We've moved from Baltimore, Maryland USA to Venice, Italy in pursuit of living our dream!



Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Living the dream - dual citizenship

Yup- dual Citizenship. I could not believe I qualified for dual Italian citizenship when I checked into it, but would you believe it--- I do!! . It's just the oddest of coincidences. One of the items on my "plan" was to research how we could live in Italy long term legally. Naturally, I started reading up on how Visas work. Somewhere along that path, I came across an article posted by an expatriate ( I'd been doing tons of reading expatriate experiences and tips) which suggested finding out if dual citizenship was even a possibility, if you had native Italian ancestors.

My mother happens to be native born, originally from La Spezia, Italy. She came to the US right about the end of WWII, having married my father over there. My dad was an American soldier stationed in Naples. So Mom came over on the boat. The regulations for dual Italian citizenship are different depending on which ancestor is the native one- grandfather, grandmother, father or mother. If its your mother, as in my case, you had to have been born after January 1, 1947 and also before your mother became an American citizen, if she did that. My older sister was born before that cut off date of 1947, my 2 younger siblings were born after she became a US citizen, and I am right in that little window !

I've mentioned before that I am now a believer in things happening for a reason. Just like miraculously finding travel agent training that worked out so conveniently, here is another instance of something falling in my lap. Literally.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow. That's an incredible coincidence. Guess your moving to Italy was truly meant to be. Stumbled across your blog by accident. Or was it meant to be? I love Venice and have been several times. The last two times for a month at a time. Sometimes I think I'd love to live there for a year or so. But alas, I do not have an Italian ancestor to bestow citizenship on me. If I could just get my arse in gear and work the art angle a little harder, I could afford to live-work anywhere. Hmph. I know what I need to do. Guess I just need to do it! Anywho, glad to have found your blog. Very interesting. And inspiring!

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