Polito Naturalization Question

[nuccia]

Hi Everyone,

I received from my great grandfathers family a package which held many of his personal documents. He was born in Italy and went to the USA in 1906. I have looked over census records and know that he applied for naturalization to become an American citizen sometime prior to 1930. Two of his children were born in the US but left for Italy when they were very young, For some reason, his daughter, my grandmother lost her American status and reapplied for it much later. Her citizenship though apparently passed to her youngest daughter born in 1949. My mom, born in 1931 was not eligible though.

I can't find any records or documents which show my great grandfather actually naturalized. He had saved letters offering to help him with classes to naturalize but had no proof in his belongings that he did naturalize. In fact, he had his alien cards or "passbook". I believe he would have kept a copy of this if he did go through with the process since he kept everything else.

My question now is can I apply for dual citizenship through him? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. What should I be looking for?

Thanks
Nuccia

[mler]

First a quick question: Is the great grandfather through which you wish to apply, your mother's grandfather? If that's the case, you can't use him. You can only get citizenship from your mother or your father. If they didn't have citizenship, neither do you no matter what the status of your grandparents and great grandparents. There must be a direct (unbroken) line of citizenship between you and the ancestor who held the original citizenship.

How does it look on your father's side of the family?

[nuccia]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, he's my maternal grandfather. My maternal grandmother did naturalize but only after my mother was born (her American citizenship status wasn't recognized even though she was born in the US). Mom became a Canadian citizenship in the late 1970's...after I was born. Do you think I could go through her?

My dad became a Canadian citizen 2 months before I was born so I believe only my sister is eligable through him...My brother and I are not.

Such a complicated process. My kids are getting older and one of them has expressed wishes of studying in Italy in a few years so I want to look into the options now.

Nuccia

[mler]

This is a real tough call Nuccia. It seems you have a problem with your grandmother because although she was Italian, she could not pass it on to your mother because your mom was born before 1948.

Since you can't go through your father, how about your grandfather (your mom's father)? If he was Italian, he could pass this on to your mom, and then she could pass it to you.

[wldspirit]

Nuccia......at the the following site is a Lawyer who specializes in Italian
law, she would be able to tell you if you can aquire citizenship.......

http://www.virtualitalia.com/forums/

wldspirit

[wldspirit]

Also, Ricbru provided this link of the law in another post....it is in Italian.....
wldspirit

http://www.esteri.it/doc/legge_trentini.pdf