Recent Development

[gottogetit]

I hope someone can help me with this question. A recent development has happened in my personal life. My appointment is scheduled in Fed 2012. It appears I will be going through the struggles of a divorce. It also appears that the divorce will not be completed until after my divorce is final. what do I need to do. do I present my docs as if all is well with the marriage or do I inform the condulate of the divorce action. I also have two minor children that will be on the application.

Thanks

Mark

[johnnyonthespot]

Let us assume that you are applying directly through your own lineage and not through your spouse's (a jure matrimonio case).

There are two scenarios:

1) If you were married on or before April 27, 1983, your wife would be automatically entitled to and granted Italian citizenship the moment your own is recognized - unless you are no longer married at the time of recognition. Now this raises some interesting possibilities - you (or your wife) might choose to delay the divorce long enough so that she can obtain Italian citizenship jure matrimoni (through marriage) for herself; perhaps this would even be a useful bargaining chip. Once granted, her citizenship would survive divorce, but there must be no legal divorce (or separation?) proceedings in effect at the time of recognition.

2) If you married after April 27, 1983, then there is no automatic citizenship for female spouses (there was none for male spouses, even before 4/27/83). If this is the case, I don't think it matters much either way whether you inform the consulate in advance or not. Ultimately, as an Italian citizen, you are required to ensure that all vital events such as births, deaths, marriages and divorces, are properly registered, so at some point you will need to register the actual divorce. If the settlement occurs before you are recognized, you can forward it to the consulate; if it occurs after recognition, you can register it in the normal manner: See "HOW TO REGISTER A DIVORCE JUDGEMENT" http://www.consnewyork.esteri.it/Consol ... to_civile/