The Italy-America Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the launch of a new Italian Citizenship Service in collaboration with Sustaining Member Lorenzo Agnoloni, Esq., Studio Legale Notarile Agnoloni – International Law-Notary Firm.
With over 130 years of experience operating in the United States, providing services to American and Italian businesses, the IACC has the established know-how to help you and your family discover your heritage.
The 2020 edition of the Henley & Partners Passport Index ranked the Italian passport as the fourth most valuable passport available in the world. Through citizenship, you gain access to the 188 countries world wide open to Italian passport holders, visa-free!
Among travel, Italian citizenship can afford you and your family many advantages, such as:
•Ability to travel, work and live in 26 EU countries (Including: Austria, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) and possibility of using the priority fast track European lines in airports
•International employment benefits
•Education benefits. On average, the annual tuition fee and livings costs of EU universities for Italian/EU students is far less than American universities. For instance, Scottish universities like Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s can cost about $6,000/year, compared to annual American fees upwards of $50,000
•Health and social care benefits such as welfare and emergency services
•Voting rights
•Retirement opportunities
Among others, these benefits will be passed on hereditarily through your family indefinitely! Learn more about these benefits by scheduling a consultation with Studio Legale Notarile Agnoloni – International Law-Notary Firm, today.
Request a consultation appointment.
Dual citizenship (Italian and American) is one of the most powerful tools, and incredible privileges an individual may hold. A dual citizen is able to live and study abroad easily, and again access to certain countries VISA-free. The COVID-19 outbreak has made dual citizenship even more useful — in a world where many borders are closed to Americans, having a second passport means you may be able to travel where others cannot.
Mr. Lorenzo Agnoloni is the owner and founder of the “Studio Legale Notarile Agnoloni – International Law-Notary Firm.” His practice concentrates upon international taxation and contracts, business transactions and arbitration, civil, commercial and administrative litigation and immigration law and related matters.
Following his graduations from the University of Florence, School of Law in Florence, and University La Sapienza in Rome with a Master of Taxation, International Business and Commercial Law, Mr. Agnoloni started his own practice in 1995 and in 1999 became a certified bar attorney. and is currently permitted to practice in Italy (Rome), the European Union, at the Italian Supreme Court (Avvocato cassazionista), and in both New York and Connecticut. Mr. Agnoloni speaks four languages: Italian, French, English and Spanish, and has been working in the United States since 1998.
With over twenty five years of expertise practicing law in Europe the United States, Mr. Agnoloni is a part of the national Board of Governors of the Connecticut Bar Association (C.B.A.) and serves as Chairman of the International Human Right Committee, International Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA). Mr. Agnoloni is ready to advise and assist you with your dual citizenships matters.
How to Apply
Please consult our helpful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section, which explains the premise of dual citizenship, outlines the process and specific documents required, and addresses common questions. If you are interested in pursuing dual citizenship, please see the contact information to schedule your preliminary consultation with Mr. Agnoloni.
There are many benefits associated with Dual Citizenship, here are a few of the most important.
While an individual is able to reside in Italy and the European Union, the freedom of movement within the Schengen area without a visa is one of the most well known. Freedom of movement means that an individual is able to travel into a number of other countries in the European Economic Area and EU including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
In addition to residence and employment opportunities across the European Union, there is a central set of protections set out by the European Commission for workers in Europe that include access to social benefits and welfare in the case of a work accident. This includes access to health care systems throughout Europe, which would allow an individual to travel around Europe with their healthcare card and retain access to emergency services. People who choose to reside in Italy get to take advantage of one of the best healthcare systems in the world! Not only is Italy able to boast high-quality health care, but in comparison to the United States, the costs are significantly less.
Having Italian Citizenship also can help you to get special pricing or discounts on education (High school, Universities and Graduate degree programs) throughout Italy, within the European Union and potentially entitle you to education and cultural activities related grants. Around the European Union, education costs are much lower than within the United States, and can differ dramatically if the student has Italian/European citizenship.
Being a citizen of Italy grants the right to vote in Italian elections, local and national. If you reside in Italy or another European Union country, you also have the ability to vote in European Union elections.
National law no. 91 of February 5, 1992 regulates the different ways of obtaining or relinquishing Italian citizenship. Article 1 states that Italian citizenship is granted based on jure sanguinis, meaning that you are automatically an Italian citizen if your father or mother are Italian, no matter where you were born.
The principle of acquiring citizenship by descent goes as follows: if you can prove that none of your ancestors ever formally waived their Italian citizenship (to acquire the citizenship of another country) you are theoretically able to claim your Italian blood as well. To do so, any foreigner attempting to claim citizenship based on an Italian ancestor must go back in their ancestry to the family member who was born in Italy and find out when he or she left Italy.
Many countries that have a legal system that allows for citizenship by descent, or that have a law of return, only allow for citizenship to be claimed only through the 1st or 2nd degree (Parents/Grandparents), while Italy has no generational limits on how far a person can go back to make a claim.
The only condition is that the ancestor of the petitioner must have lived in Italy after the formation of the modern unified Italian state (March 17th, 1861).
However, because some regions of Italy did not join the unified state until after World War I (such as Trentino and Alto Adige, which were a part of the Hapsburg Empire and of Austria) additional limitations do apply for families coming from affected areas. These limitations commonly include a date later than 1861 from which their last ancestor needed to have lived in Italy in order for them to be recognized as an Italian citizen.
Ancestral citizenship can be claimed today to stay in Italy permanently, to work in Italy and in the European Union, or to hand down this opportunity to children. To obtain Italian citizenship by descent, in particular for members of the Italian American community eager to claim their “dual citizenship” (Italian and American) it is important to remember that this process requires patience, some money, and time.
All Italian/American ancestral documents about family, ancestors, birth / death / marriage /divorce and separation certificates, passports, family tree schemes, military documents, naturalization documents etc., power of attorney (in Italian and English), application Form, letter to USCIS and NARA as the communications with the Italian public offices and schedule an appointment (or more than one) with the officials / employees of the Italian Consulate in New York; additional documents may be required on a case-by-case basis.
The application process varies on a case-by-case basis, depending on the availability of documents and appointments available. The total application process can take up to two-years to complete. This timeline is based on the average duration of case processing.
No. However, due to the bureaucratic nature of the application and fact finding processes, it is very difficult to do without professional assistance. Mr. Agnoloni has worked closely with, and has a deep understanding of the process intricacies and documentation. By maintaining a permanent office presence in Rome since 1995, Mr. Agnoloni is able to acquire certified documents through the Italian public office, is able to access the different administrations online using the most advanced verification processes and ensure translation accuracy of all documents with Italian legal terms.
As the process of acquiring dual citizenship is time-intensive and costly by nature, added errors only prolong the process, costing the applicant time and unnecessary fees. The difference between a successful petition and a rejection could be one simple document.
The services provided by the IACC will build the strongest application possible and, if necessary, bring processes such as 1948 cases before the Civil Court of Rome (VI Section) or bring unfair/erroneous rejections before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (T.A.R. Lazio) in Rome, with jurisdiction over such cases.
The bottom line is, professional familiarity with the nuances of Jure Sanguinis is a great asset to every application.
Yes, a foreign citizen may claim Italian citizenship based on marriage between a man and a woman (Article 5) to an Italian citizen after two years of residing in Italy (one year if the couple has children), and after three years if residing abroad (18 months if there are children). A de facto relationship, which is a cohabitation agreement in legal terms, does not grant the right to a permit to stay for family reasons or the right to claim Italian citizenship.
If a foreign citizen enters into a same-sex civil union with an Italian citizen, which carries the legal weight of a traditional marriage, the foreigner may claim Italian citizenship based on marriage.
Citizenship can be granted to foreigners who have legally resided in Italy for at least ten years, or to the citizen of an EU state if he or she has been legally residing in Italy for at least four years. Stateless persons or refugees can claim citizenship after residing legally in Italy for at least five years.
Article 9(a) provides a shortcut to citizenship, whereby a foreigner whose father, mother, or grandparent were Italian citizens by birth and the applicant has legally resided in Italy for at least three years. If your grandparents were Italian (even if they waived or lost their Italian citizenship) and you are currently residing in Italy, you can submit the application after three years of legal and official residency in Italy.
The entire process has an associated fee of $2,650.00, which includes paperwork processing, any required fact finding, translation and final application review.
If there is a documented need for urgent processing, applications may be rushed for an additional fee of $650.00.
To request a preliminary 30-minute video or in-person consultation with Mr. Agnoloni, please submit your request here. Please note, there is a $250.00 associated with the preliminary consultation. This fee will be applied to the total fee should the applicant choose to pursue Studio Legale Agnoloni International Law Firm’s services.