At last....success at the Miami Consulate

[LAROCCAMOM]

After a not so long journey, but full of obstacles in its way, I managed to come afloat.

All DC, along with MC and BC where in Argentina (since t is our birth land), and needed to get to me before April 14th at 9:00.

My dear aunt ended up mailing all the documents by UPS since they had a guaranteed delivery by 8:30 in the morning that April 14th, and at this point it was a chance we needed to take.

That morning I took the children to school and came back home in a hurry awaiting these long awaited documents and finally at 8:15 my door bell rings and here they were!


I checked all the documents, made copies of some of them and off I was along with my mother, who I had previously added to my appointment.

We arrived at the consulate at 9:30, a half hour earlier, which is not a big deal since if you are more than 10 minutes late, they automatically drop your appointment!


I soon as we entered the consulate we notified a very nice gentleman at he information window, that we had an appointment at the citizenship window at 10:00 and we were told to wait.

We waited no more then 10 minutes when Virginia, this very nice and polite short brownish/reddish short hair and petite lady called my name. We came to the window and she asked us who our lineage was, "my great-grandfather", I answered.

She then started requesting the documents in order, she asked for:

*--My great-grandfather's BC

*--My great-grandfather's certificate of Naturalization or Not Naturalization, to which I said my aunt was picking it up in Argentina the following day, since it had gotten lost in the Argentinian mail, I showed her the order proof they Camara Electoral had given my aunt to pick up this document, where it said "Certificate of Non-Argentinian", meaning had never become an Argentinian citizen. She read it and said to mail it to her when it became ready, and she kept this document I showed her.

*--Next she asked for my great-grandfather's marriage certificate

*--My great-grandfather's death certificate

*--And then she started asking me for my grandmother's BC

Please Note: She never asked me for my great-grandmother's information at all, since I was doing this process through my great-grandfather, she said they were not necessary.

*--Then she asked me for my grandmother's marriage certificate

Please Note: My grandmother divorced almost 50 years ago, but since my mother was born during that marriage the certificate was not necessary.

*--Then she asked for my mother's BC

*--My mother's marriage certificate

*--My mother's divorce certificate, since my mother was applying for the citizenship as well. Virginia told my mom at this point that she needed to get the "Statement of NO appeal", or certificate of no appeal, and that she could mail it once she received it and had it appostilled.

*--Then she asked for my BC

*--My marriage certificate, I gave her my husband's birth certificate at this point, which she kept.

*--And BC for all three children

Now, my first child was born before my husband and I got married, therefore, Virginia said my husband would have to go to the consulate to have our child recognized. I told her that we were moving in 2 days and she said to come back next day and just ask for her, and so we did.

*--She then asked for all 4 forms filled out that are on their website, which we had, including form 3 filled out by my grandmother and certified in Argentina, along with a copy of her Identification.

After we gave her all the documents, she made us sign the A.I.R.E. while she was assigning us case numbers, and she had my mother fill out an additional form to have her divorce recognized in Italy.

When she came back to the window, she gave me her business card to have the 2 missing documents mailed to her attention, along with their respective case numbers which she added in the back of her card. She did say that there are hundreds of applications to go through and that it may take some time to hear back from them.

The next morning I went back with my husband, Virginia had written a letter of recognition, which the both of us signed and that was it!


Now, I am waiting for the certificate to arrive from Argentina and I'm in a quest trying to locate the certificate of no appeal that the court where my parents' divorced has no idea what I'm talking about But I'll just keep trying!!


I'll post an update soon!!!!

[LAROCCAMOM]

On February 22, 2011, I received my Italian certificate recognizing me as an Italian citizen!!

The overall process did not take a long time. Taking into consideration the delays in Argentina and the fact that it took the Italian consulate in Miami to hear back from the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires 4 months.
Apparently that consulate in Miami needed to information from the consulate in Argentina. Virginia said it was consulate-to-consulate information-.
Finally on November the 20h, she wrote me back letting me know she had received response from them.

Again..overall..not bad..not bad at all!

To everyone out there don't lose hope..good things come to those who wait.

Arrivederci e buona notte

[mler]

Congratulations! That's great news.

[jennabet]

Ciao, buona sera. Sono molto felice per te. You will find many of your Argentinian countrymen living back in Italy with their relatives who were left behind. You will feel right at home. Italy will welcome you with open arms and treat you like you never left.

[JavaisLife]

Congrats! This is wonderful news and I am very happy for you and your family!