Sorry it took me a few days to update this… well, nearly a week… but we got the apostilles on the 2 California docs. It was really pretty easy. Big line at the state department, but it still went pretty fast and we were outta there in about 20 minutes.
Lunch with Charles and Laura was perfect.
The Fashion district was a total wash. Maybe we just didn’t know where to go, but we found nothing.
I’m scanning the translations, and apostilles today, and arranging Moms application.
dave
well, got the translations back yesterday. The translator actually translated 2 more docs than necessary so it costs me a bit more, but I will need them in the future so no problem now.
Shelly and I are heading to the State department in the Reagan Building downtown LA tomorrow. We’re looking forward to it because we are going to take the train in, go to the state department to get the two docs apostilled, then go to lunch with Charles Paul [and hopefully Laura his wife too], one of the worship leaders we are blessed to work with and then head down to the fashion district to check out a few deals.
Hey all,
I’m sending 5 documents over to the translator to get prepared for my moms citizenship. I will have to get her registered first before we can proceed with anything else, so I will need these 5 docs translated and 2 with an Apostille. That means I will need to go to the State Dept office in downtown LA next week and get that taken care of. The docs will cost $50 each for translation, so $250 total, + $52 to get 2 docs apostilled. So a little over $300 to get prepared for moms citizenship. And I’ll have to drive down to San Diego to help her with the application and getting it notarized etc. I’ll let you all know how it goes as things are happening.
ciao,
dave
OK. the lawyer says that I need to 1) get my mom registered as an Italian citizen. 2) petition the courts in Italy to have the adoption recognized. The current status is that it would take about a year after mom’s citizenship is granted to get the second stage done. Perhaps more, perhaps less depending on the strength of the evidence. That part is better than I was told, since last I had heard, 10 years was the length of time being talked about.
The cost will be from 3000 to 5000 …..or $4500 to $7000… depending on how many hearings it takes. There is a slight possibility they may supeona mom to appear and testify. Her appearing in Italy before the court will not happen. They may allow the consulate in LA to act as the court if she can get to LA, but even that is sketchy as long as my nonna is still alive and in such dire health.
At this point, it is more money than I would prefer to spend, but not impossible either. My mind is pretty much to go ahead and keep trying. So the next steps are to have the documents I need for moms citizenship application translated into Italian. And then to send that in and get her citizenship. Then we wait until that is cleared and start step 2.
dave
He had spoken with his office in Rome, and they had a few questions about the current status of my mothers citizenship as well as a few other things. I hope to have some answers as to what this all will entail within a few weeks. It seems certain that it will be pretty involved. They were even talking about possibly her having to go to Italy to testify in court. Hope not… I don’t think that will happen, but who knows……
at any rate, wanted to let you know what is going on.
dave
or so it feels like it…..
I contacted the Lawyer. He was supposed to get ahold of the Consulate and get the scoop from them, and then talk to his office in Rome and find out how to proceed. The problem is that August is NOT a good month for things to happen in Italy. Italy celebrates what is known as the ferragosto…. the August holidays… by which nearly all Italians get off 2 weeks in some part of August. This is serious…. Italians are very serious about holidays…. so, as it just so happens I started asking about this at the beginning of August, nearly no one has been around to look into it. Hence the long silence that feels like an information blackout. Hopefully as September is just around the corner, things will swing back into action….. perhaps “action” isn’t the proper word…. swing into a slow plodding melodrama…. yeah, that’s more like it.
So that’s what is [not] happening right now. Keep you all updated as I find out info.
Well, every time I go to the consulate it gets worse….. the first time, I was told it may take a while to get the adoption recognized, but they could probably do it. Then the lawyer told me that it would take 5-6 years and I would have to do some filing in Italy independently. This time the consulate told me that they would put me in touch with a lawyer here who specializes in these types of issues, but it may take 10 years and be very costly. Next time I go, my American citizenship may be in jeopardy and a second time after that, they may want to put me in jail!
Well, it’s not that bad, of course, I’m just being ornery, but I put a call into the lawyer they recommended and haven’t heard from him yet. I’ll try again later today just to remind him that I am serious about this. I’ll have to weigh out options once I know what is realistically on the table, but there is simply no way I can afford to wage a protracted legal battle in Italy. I would maybe cough up a few thousand over time to see this through, but I can’t even think about 10’s of thousands to pursue it. So IF that is what it will take, then apparently, citizenship is out of the question at least through these means. We could always look at establishing some other sort of residence there and then applying after the requisite amount of years…. 5 right now. But the problem is HOW exactly we can get over there legally and establish residence.
These are questions for the Lord right now. If he really means for this to happen, then he will have to make a way. If he doesn’t, then I will have to assume that we were mistaken about the call. It’s not of course at that point yet, but I thought I’d let everyone know how things stood right now.
Pray for the lawyer meeting and that things would turn out. I have one other option: a lady I met online when I was asking questions about adoption. She is Italian and seems to have some ties with adoptions there in Italy. She told me to let her know when I have all the options on the table. Perhaps she would be able to do something. At any rate, I’m hoping to know within a short time whether the citizenship by blood will be pursuable or not.
ciao,
dave
Well, the attorney got back to me and it looks like it may be impossible to avoid filing some sort of petition in Italy. The adoption is going to significantly extend the process.
I need to get some more answers, but from what I have seen so far, it may even include some decisions I am not willing to make. I hope not, but it is possible that the citizenship door, at least jure sanguinis, is going to be closed. That doesn’t mean we couldn’t take other measures, but I will have to pray and see what is going on.
Kind of a bummer, but while all this is news to me, it was not news to the Lord. So he knows……… I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.
dave
That is the last of the documents that I needed to get.
Here’s where the story gets interesting…. I contacted a consulate approved translator to get my docs translated, [you HAVE to use a consulate approved translator] and he mentioned that beside translations, he is also an attorney and represents the Vice-Consulate in San Diego. For $300 he will appear for you and represent you when applying.
So I am trying to see if maybe he will represent me and perhaps he will have the pull to go around the adoption hassles that the consulate is giving me right now.
He also said he could fit me in alongside another application this September, meaning I would not have to wait until march 2008. I will have to wait and see if he thinks the adoption issue can be overcome. I wrote him a detailed explanation of the case and hope he will be prompt in responding. But he seems pretty prompt so far in his first response. Perhaps this will be a tool that the Lord uses to speed things along.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to pay for it all…….
dave
Got a package from the State yesterday. I’ve been waiting to get my original birth certs, the last piece of documentation that I should need, so I open up the envelope and………. they sent me four copies of the amended birth cert, rather than the original, pre-adoption cert. Talk about disappointment. I could have gotten those simply by walking up to the counter and asking. So I called the state today, which is never any fun: it took me 53 attempts [yeah, I counted], and about an hour to get through and speak with someone, and I was told I should send everything back to them for an exchange. Hopefully it won’t take so long this time, but I’m not counting on it. At least I don’t have to go through the court process again.