If you are planning to pursue Italian citizenship by descent and you have started to look into the application process, you might find that there are many intricacies and that the process requires time and effort, thus you may be wondering whether it might be a good idea to seek professional help to guide you through all the phases of your journey towards becoming an Italian citizen.
Our team here at Italian Citizenship Assistance (ICA) is made up of professional genealogists, citizenship experts, translators and attorneys, such as ICA’s founder Marco Permunian. This article in particular will focus on the role of an attorney in the process to acquire Italian citizenship and it will explain the circumstances in which an attorney can be crucial by analyzing a few aspects you might need to consider when applying for Italian citizenship.
Is an attorney necessary to apply for Italian citizenship?
If you are applying for Italian citizenship by descent, you will need to collect certified copies of your family’s vital records, such as birth, marriage, divorce (if applicable), death records, and the naturalization records pertaining to the ancestor who was born in Italy and who emigrated to the United States, or proof that the ancestor through whom you are claiming citizenship never naturalized. Birth, marriage and death records are issued by the U.S. state’s Department of Health or by the county or city in which the event occurred, whereas the naturalization records or proof of non-naturalization are provided by USCIS (the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), NARA (the National Archives and Record Administration), or the county in which the naturalization occurred. In most cases you will only need to sign a few forms to retrieve your family’s vital records. Generally, these forms are available on the department, county or town’s websites. Depending on the specific Department of Health, county or town, and the type of record requested, you might need to sign and mail a form which requires your notarized signature. It is also worth pointing out that some records can be ordered online.
While an Italian attorney is not necessary to represent you before the consulate, having an experienced attorney in citizenship law by your side during the process can result in a much smoother, expedited and straightforward process. Besides in-depth expertise and knowledge and of the Italian legal system and of the necessary documentation needed for the process, an Italian attorney can directly interact with the Italian consulate (which represents the Italian government in a foreign country) if issues arise and if the consulate expresses concerns or has questions about an individual’s citizenship application. Contrary to a U.S. attorney who has legal authority only in the U.S. state where he/she is registered, an Italian attorney can appear before any court and public authority in Italy. With regard to this, however, it is worth clarifying that an attorney cannot file a citizenship application via a consulate on an individual’s behalf as consulates only accept the application filed by the individual to whom it pertains to.
When applying for citizenship by descent in Italy the role of an Italian attorney can become even more crucial because the applicant will need to appear before the Italian authorities and offices (e.g., Questura, citizenship office in the town hall), which are involved in processing an application for Italian citizenship. In this case, an attorney can translate for the applicant while providing legal assistance. An attorney can also communicate with the offices involved in the process on the applicant’s behalf. Finally, an attorney cannot file a citizenship application via a comune (municipality) on an individual’s behalf but they can be present when the application is filed.
It is worth mentioning that Italian attorneys can use certified email (known as PEC, in Italian) to communicate with officials and clerks in public administration bodies as PECs confer legal validity to emails. Although anyone can apply for a PEC, this legal tool comes with a cost and it tends to be used mostly by self-employed individuals, attorneys, government officials and businesses. Attorneys can use certified emails to enquire about the status of an individual’s application, for instance, or to provide the offices involved with specific information.
Court orders
While many U.S. records are easy to retrieve, some require the help of a U.S. lawyer. This is especially true in some states, such as New York, which releases birth certificates for deceased individuals only based on a court order (Article 78 proceedings). This is why it is very important to read the specific requirements as to who is eligible to request a vital record and the procedure needed in order to retrieve it. In fact, without a court order, the New York State Department of Health will only issue a genealogical copy of a deceased individual’s birth certificate. However, unlike a certified copy, a genealogical copy cannot be authenticated with an Apostille and thus will not be accepted by any Italian authority. Therefore, the only way to retrieve the record is by asking a lawyer to help you obtain a court order.
A court order may also be required to correct or to amend a vital record if there are discrepancies on your vital records that might negatively affect your application. If amendments need to be made, you will need to contact the amendment division of the Department of Health or the office that issued the record. Sometimes this can be done administratively or through a court order. In California, for instance, a court order is required to amend an individual’s parents’ names on his/her marriage certificate.
Retrieving your ancestor’s vital records from Italy
While you do not need an attorney to request a vital record per se (you can mail an application form or go to the municipality in person), an Italian attorney can be helpful if you do not live in Italy as municipalities might be reluctant to mail a certificate abroad due to mailing costs. Furthermore, an attorney based in Italy can facilitate the process of obtaining a vital record and pay the administrative fees (“diritti di segreteria”) to retrieve the record on the applicant’s behalf. By law, municipalities in Italy have six months to release a vital record; if they exceed that time limit, you can ask an attorney to follow up on the status of your request. The attorney will send the municipality a PEC with legal value, which will certify the successful transmission of the message with the exact time and date of delivery. It is worth pointing out that PECs are only valid in Italy.
1948 cases
If you are applying for Italian citizenship by descent and you have a 1948 case you will need to sign a Power of Attorney to enable an attorney to file your case and represent you in an Italian court. The attorney will make sure that all the vital records have been authenticated with apostille and that the translations into Italian have been certified in court; the attorney will then petition your case and file the lawsuit. When the case is won and the court officially recognizes you as an Italian citizen, the ruling will be filed with the clerk of the court and the attorney will be notified. The attorney will need to wait 60 days for the judge’s decision to become final. When that period of time elapses, the attorney will provide you with a copy of the final judgment with an official seal which indicates that the ruling is final and no longer subject to appeal (“sentenza con passaggio in giudicato”). Generally speaking, the attorney needs to appear in person before the clerk of the court to retrieve a certified copy of the judgment, which will then need to be registered through the Italian consulate which covers the jurisdiction where you reside.
More often than not, people who hire an attorney in Italy to help them with their citizenship applications find that the attorney is unable to help them with the vital records registration process after they have been granted Italian citizenship. We at ICA help applicants throughout the entire process of obtaining Italian citizenship. If you have a 1948 case, for instance, and you have been granted citizenship, we will guide you through the process of registering the copy of your judgment, together with a certified copy of your birth, marriage and divorce (if applicable) certificates in the municipality in Italy where your ancestor was born. When your vital records are registered in the municipality in Italy, you will be officially considered an Italian citizen and we will help you register with the AIRE (Registry of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad) and apply for a passport. It is worth pointing out that if you have minor children, we will help you register their birth certificates in Italy in order for them to also be recognized as Italian citizens.
Other court cases
If a consulate schedules an appointment for you with a waiting time of more than 2 years, or if you have submitted your application and the consulate has not provided you with an outcome within 24 months from the date of submission, as per Italian law you can ask an Italian attorney to take your case to court. The same applies for applications for Italian citizenship by marriage or by residency.
Why choose an attorney at ICA when applying for Italian citizenship?
At ICA we do not outsource services to third parties; we have our own team of legal experts, lawyers and attorneys who help clients throughout the entire application process, from filing a lawsuit to registering clients’ vital records via a municipality in Italy. If you believe that you might need an attorney to help you in your journey towards becoming an Italian citizen, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
