Italian citizenship application: don’t make mistakes. Our expert Italian lawyers can review your documents

Italian citizenship application: don’t make mistakes. Our expert Italian lawyers can review your documents

You discover that you have an Italian ancestor who was born in Italy and emigrated to your country. You do some research and realize that you qualify for Italian citizenship. This is great news and you are very excited (you should be). So you learn what you need to do and start collecting your documents in order to submit your Italian citizenship application to your local Italian Consulate (you can also apply directly in Italy at a municipality of your choice).

You collected all the documents on your own and are now waiting to submit your application.

After many months, if not years, you think you are at a good point because you have collected all the required documents, you added the Apostilles where needed, and did the translations.

Therefore, you try to make your appointment with the Italian Consulate through the Prenota Online service – which is so difficult that you almost want to desist, but considering how much time you spent collecting the documents you insist – and finally one incredible day (read night) there is a slot available and you are very excited and act as fast as you can. You are initially very disappointed when you see that the first available appointment is after two years or even more, but you do not want to lose the chance you have been waiting a long time for and you make the apointment.

So now that you collected the documents and made the appointment, the only thing you can do is wait for the day of the appointment, right? Well, you could sit and wait, yes.

However, considering how long the process is, you could also consider using the time you have to wait to have someone who is experienced, preferably an Italian attorney, check your documents, so that you do not risk seeing your application rejected or postponed because you are missing some important documents, stamps, or because some documents you collected are not acceptable by the Italian Consulate, etc..

In fact, applicants need all the right documents which must still be valid (not expired), complete with Apostille and translations, where needed, when they go to the Consulate (or Municipality) for their appointment.

Please send an email to citizenship@vademecumitalia.com, and an expert Italian attorney will send you a quote to do an in-depth review of all your documents and let you know if everything is correct, or if some documents are missing or not acceptable, if there are relevant discrepancies in the names, and if stamps or Apostilles or translations are missing. We will then send you a detailed report listing the issues we found with your documents and letting you know what you should do so that your documents are complete and correct, and ready to be submitted to the Italian Consulate (or Municipality).

Considering that, as you know, it is a very long process, our detailed review is very useful as you will not have to take the risk of waiting years and then seeing your application rejected or postponed for many months or years because you are missing a document, a stamp, or an Apostille, or because a document you collected is not considered valid or complete by the Italian Consulate.

As a matter of fact, it happens quite often that applicants have doubts about their documentation before they go to the appointment. Some of the questions applicants would usually like to have answered before going to the Consulate (or Municipality) are the following:

Do I have all the required documents?

The applicant will need to have all the documents required by the law and also by the Consulate or Municipality where he/she will be applying. For example, in some cases a divorce decree could be needed, while in others death certificates will not be required.

Are my documents still valid or have they expired?

All documents must be considered valid. Most of the documents, although they are more than 6 months old, or even years old, will still be accepted because they are not considered expired. However, it is better to check them all before you go to the appointment.

Do I have all the required Apostilles and translations?

All documents issued by a foreign State need to be completed with legalization/Apostille and translations (although there are some exceptions because in some cases Apostilles and translations are not required). Therefore, the applicant might not know that an Apostille is needed on a particular document.  

Since I did not find the marriage certificate, will the document issued by the church be accepted?​

I​n many cases applicants may not have found the original documents they were looking for, e.g. the original act of birth or marriage of the Italian ancestor, and so they think they can replace them with documents issued by the church or similar, which are not always accepted. 

​Will my ancestor’s marriage and death certificates be accepted although his/her name is different from the one on the birth certificate?​

It is very common that the marriage and death certificates of the Italian ancestor show a different name or lastname (for example Giovanni Combi who became John Combs or similar) from the one on the birth certificate, because it was very common for the immigrant to change his/her name over the years to make it sound a little less Italian. However, not all discrepancies in names are accepted and so, in some cases, the applicant will need to obtain special documents from the competent authority that prove all the documents refer to the same person.

In all these cases, applicants should know exactly what to do, and if their documents are correct and complete, and whether or not they will be accepted. ​

Therefore, it could be very useful to receive the assistance of an experienced Italian attorney specialized in Italian citizenship applications, who can review all your documents before you go to the appointment with the Italian Consulate (or Municipality), and let you know if they are complete and correct. 

Please send an email to citizenship@vademecumitalia.com, and an expert Italian attorney will send you a quote to do an in-depth review of all your documents and let you know if everything is correct, or if some documents are missing or not acceptable, if there are relevant discrepancies in the names, and if stamps or Apostilles or translations are missing. We will then send you a detailed report listing the issues we found with your documents and letting you know what you should do so that your documents are complete and correct, and ready to be submitted to the Italian Consulate (or Municipality).

Considering that, as you know, it is a very long process, our detailed review is very useful as you will not have to take the risk of waiting years and then seeing your application rejected or postponed for many months or years because you are missing a document, a stamp, or an Apostille, or because a document you collected is not considered valid or complete by the Italian Consulate.

You want help collecting your documents and submitting the application

If you have not started collecting your documents yet, and do not really know where to begin, but you really want to submit your application as soon as possible, please do not hesitate to contact us immediately.

Please send an email to citizenship@vademecumitalia.com and we will send you a quote for the assistance with your Italian citizenship application from day one to the day you will obtain your Italian passport.

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