Italian Citizenship non-direct line issue

[NickDa]

I am applying through my maternal great-grandfather>grandmother>mother (post 1948)> myself in new york city. I am in the process of obtaining documents. The only issue is I lack my father’s birth certificate because we are estranged for one thing and for another thing he was born in what is today Kosovo (before the Yugoslav breakup). Does the consulate look strictly at the lack of non-direct line documents? I have the marriage certificate (from 1985). My parents were divorced when I was 8, in 1993 (due to abandonment on his part, according to the decree), so this **might** help but both my mother and I kept his last name, which I suppose doesn't help my situation. The person assisting me, Dr. Mesi of ICAP suggested that I inform the consulate that I cannot get this record..I know nothing is guaranteed, Might this work?

[mler]

There is a good chance this will work. He is not in the direct line, and you have both the marriage and divorce certificates. That you and your mom kept his name is not a problem; it's simply additional documentation of paternity, and it's your mom who is really significant.

I should also add than NY has become quite reasonable of late.

[Cristina319]

I had a similar but different situation: My non-Italian father was born in 1917, and there was no birth certificate for him. However, I was applying through my maternal side, so no one ever asked me for his certificate. That said, I applied in Italy, and they did not require a lot of the stuff some of the consulates want.

Buona fortuna!
Chris

[jennabet]

In 2011, the San Francisco consulate requested a photo copy only of the non Italian father's birth certificate. This certificate was also difficult to get as it was not the original, the owner having been born in 1916 and the birth certificate created in 1941 so he could join the military.

[NickDa]

Thanks all, I am hoping it won’t be a problem..to be honest I have been working on getting this since **2009**, when I found out the date of my great-grandfather’s naturalization, but I have almost given up several times because I first got confused over the 1948 issue, then it was the fact I thought that all living relatives on the line have to appear at the consolate (no one in my line takes issue with my going for this - they never renounced Italian citizenship and I could get those forms notarized from them - it’s just both my mother and grandmother are very ill so it would be difficult for them to go to the consulate - I help care for them so going to Italy to apply would be difficult at the moment, also I'm afraid it might be prohibitively expensive), and then it was this issue over my father’s birth certificate. It would be obvious to the consulate that I took a long time in this process, because when I got paper from USCIS with file numbers for my great-grandfather’s naturalization cert and AR forms it was 2014, though I only got the files with my Great-grandfathers forms last year.

I honestly think I might do is prepare a notarized form in both English and Italian that I cannot obtain my father’s birth certificate because of estrangement. Hopefully, this might work.

[NickDa]

Just to note because I was so confused about the 1948 thing (but now I got it), here's my line:
Great-Grandfather > born 1898 > immigrates 1923 > marries 1924 > naturalizes 1944 > dies 1974.
Grandmother > born 1937 > constitutional change of 1948 so she can pass citizenship after this year > marries 1957 (still alive).
Mother > born 1961 > marries 1985 > divorces 1993 (still alive).
Myself > born 1985.