ononno

Yes. Why else would I be here?
ciao for now,
'o nonno

aledeniz

My wife applied 2 years ago, she got the code to check its status (codice k) in their website 15 months later (only because I went to ask it in person, and produced at their request a handwritten request for them to grant me the favour), and as far as I know, the application is still in stage #1 (which means: they have got it) of 10.

When I went to ask the codice k, they told me verbatim: "you shouldn't worry before 2 and half year, if you haven't got news after that, come back here".

To apply, I collected documents in 3 different countries, I had everything translated, notarised, legalised and apostilled, and I have spent in excess of £2,500 all in all, included around 200 Eur for the application itself.

I use "I" because my wife wasn't entirely convinced she would have liked to become a citizen of a country like the Italian Republic, it has been mostly my project and I had an hard time to convince her, but I did it because while I sympathize with her feelings, she is a visa national, which means every time we go to Italy (or travel around Europe), she has to have a valid Schengen visa, and it seems than more the years we have been married, harder becomes to get such a visa from the Italian consulates (and seeing the amount of Italian visa stamps in her passports, other EU countries consulates always give us the stock answer: "why you don't go to the Italian consulate"), and I have grown into not wishing to see a consulate anymore in my life.

The above said about the timeline, I did find out that there are people claiming that if you start to bombard them with letters they have been able to get their spouses citizenship in less than 2 years.

Those letters must be the "Raccomandata" or PEC type, in some specific format recommended in another forum for foreigners living in the Italian Republic (being new in here, I don't know if I can post a link to that, I don't have any personal interest on it, I actually don't remember about even being a member there, but, although it is in Italian language only as far as I know, I understand it could be constructed as advertising the competition ).

As I am quite sick of waiting and confirming all the worst stereotypes my wife has already got of the Italian bureaucracy, I am probably going to try out that approach soon.

Lorna at Vicenza

Well in that case - regardless of how much the comune might have screwed up .... all of your sons are legit Italian citizens by birth right including son N.03.

Lorna at Vicenza

It will happen eventually and you can read as many timelines as you like but none of them are going to be the same. I had one friend who got hers in 3 years and for another friend it was 5 years. It's just a pain like so many official things are here.

aledeniz

I must add that there is an Italian law stating that they have to grant citizenship to spouses of Italian citizens in less than 730 days. I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that if they don't refuse this application in 730 days, they cannot anymore. Afterwards, I can send them as many mail as I please, even if it is just to pile them up in someone desk, it may help me psychologically, you know, and then, who knows, it may even speed up the proceedings. If not, tough luck.

Also, from what I read so far on the argument, it does look that the residency route is much harder. In that case, it doesn't look like there is any strong requirement for the bureaucracy to answer in a given time, or to answer at all, I have read of many cases of people having to wait 4 or 5 years, and I remember reading an articles with much worst cases.

The publicly reported record for the spouse route is probably held by a guy called Ayesh Abu Nahieh, a barber in Genoa, married with an Italian citizen, who in 2008 had already been waiting for a quarter of a century. but in the articles talking about him the journalists often remark that there are other people like him: they are mostly Palestinians who moved in the Italian Republic in the wake of the Fiumicino attack in 1985, it seems at the time some bureaucrat may have decided to mark all of them as potential terrorists, and even tough this guys have an otherwise clean sheet, it has not been possible to remove that particular stain.

LivingHere

Further to O'Nonno's story about his children, my daughter was born in Italy and is British by Descent, meaning that if she has children born outside the UK they might not automatically be British through her. However, her paternal grandfather left Ireland when he was nine (and never went back) but her children can be Irish through him.

Lorna at Vicenza

That's the same for me. My kids are British by descent. They have British citizenship but cannot pass it on a further generation (unless those kids are born in the UK).

My dad is Irish. Born and bred on Irish soil to two Irish parents. Even though he lives in England now, both of my kids can claim Irish citizenship through him. But I do have to register them first and once I have done that they can get Irish passports. They could have 3 passports! Italian / British and Irish. I have the right to 2 already but have never claimed the Irish one.

MarkRD

Sorry, Miss. It's the heat.

So how do I go about getting my Italian citizenship then? .. or have we already done that too?

Lorna at Vicenza

Do you really, really want it? Because it could take years and it will cost you.

You don't actually need a lot of paperwork but the English documents have to be legally translated and stamped by a notaio. One of these is your full length birth certificate and the other is a police clearance report or whatever it's called.

Anyway, you start by going to the prefettura and asking for the application form. Then you gather your paperwork together and when you have it all (originals plus photocopies) you go back and hand it all it. Then you sit back and wait and wait and wait and wait ............

Lorna at Vicenza

Oh and Mark- there is something else that you could get if you haven't already. My old permesso di soggiorno had an expiry date on it and not stamped with the fine words "tempo indeterminato" and my ULSS card had the same expiray date so I had to do something before they ran out.

It's called an ATTESTAZIONE DI SOGGIORNO PERMANENTE PER I CITTADINI UE. I got mine in 2010.

Here's a copy of my old post about it:

"I went to my comune and applied for permanent residency.

There was a very simple form to fill in and sign and they took my permesso di soggiorno off me.

On Friday I went back with the two marca da bollo of 14.62 Euro they asked for and they printed out my Attestazione Di Soggiorno Permanente per I Cittadini UE.

It was one of the easiest bits of paper I have ever got here. The comune insist that this is valid for a new Italian tessera sanitaria.

It's a shame they took away my old permesso. I kind of wanted to keep it as a souvenir. It was hard flipping work getting that.

I mentioned in the comune that I was as pleased as punch that I no longer have to deal with anybody in the Questura as they are all 'cattivi' in there and an Italian mummy who was in the same office said "yes I totally agree. The people in the questura are horrible and arrogant." "

With my brand new Attestazione I went to ULSS and got a brand new health card.

MarkRD

Nah ... forget it.

Bit disappointed to learn that my (if any) grandchldren won't be british .. suppose that makes sense but not fair!

MarkRD

Cool. Though I'm pretty sure mine has 'tempo indeterminato' stamped on it. Actually I hate the thing as it's that dour dark green colour and with writing in black it's impossible to photo-copy.

Worst document has to be the Ital driving licence though .... and I'm NOT paying for a posh plastic card one!

Lorna at Vicenza

They will be if your daughter gives birth in the UK.

MarkRD

Yes, I understood that Miss, but pretty unlikely . .or perhaps not.

Lorna at Vicenza

Or your daughter could fall in love with a Brit and even if she gives birth here, the kids would get British citizenship from their father.
Not sure how mamy eligible British males live here though. There aren't any where I live.