Philly appointment recap

[caridimondo]

Buon giorno tutti!

After 15 months of waiting and gathering documents, I finally had my appointment at the Philly consulate yesterday. I applied through my GGF-GM-M. I am one of four children, but only my sister and I attended with my mother, the other 2 will have to apply once we're accepted.

We arrived at the consulate around 8:45am and were not let up until 9am, so if you have an appointment coming up you really don't need to be there early unless you want to be the first in the elevator. There was only one family ahead of us so we waited about 30 min. Once they were finished Lea called us back and had us fill out the multifunctional form (http://www.consfiladelfia.esteri.it/NR/ ... mvers2.pdf) and copied our IDs/passports before getting started.

Then she began with my GGF's documents and she was very surprised to see no discrepancies given his name - Pasquale Lafiata. So far so good. Then she reviewed my Nonna's documents and everything checked out, EXCEPT I forgot to have her sign Form 1 which states she never renounced her right to Italian citizenship. She's still living but is 85 and could not attend the meeting with us. Lea said we can just mail the form and a copy of her ID and reference our file number - no problem.

The rest of the meeting continued as such - all of our documents were in order with apostilles, translations by Gabriella Einaga (birth certs done myself), and no discrepancies in names/dates. I was really lucky that my family has resided in PA (same town even) their whole lives so it was pretty easy gathering all the necessary documents.

Lea said once she receives the signed form from my Nonna, she will send everything to Italy and we should have our acceptance letters within 3-6 months. Considering the comune in Abruzzo responded to my fax request for my GGF's birth/marriage certs within 2 weeks, I have a good feeling we may be hearing back sooner than Lea's estimate.

I hope this was helpful to everyone, especially those applying in Philly. I can't believe I am almost finished with the process and could have my Italian passport in the near future. This has been a dream of mine for several years now so I'm extremely grateful to all the advice and information members of this site have provided. GRAZIE MILLE!!

Tom

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Lea is great to work with. Congrats on a good appt.

[JJ313]

Congratulations! Glad things worked out. Now the fun part begins, mailbox watch!