In honor of Seattle and Portland earning the designation of Anarchist cities by the Department of Justice I share the following:
Update on Italian Dual-citizenship
Believe it or not, I have been researching this process for a while now, and what a rabbit-hole it is. There are very few actual concrete instructions available, and the ones that do exist are somewhat contradictory. The one thing that they all agree on is that the process is long and sucks balls (my wording, ahem).
One site that seems helpful is getitaliancitizenship.com, as they have a few good documents that pertain. Now, if my ancestor had come to the United States after WWI or WWII this would be a fairly straightforward process. Unfortunately, in my case, he was born in Palermo in 1815. This is well before the unification of Italy, which complicates matters. There are also a whole host of other considerations.
Additional requirements for Italian citizenship by descent:
- The Italian ancestor was alive at the time of the unification of Italy which took place on March 17, 1861 (see above).
- Your Italian ancestor did not naturalize (i.e. received citizenship) in the U.S. prior to June 14, 1912 (mine naturalized 18 Oct 1864).
- If your Italian ancestor naturalized it must have taken place after the birth of the next person in the ascendancy (it did, my Great-Great Grandfather was born 2 Mar 1844). For example, if your great grandfather emigrated to the U.S. and naturalized after the birth of your paternal grandfather, you would be eligible to apply for Italian citizenship by descent as long as the naturalization took place after June 14, 1912 (and this is where the ambiguity comes in)
- If your Italian ancestor never naturalized you must prove this by providing a certificate of non-existence of naturalization records from USCIS and either a copy of the ancestor’s alien file or a certified census report indicting non-US citizenship status of the.
- If your Italian ancestor was a woman born before January 1, 1948 she can only transfer Italian citizenship to her children born after 1/1/48 and to their descendants. Exceptions to this law can only be obtained through a case presented at the Civil Court at Rome.
- If your Italian ancestor was born in the following regions, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, or Trentino Alto-Adige, in order to apply for the Italian citizenship, you must prove that the ancestor left Italy after July 16th, 1920.
- Minor children who were born in Italy and emigrated to the US with their parents who received “derivative citizenship” upon the U.S. naturalization of a parent lost their Italian citizenship and cannot transmit it to their descendants.
So even if I pursue dual-citizenship for myself and my daughter, we may not qualify due to some of the ambiguities. Quite frankly it’s a bit frustrating, and the only way to find out for sure is to go through the process, pay all the fees, and hire consultants that may, or may not, be able to help. All of which will cost several thousand dollars.
Is it worth it? Maybe. The perks of dual-citizenship are pretty damn good. I’m just not a huge fan of throwing money away with no reward at the end. I need to think about this before I commit either way. I’ll keep you updated when I do.
A new Siberian Husky puppy.
I did something this holiday that I swore I would never do again…I got a new puppy. The last two dogs I owned (Raven a black German Shephard, and Romulus a Siberian Husky) both took their final trip to the vet within the same year. And it was hard.
Romulus was the best dog I have ever owned. Smart, opinionated, and very vocal, as well as the Alpha male of Alpha males (or so he thought). As I watched him take his final breath I swore then and there that I would never put myself in that situation again. And I kept that oath for three years.
Unfortunately, my daughter never accepted this, and my wife also hinted that she wouldn’t mind getting another. Still, I stuck to my guns for quite a while, but then I started to look at breeder websites…just out of curiosity, mind you. Nothing more, I swear it.
At first it was easy. The breeder was too far away. Or they wanted too much money. Or I didn’t see a pup that really spoke to me. Or I didn’t want to lose the ability to just pick up and go on vacation whenever I wanted. And then I found a breeder in Colville, only an hour and a half away. Continue reading “A new Siberian Husky puppy.”
PNWA 2020 contest
I received a call yesterday informing me that my submission in the short story category for 2020 had been selected as a finalist in the PNWA writing contest. That is two years in a row, so I must be doing something right.
The story happens to be my mother’s favorite of all the shorts I have written (A Life Unlived), and truthfully I didn’t have very high hopes for it when I submitted. It did meet the length criteria (3000 words or less), and unfortunately it was the only story I had ready that wasn’t far wordier than that.
To be fair, I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t think it was nearly as good as the submission for 2019 which garnered an Honorable Mention. Meh, shows what I know, I guess. And once again I have a year with two shorts that did pretty well in two different contests.
I’ve decided not to attend the conference this year. Last year was fine as far as these things go, but it was expensive, and right now I am funneling my extra money into a full edit of my first novel (Dire Consequences), in the hopes to actually publish it this year.
Currently I am waiting for the official packet to come, the one that specifies what is required of me (useable headshot, etc…). The winners will be announced September 26th, so I won’t have an update until then.
Wish me luck…:)
