Jure Matrimoni
Timeline
January 2013
Applied at the Detroit Consulate
January 2014
Requested K10 or K10/C number from Consulate
January 2014
Created account on https://cittadinanza.interno.it/sicitt/registrazione_user
January 2014
Accessed information on https://cittadinanza.interno.it/sicitt
January 2014
L'istruttoria è completa; la domanda è in fase di valutazione
The investigation is complete, the application is being assessed
Information and Details
This is information on Jure Matrimoni from the Ministry of the Interior web site:
Granting of the Italian citizenship to foreign citizens married to Italian citizens and to foreign citizens who reside in Italy
FOLLOWING MARRIAGE TO AN ITALIAN CITIZEN (ARTICLE 5 OF LAW 91/92, as subsequently amended and supplemented)
According to article 5 of Law No. 91 of 5th February 1992, citizenship can be granted following marriage, provided the following conditions are met:
- The foreign or stateless applicant must be married to an Italian citizen for at least 2 years and he/she must have his/her legal residence in a municipality of the Province for at least 2 years from the date of the marriage. Legal residence means that the applicant must be enrolled in the register of the population and at the same time he/she must hold a valid permit to stay.
- If the spouses reside abroad, the application can be submitted three years after the date of the marriage.
- The above periods are reduced by half if the spouses have natural or adopted children
- Until the adoption of the decree granting citizenship the spouses must not be legally separated and there must not be dissolution or nullity of the marriage or cessation of its civilian effects
Here is some information from the Detroit consulate brochure:
Before submitting the application the marriage must have already been registered at the Town Hall in Italy and the Italian spouse must be registered at the Italian Consulate as an "Italian Citizen residing abroad" (A.I.R.E.). Payment of Euro 200.00 and the following documents:
- birth certificate of the applicant;
- certified full copy of marriage certificate issued by the Italian Town Hall;
- certificate of residence of the applicant.
- certificate of citizenship of the Italian spouse (this will be issued by the consulate of residence at the time of application);
- certificate of family status (same as above);
- police clearance or certificate of criminal records issued by the central authority of each state of which the applicant has been a resident since the age of 14, accompanied by a translation into Italian. "Make sure you get the certified copy of your State background check."
- F.B.I. Clearance with finger prints form (in addition to the above certificate/s), with translation into Italian. "Make sure you get the certified copy of your FBI check."
The fee must be paid prior to the presentation of the request, through international bank transfer or through Eurogiro network. When making your payment use the following guidelines:
Beneficiary: CONTO CORRENTE POSTALE "MINISTERO DELL'INTERNO D.L.C.I. – CITTADINANZA"
IBAN code n. IT54D0760103200000000809020
Reference of payment – For citizenship by marriage please indicate: "ISTANZA DI CITTADINANZA PER MATRIMONIO"
From the Italian Dual Citizenship Message Board, I've learned that it can take over 2 years for the application to be processed by Rome.
Cost so far: $547.75 plus $95 in document fees at the Italian Consulate (about $642.75)
Order to do Things
Background checks have a short shelf life (3 months or less for some consulates) so things need to be done in a particular order.
1. Obtain birth certificate, apostille, and translate. Then get authenticated/legalized by the cognizant Italian consulate (the NY consulate in our case); that can take a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on the consulate.
2. Obtain marriage certificate from the Italian town hall (Serradifalco in our case) – "Estratto Del Certificato Di Matrimonio". If the wait for my great-grandparents certificates is any indication, that could take 1-2 months.
3. Only after both of those are obtained should fingerprints, background checks, and their apostilles and translations be done. Note that the apostille and the translation can be done in parallel.
4. When the apostilles are sent off, it would make sense to contact the consulate to set up a meeting. In fact, it would make sense to contact them even before the background checks are done to see how far off the nearest meeting time might be. For some consulates, just that wait could be a year, so you would not want to get background checks that have long expired before you can even make it into the consulate.
Checklist
[1] Birth certificate of the applicant
29 Sep 2011 original birth certificate located in our files
17 Oct 2011 need to order a long-form birth certificate from Buffalo for $10
28 Oct 2011 long-form birth certificate arrives
29 Oct 2011 sending a request to NY State for apostille for $10
12 Nov 2011 request for apostille returned because they require an Erie County Clerk certification
14 Nov 2011 request to Erie County Clerk to sign and certify our birth certificates for $3
22 Nov 2011 request returned because I forgot to include a check, resent
3 Dec 2011 apostille received from NY State
23 Mar 2012 sent off for translation by Gabriella
29 Mar 2012 followup with Gabriella about translation
3 Apr 2012 translation arrives
3 Apr 2012 sent off to NY consulate for authentication/verification ($14.50)
23 Apr 2012 authentication received from NY consulate
*** DONE ***
[2] Certified full copy of marriage certificate issued by the Italian Town Hall, "Estratto Del Certificato Di Matrimonio"
17 Sep 2012 marriage certificate received from Serradifalco
*** DONE ***
[3] Certificate of residence of the applicant
10 Nov 2012 paperwork completed
*** DONE ***
[4] Certificate of citizenship of the Italian spouse (this will be issued by the consulate of residence at the time of application)
issued by consulate
[5] Certificate of family status (same as above)
issued by consulate
[6] Police clearance or certificate of criminal records (certificate of good conduct) issued by the central authority of each state of which the applicant has been a resident since the age of 14, accompanied by a translation into Italian; for us, that means New York, Indiana, Tennessee – consulate said "this office will certify the translation"
21 Mar 2012 emailed NY State to ask about process for obtaining a criminal record suitable for apostille
26 Mar 2012 background check packet comes from NY State
24 Sep 2012 finger prints obtained ($12.00)
24 Sep 2012 fingerprints sent to NY State for background check ($60.75)
24 Sep 2012 fingerprints sent to TN for background check ($29.00)
24 Sep 2012 fingerprints sent to IN for digital prints ($12.00)
24 Sep 2012 fingerprints sent to IN for background check ($10.00)
4 Oct 2012 background check received from IN
4 Oct 2012 sent background check to IN Secretary of State for apostille
4 Oct 2012 also requested another background check since the first was not signed and sealed
6 Oct 2012 TBI background checks arrive, but last name is misspelled on the address line
6 Oct 2012 send back to TBI for new copies
9 Oct 2012 NYS background checks arrive, but they are not signed
9 Oct 2012 sent these (unsigned) background checks to see if they will can be apostilled ($10)
9 Oct 2012 wrote to NYS Police asking them to issue background checks with signatures
13 Oct 2012 corrected TN background checks arrive today
13 Oct 2012 background checks sent out for apostilles ($4)
17 Oct 2012 background checks returned, need to forward to Davidson County Clerk first
17 Oct 2012 sending background checks to Davidson County Clerk, asking them to forward to Secretary of State
18 Oct 2012 background check request returned by Safran in order to submit to the IN State Police
18 Oct 2012 request to notarize IN State Police background check returned inexplicably
18 Oct 2012 resending requests to IN State Police
19 Oct 2012 received background check from NY State, but only in married name, not maiden name
19 Oct 2012 sending background check to NY Secretary of State for apostille ($10)
19 Oct 2012 sending a new request to NY State Police for background check in maiden name too
24 Oct 2012 background check request returned uncompleted by Indiana
25 Oct 2012 need new set of fingerprints for Indiana
25 Oct 2012 need to resend background check request to Indiana
25 Oct 2012 apostilled Tennessee background checks arrive today
25 Oct 2012 New York background check request returned
25 Oct 2012 Indiana Secretary of State department calls and they may be able to apostille the background checks
25 Oct 2012 sent Tennessee background checks to Gabriella for translations
26 Oct 2012 called NY Secretary of State and they gave me names of people who could sign background checks for apostille
26 Oct 2012 called NY Department of Criminal Justice Services to get signatures
26 Oct 2012 NY Department of Criminal Justice Services calls to say background checks are signed and being delivered
30 Oct 2012 apostilled background checks arrive from Indiana
30 Oct 2012 sent Indiana background check for translation
2 Nov 2012 letter for background check arrives from New York
2 Nov 2012 mailing off background check and the letter to NY State for an apostille
3 Nov 2012 another NY background check arrives today with an apostille
3 Nov 2012 sent NY background check for translation
18 Nov 2012 translations arrive
19 Nov 2012 $100 for translations paid
*** DONE ***
[7] F.B.I. Clearance with finger prints form (in addition to the above certificate/s), with translation into Italian – consulate said "this office will certify the translation"
Certificate of good conduct issued by
Federal Bureau of Investigation
CJIS Division
Attn. SCU-MOD/D2
1000 Custer Hallow Road
Clarksburg, West Virginia 26306
Tel (304) 625-3878
24 Sep 2012 fingerprints sent to FBI for background check ($18.00)
3 Nov 2012 FBI background check arrives
3 Nov 2012 mailing FBI background check for an apostille by the Department of State in DC ($8)
3 Nov 2012 sent FBI background check for translation
18 Nov 2012 translation arrives
21 Nov 2012 apostille of FBI background check arrives
*** DONE ***
[8] Payment of Euro 200.00, proof of bank transfer – consulate said "copy of the wire transfer is fine" – someone on the Italian Citizenship Message Board warned "Be sure to watch for any 'incoming wire transfer' fees that may be discounted from the 200E that you send, depending on what method that you use. Would had to 'deposit' 200E, then find out later than the application may not get accepted because there as a 10E incoming wire transfer fee that was subtracted from the 200E, only giving them 190E."
10 Nov 2012 wired 200E ($268.99 after currency conversion and fees)
10 Nov 2012 xoom cancelled the wire transfer
10 Nov 2012 emailed xoom customer service to try to understand why
11 Nov 2012 retried with Western Union ($275)
23 Nov 2012 transfer completed
*** DONE ***
[9] Valid passport for both spouses
10 Nov 2012 copies made
*** DONE ***
[10] Proof of residence: Driver's license, utility bills, bank statement
10 Nov 2012 copies made
*** DONE ***