Registry of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad) means that your vital records are filed in a municipality in Italy and that both the Italian government as well as your consulate have proof that you are an Italian citizen residing abroad. If you move to another state in the U.S., or if you move abroad, you will need to update your address with the AIRE so that you are eligible to apply to a different consulate that covers your new jurisdiction. It is also advisable to register with Fast It as it will enable you to access some consular services online.
In conclusion, this article has sought to provide you with information regarding applying for Italian citizenship by descent via an Italian consulate in the U.S. If you need further information or you would like a free eligibility assessment, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We’ll be happy to help!
