Necessary documents to get Italian citizenship
I have good news. If you have any Italian relative, you have possibilities of getting the Italian Citizenship. Let’s check the different cases. Or if you are stuck and you cannot get all the documents, let me know and we can find an alternative for your case.
You will need to demonstrate the relationship with the Italian, so that you can get recognition of the citizenship by “ius sanguinis”. All the certificates following the Italian to the person that needs to obtain the citizenship need to be found. For example, your mother does not need to get the citizenship for you to get it. The most important thing is to present the certificate issued by the Electoral Chamber, which basically states that the Italian did not become naturalized. You don’t need to hire an agent. You can gather all the documents. What you will need is to be very patient.
My advice is to check all the documents you have. Gathering birth, marriage and death certificates from all the line of the person who wants to obtain the Citizenship to the Italian. In case one of them did not pass away or did not get married, nothing needs to be presented.
CLARIFICATION:
- If, for example, I want to obtain the Citizenship from my Italian grandfather, my father’s father, I need to present all the documents from my paternal grandfather and not from my paternal grandmother. So, for instance, I won’t need the birth certificate from my paternal grandmother.
- In case the citizenship is passed on through the maternal side, for example, if my grandmother is Italian, my mother, her daughter, should have been born after January 1st, 1948. Otherwise, it is possible to go to “trial” to the Italian state, although it takes more time and it’s a bit more complicated.
To gather the certificates, perhaps you already have them and need to update them, asking for a newer version, less than 10 years old, if you want to get the citizenship in Argentina. If you want to get it in Italy, you will have to submit updated certificates and, if possible, less than 6 months old. My advice is to go through the Internet and look for the circulation of the Italian’s last name in Italy (website “mappadeicognomi”) and then you can see where most of them are gathered and you can start finding out the commune in which the Italian was born.
Then, you can send an e-mail to the communes asking whether the Italian was born there. E-mail addresses are available online. Sometimes last names or names are misspelled. For example, if my grandfather was named Giovanni and he was registered as Giovani when he got to Argentina, a correction would be needed. It is a matter of asking where the process should be carried out, if this is necessary.
The Naturalization Certificate in Argentina is requested to the National Electoral Chamber to demonstrate that the Italian never gave up his citizenship. You will need the Italian’s birth and death certificates. In case the Italian became naturalized after his son’s birth, the person who is requesting the citizenship will be able to request it and he should obtain the Argentinian citizenship certificate. If you submit this in Argentina, documents don’t need to be apostilled. The Apostille gives the document international recognition. However, if you are requesting the citizenship in Italy, documents need to be apostilled. Once you have all the documents, they need to be translated into Italian.
