How to get American-Italian dual citizenship

The Process:

• Acquisition of dual citizenship
• Acquisition of Italian citizenship by birth
• Acquisition of Italian citizenship by marriage to an Italian citizen
• Reacquisition of the Italian Citizenship
• The process (you are here)

General information regarding the 'Citizenship' process, including the Apostille document.

Apart from the certificates that the applicant is required to produce in order to confirm his/her eligibility for dual citizenship (birth, marriage, naturalization, etc.), it is also necessary to make this documentation acceptable and valid for the Italian authorities that will examine the file and grant the Italian citizenship.

What must be considered at all times is that the applicant is dealing with a foreign country, Italy, that:

1. Has Italian as its official national language
2. Has no way of determining if the certificates that are submitted are in fact true and legal certificates

Points to Consider before beginning the process:

1. All documentation must be translated into Italian by a recognized translator and subsequently brought to the Italian Consulate to be certified as an accurate and true translation of the certificates/documents written in English. The certification of the translation can be done the same morning of the presentation of the application. There is no need to make a separate trip to the Italian Consulate.
2. Requires that the document must be accompanied by another document called an 'Apostille'

The Apostille is issued by the Department of State of the State that originated the certificate and it is the legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant Apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention.

Italy and the USA are both subscribers of the Hague Convention.

Once the document has been certified and is accompanied by a translation and by an Apostille, it is accepted and it is legal, valid and recognized by the Italian authorities in charge of granting the citizenship.

From: Italy-America Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia