Chi ben comincia è a metà dell’opera…Italian Citizenship

Chi ben comincia è a metà dell’opera.
Translation: A good start is half the battle.

Why does anything involving the government take so long?

I started the long process of obtaining my Italian citizenship a couple months ago. I am applying for dual citizenship (Canadian/Italian). Although I have wanted to get it for a while, I never actually took the steps necessary to actually get it.

Some Backstory…

My father was an Italian citizen when I was born. However, because he became a Canadian citizen after I was born, there is a lot of documentation that I have to get my hands on in order to prove that I qualify to get citizenship. I must obtain a search letter from Canadian Immigration stating when, where, and how my father became a Canadian citizen (thereby showing he was an Italian citizen at the time of my birth). In order to get the search letter from Canadian Immigration, I have to send them “long-form” pieces of documentation to prove that I am his daughter. Easy right? Not that easy! In Canada, when you marry, have a child, etc you never seem to get the “long-form” of your documentation. Ironically it’s the “long-form” of the documentation I seem to need for everything. So I’ve spent a lot of time filling out forms, and even more time waiting.

Now, I’m just waiting for the search letter to come back, which normally takes 3-4 months. Once I have that I can finally bring my application to the Italian Consulate and hopefully not have to wait too long (wishful thinking) for my citizenship to be approved.

It’s so exciting!  ! I want to embrace my Italian heritage and having the opportunity to be an Italian citizen is an honour. I guess this is how many immigrants felt when they moved to Canada and eventually became citizens here.

Stay tuned…

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  1. Sono italiana!! « Calabrisella Mia

    March 23, 2009 at 9:54 am

    […] who aren’t familiar with my journey to dual citizenship you can check out these blog entries here, here, and here, to get caught […]

  2. The continuing saga of dual citizenship… « Calabrisella Mia

    October 6, 2008 at 6:42 am

    […] with my story I am in the process of applying for my Italian citizenship (read more about it here). I was waiting for what felt like an eternity to get the search letter from Canadian Immigration […]

  3. LuLu

    May 11, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    Cherrye – I will definitely keep everyone posted. *fingers crossed* Hope things go smoothly! 🙂

    Michelle – Thanks…so far things have been pretty painless…aside from the waiting! I’m learning patience with this 😛 I can’t wait until the process is finished and I have the Italian citizenship in my hands!! 🙂

  4. bleeding espresso

    May 11, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Best of luck on your quest–I’ve been there and it’s *awesome* when it’s all finished 🙂

  5. Cherrye

    May 10, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Yea!! Woo Hoo…keep us posted!

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