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So my father, whom I have never met, was supposedly a citizen of Italy before I was born. Italian law supposedly gives me citizenship then, as his son. Seems straightforward to get citizenship through him, right? Wrong. There are some issues: 1. I'm not sure if he really was from Italy. 2. I don't know his real name. 3. He reached out to me on Facebook. I was wary of meeting or speaking to him due to my mother telling me he was involved in some shady things and also abusive. He started out by talking crap about my mother, I asked him not to, and then a couple months later he started talking crap about her again, so I told him off and he got pissy and told me to have a nice life. We haven't talked since. So my relationship with him is poor. 4. He may have naturalized as an American before I was born, preventing me from being able to get citizenship through him. 5. I was adopted in Florida by my stepfather, and my original birth certifcate was "sealed". I lost my copy of it over the years (though it may be somewhere in my mother's attic if it wasn't lost during my various moves, which I strongly suspect it was) and any replacement will say I was born to my mother and step father. 6. I don't understand the legal process for pursuing this, even without all the issues above. I don't know where to start and Google is kind of confusing. Is this the sort of thing I could talk to a lawyer or something about or should I give up? On the other hand, I just found out that my mother's father's father was a citizen of Spain, who was born there. Spanish citizenship seems to work like: if you were born to a citizen, you are a citizen. So I wonder if that means my grandfather was actually a citizen just because his father was a citizen. If so, I wonder if that means my mother would have gotten citizenship through him, and whether I would have citizenship through her. It seems like this would be a much cleaner approach, because I'm on good terms with everyone on my mother's side, and this seems like such a simple law. But again, where the hell do I start here? Ask my grandfather for his fathers full name so I can find out his place of birth in Spain, then find birth certificates showing my grandfather was his son, that my mother was my grandfather's daughter, and that I am my mother's son? Do I try to pursue both of these? One of these? If so, where do I start?
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Mar 12, 2016 20:01
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| # ? May 6, 2024 23:05 |
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quote:my mother's father's father was a my grandfather was his son, that my mother was my grandfather's daughter, and that I am my mother's son? No. I am your father.
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Mar 12, 2016 22:32
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Most likely, your Spanish side will be a dead end. Your grandfather, and later your mother, would each have had to formally request to keep their Spanish citizenship by the time they turned 21, which is unlikely.
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Mar 12, 2016 23:15
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I'd contact the embassies or consulates first and check out their websites before I'd talk to my relatives.
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Mar 13, 2016 00:21
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I have done exactly what you're wanting to do. It's very possible without a lawyer. You have to deal with the Italian consulate no matter what. You are going to have to contact your father first, to find out if he actually is/was Italian. The consulate can't do much if you don't even know whether or not you actually have an Italian family member. The consulate I dealt with was unhelpful and extremely rude. A quick Google search shows this is the norm for most Italian consulates. The woman misplaced my documents twice and screamed at me. She was screaming at everybody else ahead of me as well.... You will need the birth/death/marriage/divorce certificates for everybody involved. If you have to get documents from Italy, this will significantly lengthen the process. I was extremely lucky that my grandfather was a meticulous record keeper, and nothing had to be requested from Italy. It took about 8 months for me to get my passport, which is probably very quick. Keep in mind this could take months, or even years. This website is really good: http://www.myitaliancitizenship.com/?content=qualification.html It lets you know if you qualify and gives you a rough idea of the documents you need.
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Apr 5, 2016 18:12
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