Commitment/Italian Citizenship

The Pulse of Commitment

Commitment is tangible, like the beat of your heart felt in your pulse. Have you ever had the experience of being so committed to a goal that no matter how many roadblocks you encountered, you would not give up? How do you know when to continue in the same vein or take another path? Are the roadblocks a sign that you should quit?

I can’t answer that for anyone else, but I’d advise you if you want to re-examine your commitment, to do 3 things first:  First, be quiet for awhile, secondly, ask yourself questions, and lastly, listen for your answer deep in your soul.

I do know that once I was committed to applying for Italian citizenship for me and my children, I jumped through all the hoops. More than four years ago, I requested information from the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.  It was two years before they even looked at my request. I was told that, every day, they get 96,000 requests.

In order for me to apply for Italian citizenship, I had to prove that my paternal grandfather was still an Italian citizen when my father was born in the United States. If he had denounced his Italian citizenship, then I could not apply.

These last four years have been an emotional roller coaster while I was researching, waiting, gathering documents, having them translated into Italian, getting gold apostilles on each document from State agencies, and waiting some more. I wanted to quit so many times.

Twelve months ago, after driving five hours to the Italian Consulate in the US, to apply, I hit another major roadblock. (more…)

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