For many Italian-Americans, the opportunity to claim Italian citizenship through an ancestor is an amazing discovery. It opens the door to celebrating our heritage in ways we never imagined, from traveling with one of the world’s most powerful passports to living and working visa-free in, not only Italy, but any of the 27 nations that make up the European Union.

If your Italian Consulate here in the U.S. has fully reopened their “Prenot@mi” online booking system, the average timeline to get an appointment is approximately 2 years with a few exceptions such as DC with a wait time of about 6 months and SF with a wait time of 3 years+. 

Is that acceptable? The answer is “it depends."

Applicants should keep in mind that they really have three options when it comes to applying for Italian citizenship by descent: 

There have been a few changes in the Italian citizenship law concerning all applicants for Italian citizenship by descent going through the Italian Courts AND some applicants for Italian citizenship by marriage.

An estimated 85% of immigrants to the United States arrived in New York City; although many headed west, the majority remained in the city. Based on Census data, between 1820 and 1920, the population of New York rose from 124,000 to 5.6 million (!).

Your path to Italian citizenship by descent is based on whether you can prove your Italian born Ancestor became a U.S. citizen after the birth of the child in line with you who was born here in the in the U.S.

Bottom line, the first thing you ought to do is find the actual naturalization records. But how can you find out when your grandparent or great-grandparent took the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S.?