My great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to the United States in the early 1930s. I did a lot of research before starting the application process for Italian citizenship by descent so I knew that I had to inquire with USCIS to determine my eligibility. I had poured over census records and knew that my great-grandfather became a US citizen, I just wasn’t sure when. After receiving news that his naturalization occurred after my grandfather’s birth, I immediately started ordering the documents which were necessary to file an application. Consulate appointments were quite far away at that time so I thought I would prepare my citizenship application all by myself, but ultimately, I was worried about the spelling discrepancies I found in my family’s records and I decided to enlist the help of ICA.
My grandparents had mixed feelings about my quest — their parents’ generation had worked hard to assimilate into American culture and deliberately didn’t speak Italian to their children. Originally, just my older brother and I were going to apply – we were the ones that have traveled the most and are probably most likely to live abroad at some point, but my mother quickly joined as well, so that she’d have freedom of movement. The packet we received from USCIS had a lot of unexpected material, including random information that offered a snapshot of my great-grandfather’s life. My mother knew him briefly when she was a child, but my brother and I never met him. Once we collected all the necessary vital records with the apostilles and the translations into Italian, we submitted our application at the consulate. I was surprised that we were accepted at our first appointment. Everything that I had read online suggested that spelling discrepancies in a case often require some amending of documents, and that you have to return to the consulate a second time; however, in our case everything went smoothly. We also went to our passport appointment thinking they’d be mailing it to us weeks later but they asked us to hang around for a little and actually printed them and gave them to us on the spot! Each of these small moments of joy made all the effort worth it.
I feel so lucky to be an Italian citizen now! When I studied abroad in Florence, I had a sense that I was born in the wrong continent, so now it feels like everything is aligned. My family and I are definitely planning a celebratory trip, but it’s also exciting to have expanded our options for living and working outside of the United States. I would like to at least retire in Italy, but it’s very tempting to move sooner than that.
I’ve been very pleased with the support we received from ICA. We were able to include some extra documents at their suggestion, which I attribute to resolving the spelling discrepancies and managing our applications within one consulate visit. ICA also fielded many questions from us throughout the process and they facilitated multiple applications, including my aunt’s family’s application at a different consulate. They also tracked our cases throughout the health emergency and reached out to the consulate on our behalf (as well as some other clients that were waiting in limbo). Ultimately, it’s also comforting to have a connection in Italy as we adjust to our new citizenship status!
Written by Christie O’ Laughlin
