My appointment was on Tuesday at the NY consulate (69th and Park). After reading some horror stories I went in prepared for the worst; I was prepared to have a pompous, rude individual on a power trip rip apart my application, piece by piece; however, to my delight, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness, helpfulness, and professionalism of all the people who work there.
When I arrived (about 30 minutes before my scheduled appointment time) I rang the bell and they buzzed me in (note that I had to give it a second attempt because my literacy skills were apparently lacking that day and I proceeded to try to pull the door open
). Once inside, a man behind a window asked for ID and my appointment information, he also gave me a one page form to fill out with general information. I then walked into the main lobby area where I went through a metal detector and was directed to the second floor via elevator. It would have been a short walk up the spiral staircase in the lobby, but for safety reasons they don't allow people to use those stairs. Stepping out of the elevator, the citizenship office is directly across the way. There is a small waiting area with a couple of benches outside of the door. A woman (who I later learned would be the same woman reviewing my application) happened to be returning to her office as I arrived in the waiting area and she acknowledged my presence and told me to fill out the form I had received from the window man and she would be with me shortly (note-bring a pen with you!). Not ten minutes later, she poked out from behind the closed door of the citizenship office and welcomed me in. I took a seat at her desk, and then it was down to business. She immediately request my drivers license and passport (luckily I brought my passport with me, I didn't think I would need it) She then requested and meticulously inspected each document starting with my great grandfather's birth certificate from Italy and working down to my birth certificate. There were two items that she mentioned as "discrepancies" along the way which I was already aware of. A.) my grandfather's year of birth was 1 year off on his marriage license. B)My great grandmother's Americanized name was Jennie, changed from Giovanna. After she collected everything from me, she asked me to step back out into the waiting area for a bit. I waited about 10 minutes and she came out and informed me that they were going to review everything and contact me either by mail or email. They didn't ask me to amend anything or get them any additional info.... should I see this as a success? My advice:Bring your American passport
Bring a Pen
Be prepared- Have all of your documents ready so they aren't waiting when they ask for them (I used post-it tabs labeled "GM Birth, GF Death" etc.)
Be relaxed-Its easy to get nervous in there but remember, you have the right to claim your citizenship and you aren't a con-artist; it seems fraud is a big problem with trying to obtain italian citizenship.... they had posted on the wall what seemed to be fake/counterfeit apostilles as a comparison tool.
Anyway, that's my story, sorry for the long windedness!
