Am I an officially recognised Italian citizen?

[madel]

I have already got my Italian passport as my citizenship was approved by the consulate worker at my appointment and I was told to come back a week later to receive my passport and so now have an Italian passport but I am still to hear anything from my commune in terms of certificates, italian citizenship letter or Italian birth certificate etc. and it has now been a year since my appointment!

So my questions are:

Am I already an officially recognised Italian citizen that is officially recognised by the Italian government even though I have not been fully registered with my commune?
OR
Am I still in the process of getting it recognised? And how long do I need to wait?

Also is it true that I have actually always been an Italian citizen since birth as I got Italian citizenship from
(GF + GM) -> M -> Me OR am I only and Italian citizen once I am officially recognised?

[johnnyonthespot]

Believe me, they would not have given you a passport if you were not an Italian citizen!

Many of us never hear a word from our comune.

Citizenship recognized jure sanguinis (by blood) means that you, your ascendants (your mother), and your children already born or yet to be born, were a citizen since the moment of birth. You are and always were an Italian citizen; by way of your application, you proved this fact to the consulate's satisfaction and they have recognized you as such.

If you want, you can try contacting your comune with a letter such as this to request a copy of your birth record:

14 giugno 2011 [giugno is June in italian; lower case is the correct format]

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comune di __________
[your comune's address]
ITALY


Egregi Signori,

[for your own birth certificate only]
Vorrei chiedere una copia del certificato di nascita e certificato di matrimonio per me. Vi comunico i nostri dati:

[for your own and your wife's birth certificate plus marriage certificate]
Vorrei chiedere una copia del certificato di nascita e certificato di matrimonio per me e per mio figlio. Vi comunico i nostri dati:

[for the above plus children's birth certificates]
Vorrei chiedere una copia del certificato di nascita e certificato di matrimonio per me e per mio moglie e figli [figli=children, figlio=son, figlia=daughter]. Vi comunico i nostri dati:

[enter the information for each person]
Per Me [yourself]

Cognome: [surname]
Nome: [given name]
Data di Nascita: [date of birth]
Luogo di Nascita: [city of birth],Stati Uniti d’America
Genitori: SMITH John e (means "and") JONES Mary [father's and mother's (maiden) names]
Registrato: circa marzo 2011 [month and year your papers were likely registered]


[same info for your wife]
Per Mio Moglie

Cognome: [her maiden name!!]
Nome:
Data di Nascita:
Luogo di Nascita:
Genitori:
Registrato:


[and for each of your children]
Per Nostro Figlio [Figlio = son, Figlia = daughter]

Cognome:
Nome:
Data di Nascita:
Luogo di Nascita:
Genitori:
Registrato:


Grazie per il vostro aiuto.


Distinti saluti,

[your signature]

Attach a copy of the inside pages of your Italian passport.

[Italysearcher]

Italian birth certificates are issued on an 'as needed' basis, for the purpose required and are usually valid only for 6 months. The charge is 52 eurocents (or maybe 26 eurocents). It will be a basic sheet of paper with no detail of parents etc. unless it is for marriage purposes or some other reason for which the names of the parents are required. If you have registered for AIRE then you are 'recognised'. They have no need to contact you except to vote.
You are just making work for the overworked clerks and we have just had a major referendum with all its respective paperwork whch is done by the anagrafe office.

[johnnyonthespot]

I know, I know. Ann, you are correct on some level.

However, I must say that for most of us the process of recognition is a long and arduous one, not to mention expensive; at the low end a minimum of $500 is likely and for the majority it comes to two to four times that amount when all costs are taken into account. For some, it is much, much, more.

While the Passaporto Italiana is a beautiful thing to possess, I think it fair to say that the plain and simple Certificato do Nascita will be a cherished document even long after it has expired for any legal use. It is the one document which sums up the journey to citizenship; this is what I spent all this time and money to obtain, this simple document which states that I was born a citizen of Italy. The journey is simply not complete until this document is in hand.

Considering also that many of the US consulates require that the applicant obtain a certificato di nascita from the ancestral comune before being allowed to apply for a passport, it seems a minor extra effort on the part of overworked clerks to issue a certificato even to someone who does not technically require it.

PS: There is someone new in charge of the Anagrafe/Stato Civile office of my ancestral comune (you know the one). This office, which has always been impossible to deal with, is suddenly incredibly responsive to requests. I sure hope my rants here didn't cause someone to lose his job.

[johnnyonthespot]

PS: I just noticed a small error in the form letter above:

[for your own birth certificate only]
Vorrei chiedere una copia del certificato di nascita e certificato di matrimonio per me. Vi comunico i nostri dati:

should read:


[for your own birth certificate only]
Vorrei chiedere una copia del certificato di nascita per me. Vi comunico i nostri dati: