Hi everyone,
I recently won a 1948 case with Mr Paiano's help. He asked me if I would write a testimonial about my experience, and I agreed, as I've been very happy with the results of the process. So I'm posting this in case anyone has any questions about it, or just wants another opinion.
My case had two potential lines of transmission of citizenship: GGGF->GGF->GM->M, and GGGF->GGM->GM->M (all of my grandmother's ancestry came from the same village). Because my mother was born in 1944, the 1948 rule applied.
It took about 3 years to gather all the documents. I met Mr Paiano in August of 2012 to give him the documents and file the case. It turned out there was a mistake in the documents for one of the lines of descent, so we chose to use the other one (it's only possible to use one, anyway). We were very lucky, both because we got a relatively quick hearing (scheduled in February 2013) and because we were assigned a judge who had dealt with these cases before, so she ruled in our favour without needing a second hearing.
At present, although we have won the case, we are waiting for the long process that will result in my comune issuing birth certificates, so we can get our Italian passports. This mostly consists of a couple of different agencies issuing bills for taxes, then paying the taxes, which takes months. Mr Paiano estimates we might have our birth certificates by the end of this year, but not necessarily.
There has only been one major problem. My cousins and uncle decided to join the case after we had already filed the original petition. They paid all the relevant fees and taxes, and were added on to the case. However, when the judge made her decision, she forgot to put their names in the ruling. Mr Paiano met with her and was told that although it was her mistake, the ruling had already been made and could not be changed, so the only option for them was to file an entirely new suit. They have now done so, and have been given a hearing scheduled for January 2014, and had to pay a lot of extra fees and taxes. Mr Paiano very kindly offered them a very large discount on the fees, because of the mistake, but it has still been very inconvenient. But anyway, it's the fault of the judge, and there's nothing that can be done about that.
I've written a slightly more detailed account here, if you want to read more: http://italiancitizenship.freeforums.or ... =11&t=4342
Overall I've been very happy with Mr Paiano and his work, and I would recommend anyone thinking about a 1948 case to consider working with him. Please also feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about the process.
Mark
