Citizenship

In June I got my Italian citizenship! It was a long process in getting it. We went to the consulate to register our marriage but The King's passport had expired. They would not renew it until he proved that he had not become an American citizen. We had to reapply for his green card. His original green card did not have an expiration date so we never knew that they had to be renewed. What a long and frustrating process that was. Finally we got his new card and he could renew his Italian passport.
Then we could proceed with registering our marriage with the consulate. We married in 1985 and should have done it then but we did not know. We had to get copies of our marriage certificates from the county where we were married and have them apostillized (which is an Italian legalization) from the state. Then we gave them to the consulate who sent them to the comune that The King comes from. The comune registered our marriage and sent a paper back to us. At that same time we registered the birth of our daughters. They automatically became Italian citizens.
Then I had to get security clearances from every state that I lived in since my 14th birthday. I had to go to the police barracks and get fingerprinted and sent that to the FBI for another security check. Those documents had to be translated and given to the consulate. I tried to translate them myself but they would not accept them. I found someone in Reading that translated them and we returned to the consulate again. This time the documents were accepted. That was in May of 2007.
YAHOO! Now when we move I don't have to get a visa to stay in Italy with my family. I just have to go back to the consulate and get my new passport. They won't give you citizenship and a passport in the same day, unfortunately.

We plan to get my passport when we file the repatriation papers right before we leave the US.