Friday,
April 04,
Dual Citizenship Gains Popularity with
Americans of Italian Descent
The
ANNOTICO Report
Italian law
allows foreigners of Italian descent to claim citizenship even if they have to
go back four generations
to link to an ancestor who was born in
However, the
Italian government doesn’t make it easy to apply (it takes an average of three years and costs about $1,000),
but thousands of Americans are doing it despite the bureaucratic tangle
involved.
Dual Citizenship Gains
Popularity with Americans of Italian Descent
The
By Mary Cuddehe
From
April 1, 2008
Jessica Amato, a 30-year-old anthropology professor from
She calls them
sleeper citizens.
With this
Italian citizenship, youve had it your whole
life," said Amato, who is eligible even though both her parents and her
grandparents were born in the
Italian law
allows foreigners of Italian descent to claim citizenship even if they have to
go back four generations to link to an ancestor who was born in
That means that
if youre an American who wants Italian citizenship, you can reach back to
your great-great grandfather Giuseppe and make it happen - at least in
theory.
The Italian
government doesnt make it easy to apply (it
takes an average of three years and costs about $1,000), but thousands of
Americans are doing it despite the bureaucratic tangle involved. (If you have
any doubts about just how tangled the process can be, consider the fact that
the Italian embassy wouldnt even respond to
requests for information on how many Americans have
become dual Italian citizens, and calls to consulates around the country went
unanswered.)
Dual Italian
citizenship connects Americans to more than their heritage. They can freely
work, retire, invest or get health care in any of the 27 member states of the
European Union.
The appeal of
Italian citizenship comes "from the economic standpoint of somebody that
is doing well," said Giuseppina Spillane, who
fields citizenship queries as a program director at the National Italian-American
Foundation.
Spillane compared
the attitudes of North Americans with that of South Americans who fled to
Northern Italy following
Dona DeSanctis, the executive editor of Italian America magazine,
said shes seen "many more" applications during the last five
years. Spillane confirmed that assessment, saying Italian citizenship was now
"very much in demand" and that consulates and the ministry of
interior were "very overwhelmed" with applications. So overwhelmed,
apparently, that the
If you dont
enjoy the sound of recorded messages, theres help. Donald McLean, the
owner of myitaliancitizenship.com,
a six-year-old company based in
Anthony Tamburri, the dean of the John D. Calandra
Italian-American Institute at
The Silvio Berlusconi government "fought hard for Italians
living abroad to vote," at least in part, Tamburri
said, because of the perceived conservative leanings of the Italian-American
population. (The first-ever mail-in ballots in the countrys history didnt win Berlusconi the election, however; his party,
the Forza Italia, narrowly lost to the Romano Prodi party.)
The uptick in applications also matches a surge in Italian
ethnic pride in the
Italian-Americans
often "dont speak Italian. Theyve only
been to
For Nick Iovacchini, the 28-year-old owner of a sports apparel
company in
Iovacchini was a junior at
They said
the key to you doing this is getting your Italian citizenship," he said.
"I wasnt the worlds greatest player,
so its not like I had a big, bright professional career here in the States
in front of me."
He and his
father, Eric Iovacchini, an attorney who has since
founded Bella Consultants,
based in
With global
perceptions of
You never
know when youre going to want to pull out a European passport," said Iovacchini, who always travels with both passports.
One time he
landed at an airport in
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