look into Greek citizenship

I am currently in the processing of applying for dual citizenship (Greek and US). My father was born in Greece in 1894 and I have no documents such as his birth certificate or passport. I contacted an immigration lawyer in Athens who I found on-line. He told me that although census records are not well-kept in the general registry, male births are registered in a military registry that is well-maintained and not purged. This lawyer found the record of my father’s birth from the military registry. While this is costing me to obtain this, I would not have been able to find this record from the US without this lawyer’s assistance.

one helpful website.

Ok, I found a site that offers a lot of information. The next step is to gather facts about my family.

I would be applying for Italian citizenship through my mother’s father’s father. Funny, because I don’t even know the fellow’s name.

1. I think that great-grandpa was born in Italy and immigrated to the States. I need to confirm this and find out what year that happened. If it was his father who immigrated and great-grandpa was born in the States, then I think I’m out of luck.

2. If I’m right about No. 1, then I need to find out if he became a naturalized citizen (a definition for this would be helpful) and what year that occurred. (Proof of naturalization status/date required, costing $260)

3. My grandfather’s birth year.

If it was great-grandpa who immigrated to the States and if he became a naturalized citizen after my grandfather’s birth (or didn’t naturalize at all) then I’m in luck. All I have to do from there is pay a considerable amount of money to get the following documents in my possession and translated into Italian, and then wait several years for the application to go through ….

• Great grandfather’s birth certificate from Italy ($95)
• Great grandfather’s death certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Great grandmother’s birth certificate (if from Italy, $95)
• Great grandparents’ marriage certificate (if they were married in Italy, $95; if they were married in the States the certificate needs apostille and translation, $145)
• I don’t think they were divorced, but if so, their divorce certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Great grandfather’s certificate of naturalization OR statement of “No Records” (already mentioned above #2, $260)
• Grandfather’s birth certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Grandmother’s birth certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Grandparents’ marriage certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Grandparents’ divorce certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Mother’s birth certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Father’s birth certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Parents’ marriage certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• Parents’ divorce certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)
• My birth certificate (from the States – price unknown as yet, and with apostille and translation, $145)

I’m looking at $2,000 here!! Yikes!
Most of the fees are in this apostille and translation service … maybe with a bit of research I can find someone who will do it more cheaply.
Some of the fees are for recovering documents from Italy. But I’d be willing and very happy to be a detective in Italy and collect them myself.
So I’m not feeling dissuaded yet.
First step is to see if I’m even qualified by finding out the dates of my great-grandfather’s naturalization and my grandfather’s birth. Time to make some phone calls …

I met a fellow the other night, another American living in Copenhagen, who is working on his Italian dual citizenship. I told him that I tried the Greek route and got shot down, and he encouraged me to not take no for an answer. “Wait ‘till you hear ‘no’ about 10 times before you beliebve it …” he advised.

But he also told me that he thinks I’d be eligible for Italian citizenship through my grandfather, and he gave me his email so I could have access to the info he’s spent so much time accessing.

I’m reinspired.

The woman at the Greek consulate didn’t have anything positive to say about my inquiry. She said that I need to find the following things in order to begin the process, and that finding these things will be impossible:

certificate of citizenship in great grand father’s villiage
his orthodox marriage certificate
great birth certificates for kids of this couple

But my great grandfather left Greece at age 15, before he was married. So, she says, he never served in the army and his citizenship was erased as though he had died.

I can find more information by going to greekembassy.org and looking under the category ‘citizenship’, but she said that the information here is only very basic and that I should just take her word for it that my search is an impossible one. No Greek citizenship for me.

I don’t feel that I’m ready to give up on this goal though. I’d like to ask a few people a few more questions before I give in.

T has been an Itlaian citizen for two or three years now. Italy has some kind of offer to citizens of other countries who have Italian heritage that if they can retrace their ancestry and if their P’s and Q’s all line up then they are eligible for dual citizenship with Italy. I looked into doing the same, but somehow (and I no longer remember exactly how) my P’s and Q’s were a little crooked.

But recently T suggested that I try to do the same with my Greek ancestry. He said that their requirements are a little different, and so it’s worth looking into. I’m certainly willing to give it a go, especially if a bit of time and effort on my part leads to repairing my EU status as illegal.

So, the next step is to call the Greek consolate in LA. Phone number: 310-826-5555.