Incorrect name on Italian version of US marriage cert

[garypeg]

So we have this problem with our Italian version of our marriage certificate (we were married in US and we registered the cert pursuant to my obtaining Ital. citizenship). The Italian clerk who issued the cert. decided that my wife kept her maiden name when we married, as is the custom here. As you all know it is not the custom in the US. So when we went to get her a permesso ji sojourno (while we wait for her citizenship request to be processed) the clerk at Immigrazione said we had to either change the Ital. version of the cert. or get an affidavit from the US Embassy stating that her last name is same as mine. Has anyone had experience with this sort of thing? I emailed the clerk and he said the wife must keep her maiden name by Italian law, regardless of where the marriage took place. Eesh- what chaos such a law would create! The immigration assistance people we talked to says that is not the law anyway. Anyway, looking for suggestions on how to resolve this.

[PeterTimber]

Your fast approaching philosophy.... Perhaps you can hyphenate both surnames as is done in Spain and South America selecting the combination you desire or just make one a formal legal surname name and the other an informal surname. You might inquire at the Spanish Consulate or Embassy in Italy how Spanish citizens handle this problem in Italy? Peter

[Italysearcher]

It is not true that a woman must keep her birth name on marriage. I married an Italian in Canada in 1998. I changed my surname to his (I was a widow bearing my former husbands surname so it didn't seem appropriate to keep that one.) My first permesso di sogiorno was obtained using my old passport in my former husband's surname. No problem as it was an 'English' surname. When I reapplied with my new passport in my 'Italian' surname all hell broke loose. I stood my ground. I won. I am Ann Tatangelo whether they like it or not. The Italian version of the certificate will have to be changed however. They had to change mine too. There is no law that says a woman must keep her maiden name.

[garypeg]

I talked to an attorney at an immigration assistance group here. They told me that of course the woman gets to keep her married name! It would be chaos otherwise as documents would not match. The question is how to get this person in Sicily to actually do what he should have done in the first place. Immigration told me all they needed was an affidavit from the US embassy here in Rome and I got that. We'll see if they honor their word. Anyway the attorney here did not think it was a difficult problem to solve. Any advice, though, on how to proceed with the agency that issued the document? He wrote back- he does answer my email. So what do I say?