The sun sets in Milan as people stroll through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Italian citizenship is especially sought after. – Marco Bottigelli/Moment RF/Getty Images
The only requirement to apply is that your ancestor was born or already alive in Italy after March 17, 1861, when the modern Italian state came into existence. That relative also must have still been an Italian citizen before giving birth to the next relative in your family line. They also cannot have naturalized — the legal process of becoming a citizen of a country after birth — to become an American citizen (or a citizen of any other country) before the next relative in your family line was born for you to have a path to citizenship.
Permunian said most cases for Italian citizenship that his company is working on take an average of two to three years from start to finish. Inquiries have steadily increased since ICA’s 2014 founding, he said.
ICA offers a free eligibility assessment for potential would-be Italians to fill out on its website. And a private Facebook group called Dual US-Italian Citizenship has more than 70,000 members and is among many other resources available to people who think they might have a blood right path to Italian citizenship.
The Baltic countries
Some Baltic countries offer a path to citizenship, too, as Colorado resident Janna Graber, editor of Go World Travel Magazine, found out.
“My grandfather was born in Riga, Latvia, and grew up there. During World War I, when the war came to Riga, he was separated from his mother and sister at the age of 14 when the bridge they were crossing was shelled,” Graber said. “He fell into the water, and when he made it to the other side of the river, he was alone. He never found them.”
Janna Graber is pursuing Latvian citizenship through her grandfather. – Janna Graber
Her grandfather made it to the United States in 1919, said Graber, and died in 1968 before the restoration of Latvia’s independence in 1991.
When Graber decided to pursue her Latvian citizenship – a daunting undertaking, she says, considering the paperwork that had been lost, name changes and other factors – part of her motivation was to make peace with the past.
“It feels like it would be like righting a wrong for our family and for his language and his culture,” she said, adding that it’s not an easy process.
People pursuing Latvian or Lithuanian citizenship must demonstrate they have at least one parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was a citizen or born in those countries, said Richard Orbidans, a partner with Baltic Migration.
“Usually, the biggest obstacle is gathering and verifying the necessary documents. Clients often struggle to obtain accurate and complete birth, marriage or other personal documents, especially if the records are old or were lost,” he said, adding that 80% of his firm’s cases require an archive search to look for such documents.
Orbidans has been contacted by people who have received DNA testing that shows that a “large part of their DNA is from Lithuania,” he said in an email to CNN. “Unfortunately, in such cases we can’t help them if they don`t have any information or documents regarding their ancestors.”
How to tackle the ancestry search
If you know your ancestry has roots in Europe but don’t know where to start, Wasson has some tips.
“Citizenship by ancestry is a very detailed process that requires a lot of input from the applicant,” she said.
“Our best advice for those starting the process is to spend time researching your lineage, or even engaging with a genealogist. For a citizenship lawyer to be able to give an opinion on your eligibility for citizenship, we will need to know as much information as possible,” she said.
Visitors tour the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration on Ellis Island in New York City. People pursuing European citizenship will need to find out as much as possible about their ancestors and track down records. – Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Details such as the exact place and date of birth, details of your ancestors’ emigration, whether they ever naturalized as a US citizen or formally renounced their nationality and copies of documents are just the beginning, Wasson said.
“We can search local registry offices and town halls for copies of vital records, but without the correct information, those searches won’t be successful,” she said. “So the more we can get from you, the better.”
The upside of all that hard work might go beyond a second passport – you might end up learning a lot about yourself in the process.
Florida-based travel writer Terry Ward lives in Tampa and has the blood right to Italian citizenship through her paternal great-great-grandfather.
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Publish date : 2024-09-24 06:23:00
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