Slight delay in the process

Well, everything didn’t run smoothly.  Due to time and money issues, I had to shelf the citizenship a bit.  Not too long, though.  And the top priority now would be to just get an appointment with the consulate.  I knew that if I didn’t make the appointment in January or February, they might “sell out” the whole year.  Remember that I first contacted them early 2010 and they told me all the appointments for 2010 were filled.

So without details on why I had to put a temporary hold on things, my objective now was to at least get an appointment.

Now we’re at the end of December.  They told me “Request an appointment in January, 2011”.  Ok, I can do that.  What does “January, 2011” mean?  To me that means a few seconds after the stroke of midnight on January 1.

And how will I contact them?  According to their instructions, they’ll accept appointment requests in person (80 mile drive), by mail (too iffy), by email (I can do that!), or by fax (I can do that too!)

So I decided to use a couple avenues.  I’d send them an email request and a request by fax.

I prepared my application paperwork.  Filled everything in and printed everything to .pdf s.  But wait!  The printouts look terrible!  Yes, it’s time for a new print cartridge.  The last printouts looked fine.  Great time to go out.  Quick, grab the ink refill kit and refill the cartridge.  Print again.  Now we’re getting blank sheets of paper!  No replacement cartridge.  Too late to go out and buy one.

Rather than panic, I figure I do have the email request that I can still do.

But then I thought about a free fax service that comes with a toll-free phone service I have.  It allows you to upload documents and it can fax them out.  So there’s my fax capabilities again, and the documents are already in .pdf format.

Now I can watch the clock.

At this point, remember a few things…

1. This is like a “Hail Mary” “fling the documents out there” and hope to get an appointment before the year is booked
2. I still need translations, a few apostilles, and to figure out how to handle the name changes
3. The appointment I do get will probably be out there anyway (like June or July) so I really have time

Now it’s approaching midnight, December 31.  I’m at my laptop waiting.  3-2-1

Mignight!

I click on the email send button.  Great, email sent. 12:00:04

I click on the fax send button.  It’s sent too.

So I have two chances to get an appointment for 2011.

Now it’s wait and see.

The 1st was Saturday so I figure they won’t even see it until Monday, the 3rd.

Sure enough, at 11:22am on Monday, January 3rd comes an email from the citizenship department of the Consulate.

I figure it’ll be like the rest of what I’ve received from them, stating the year is filled, please contact them back in January, 2012.

I open the email and see: “The appointment has been scheduled for January 10 at 10,00”

Now what.  I still have several things to do before I’m ready (including a few 2-4 week apostilles).  So now I have to do damage control.  There’s NO WAY I’ll be ready in one week!

So I immediately shoot off an email telling them I’ll be out of town and need to reschedule the appointment (yes, a little lie, but I’m out of town mentally at this point, so what the heck.)  My main objective was to open up this appointment option for someone else who was ready, and get another one a bit later.

No response back from them.  Nothing on the 4th.  Now what?  Did I piss them off so much that they’re having “the family” look into it?

Then at 2:36pm on the 5th comes another email from the Consulate’s office: “The appointment has been scheduled for February 22 at 10.00”

Ok, I can live with that!  I expect to wind things up during January anyway.  So I can relax and breath easier.  I actually will be able to get things in the works, and completed by then.

But wait!  At 4:42pm comes another email from the Consulate: “The appointment has been scheduled for MAY 11 AT 10,00. I already complete the book until MAY. Please bring with you the documents and original and 2 photocopy of your US PASS. /US driver’s licenses/ rental agreements or utility bills/ tax forms or any other official document confirming the current address”  I’m wondering what the heck this means.  Do I have an appointment on 2/22 AND 5/11, or did they reschedule the 2/22 to 5/11?

But before I could really get worked into a tizzy, here comes ANOTHER email at 5:55pm: “The new appointment has been scheduled for February 8 at 11,00”.

Ok, tizzy time.  Now I have NO IDEA if I have one, two, or three appointments!  How on earth do I sort this all out, when I cannot speak with anyone at their office.  (Remember, they do not answer the phones).

So in order, I now show that I MAY have an appointment for 2/8, 2/22, AND 5/11.

I also figure this may not be out of the ordinary if someone has multiple family members and getting different appointments.  So ok, there’s nothing to panic about at this point.  The big thing is that I feel guilty that I may have three different appointment slots blocked out when others may want them.  But then again, I have no idea if they’re actually reserved for me.  So, at least for now, I’ll continue to wind up with my paperwork, and address the appointments later.

I also figure if there’ a major, unforeseen issue, I may need to drop an earlier appointment and go for a later one.  And also, If I go to the first appointment, they accept everything, I get my citizenship, maybe I can use the 5/11 appointment to get my passport.

So I feel good that I have the appointment, or hope that at least one of them if valid.

Now back to finishing everything up…

Grandfather’s death certificate

Yes, I procrastinated a bit (well a lot, after all I started this in March, 2010), and as of December, 2010, I still needed the following:

• Grandfather’s certified and apostilled death certificate
• Parents’ certified long form of marriage certificate, apostilled
• My own certified birth certificate, apostilled
• Finally, translation of grandparents’ marriage certificate, father’s birth certificate, parents’ marriage certificate, grandfather’s death certificate, my birth certificate

The way I figure:

1. My appointment can’t even be set up until January
2. If they had already booked the entire 2010 by March, the appointment would probably be months after I set up the appointment
3. All the paperwork I still needed to obtain was pretty local – a couple counties over from where I now live
4. I could simply go into the county office and wait for the documents
5. I had located a translator and she stated she would turn the translations around in less than a week from when she received the scanned images of the documents
6. The translator would email me the translations and I just needed to print them out

So, as of December, everything was looking ok.

The next step was to get my Grandfather’s death certificate (certified, of course), and then have it apostilled.  (Oh yeah, the apostilles for his death certificate, my birth certificate, and my parents’ marriage certificate all had to be sent to Springfield, IL to be processed).  I checked to see if I could send them to somewhere in Chicago for this, but no, they had to be mailed to Springfield.  So now that added a variable.  The apostilles take 2-4 weeks until I get them back.

So, ok, I’m at the beginning of December.  I get the documents in early December, send them to Springfield, get them back by the last week of December, the translator translates them and I’ll be ready by the first week of January.  And my appointment won’t even be MADE until the first week of January, so I’m cool.

Anyway, being busy working, and having to also watch my budget, I decided to start by just getting my grandfather’s death certificate.  (The other 2 documents could be done while I wait so I can always do those next week.)

Rather than go to the County office, I decided to mail for a copy of his death certificate.  There’s a handy-dandy form at the County’s web site (isn’t the internet great?)  I filled this in, got a money order, and off it went in the mail.

Week two of December delivers me a beautiful certified death certificate.  Everything looks in order.  I forgot, his name is one of the variances he used.  I still need to figure out what I’m going to do about names not perfectly matching!  I’ll start looking into that right away.

And to put this document to bed and have it ready for translation, I make a copy of it (so I can have the translator do it while I’m waiting for the apostille to come in).

And off to Springfield it goes.

Better work on the final two documents since I still have some issues about the name changes/variances to resolve.

I’m now ready to get my birth certificate and my parents’ marriage certificate…

Grandfather’s Naturalization Paperwork

Well, to review, my Grandfather was born in 1888, jumped on a boat in 1905 and came to New York.  He lived here in America beginning in 1905.  In 1926, he got married to my grandmother.  (Well, she wasn’t my grandmother yet but you know what I mean).  In 1927, like magic, my father was born.  (ditto about him not being my father quite yet, I wasn’t even around yet).  So technically, my father was at this point, both an American and Italian citizen, since my grandfather was not an American citizen yet, but my father was born in the US.  Then, in 1943, my grandfather petitioned and became an American citizen.  I was born years later.  The important thing here is that my father was born before my grandfather became a US citizen.

After doing some research, I discovered that the National Archives in Washington retains copies of the early Naturalizations, so there’s my next step.

Off to the US Department of State web site.  I went to:

United States Department of State, Authentication Office

at uscis.gov

Looks easy but I have no idea where I can start the process so I click on the “RESOURCES” >”HOW DO I CUSTOMER GUIDES” > “HOW DO I”  link, and voila…

 

Ok, spend some more time doing some looking around…

I located discussions, postings, informative sites, and all sorts of other information, all leading me to incorrect resources, as well as back to the USCIS web site.

Then I found I was nowhere close… I needed to go visit the National Archives for what I need.

So off to the NARA web site at archives.gov.  I should have known!

Needless to say there are many options at this web site, but to save someone time, go to, of all places, their online store!  Yes, you’re apparently going shopping for a document, so a store would be the right place.

From there, you select the “Request and Order Reproductions Online” option.  (Makes sense…)

So this finally brings you to an area where you can actually order what you need.  You’ll have to create an account, but then simply follow the instructions.  And as a shortcut, you can get to this page by going to:

https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/

A bit more assistance for when you’re at that page…

Once you create your user account and log in, click on the ORDER REPRODUCTIONS button.  Then click on the “Immigration and Naturalization Records” link.  It should show you fees and tell you the information will cost something like $7.50 (at least as of today’s price).  Click on the “Naturalization Records” link (haven’t we clicked on a link like this before?)  Ah, now the truth comes out… You’ll need a certified version for the dual-citizenship paperwork so pull down the “Select Delivery Format” option and select “Certified paper copy”.  Well, now it’s more like I thought… this adds $15 (today’s price) to the charge.  Click on “Add to Cart” (remember, we’re doing some online shopping… maybe you can buy a few music downloads, and some Wisconsin cheese while you’re here).  And be sure to add a copy of Enrico Fermi’s Naturalization paperwork into your cart while you’re there.  NO KIDDING!  It’s right there under where you’re working… You can actually do this!

Anyway, when you’re done, it’s pretty much like any online store.  You check out (no, not as in “kick the bucket” checkout).  When you’re finally done and place your order, you’re all done.

I waited about a week, and, sure ‘nough, this pretty document came in the mail, with a big red fabric ribbon attached, with all sorts of somewhat-official-looking stuff.  The cover note starts “To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:”  Not sure what this means, except, hearing the word “greetings” from the government makes me think of the old draft board salutation.

So this document contains such information as your relative’s name, current address, name and address of friends and witnesses (and even their occupations), details on your relative’s children, ages, addresses, etc, how he/she came to the US and when, on what boat (if applicable), and even a formal request to change their legal name.  AHA!  This will help me since my grandfather used a few different names.  On his naturalization paperwork, he listed one of these names.  And, in general, this document could give you some missing pieces of the puzzle for your ancestor’s genealogical information.

Two other good things about this paperwork…  It doesn’t have to be apostilled since it’s coming from the government, not a county or state, and it also doesn’t have to be translated.  In other words, this document is done.  It’s ready to present to the Consulate.

Or is it?

Now I’m always worried about details.  So now I’m wondering.  Is this really an official document from the Department of Naturalization.  Shouldn’t it have lots of registration stamps?  Something with a US Government seal or SOMETHING that shows it’s official, not just a genealogical record-looking document.  And how hokey, a red ribbon run through some holes in the paperwork and stuck to the top note with a gold seal (like you’d get at an office supply store to make something look official).  So now I start to worry.

I did a bunch more searching.  Yes, I love Google!

After posting some questions on one of my dual-citizenship boards asking if this sounds right, sounds like an official document, I got the answer I was hoping for, yes, it “sounds” like I have what I need to prove his naturalization details.  “Sounds” like it.  So I’ll park this document and hope for the best.

At this point, I was still waiting for January, 2011 (yes, remember, I’m catching this blog up in 2011, so I now know how this all plays out, whether or not I’m done with the process, and so on) just to present my paperwork.

So at this point in my work, all I could do is assume that I had a valid document that they would accept.  (I was mainly nervous having read stories form others who had presented the incorrect naturalization paperwork and had to obtain new stuff.)

So another milestone (I think)…

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I’m still alive and ready to update!

Yeah, like a year later!

Just read through where I left off.  So now I can begin bringing this blog up to date…

I basically have gone through my “shopping list” of things I need for the citizenship.  The last blog post was in July 2010.  No, not 2011, although I’m catching things up in early August, 2011.

Anyway, the next step was to obtain a certified copy of my Mother’s birth certificate from Chicago.  This could be done online.  With her blessing (yes, she’s still alive and well at a spry 81 years old), I went to Chicago’s vital records web site, paid them gobs of money for a certified copy, and answered a few questions.

It told me everything was in order and that the certified copy of her birth certificate would be mailed in a few days.

When I received it last August, I saw that there was not one, not two, but THREE errors!

1. Father’s middle name –   WRONG! –  (showed Bernard instead of Barnaby)
2. Mother’s first name – WRONG! – (showed Mary instead of Marie)
3. Mother’s middle name – WRONG! – (showed Margery instead of Marjorie)

Oh my gosh (cleaned up a bit).  Now what?

As I would find out later, her mother’s first name, and her middle name on her birth certificate is different than what was on my parents’ marriage application paperwork.

To put all these name discrepancies in perspective, let me quote from the Chicago Consulate’s paperwork:

“5)DISCREPANCIES:
Check all documents word for word to make sure that there are no discrepancies or changes in the names, last names, dates and places of birth. If there are major discrepancies in last names, dates, ages, and places of birth these variations or errors must be corrected with an official “affidavit to amend a record” to be requested from the Vital Statistics Office that issued the document or with another appropriate official document.”

So, translating this, I’m screwed.

I began a master-spreadsheet with all the various names and misspellings so I could address them all once I knew how many things didn’t match.

More about this later…

Apostille Number Two

Just received my Grandparents’ Apostilled and Certified Marriage paperwork in the mail.  Not their marriage certificate, but their marriage application and a certified form from Erie County, Pennsylvania, stating that the official records verify that they were married on the specified date.  It also shows their parents’ names.  Should be everything the Consulate needs.

There was also a note that they do not issue copies of the actual certificate.  I checked with others in the know and they all said I’m good to go.

So another step completed.

Looking at where I’m at as of today, I still need my Grandfather’s death certificate, Mother’s birth certificate, my parent’s marriage certificate, and my birth certificate.  All certified.  Then I’ll need an apostille on my Parent’s marriage certificate, Grandfather’s death certificate, and my birth certificate.  The last step I’m waiting for will be a translation of everything relating to the male side of the family.

And just to have it all done, I will also be getting a certified and apostilled copy of my Wife’s birth certificate, and a certified and apostilled copy of our marriage certificate.  I don’t think I’ll need these until we apply for my Wife’s dual-citizenship, which will be done after I’m recognized as an Italian citizen.

Next step?  I’m trying to put to bed my Grandfather’s paperwork, so the next step will be to get a certified copy of his death certificate from DuPage County, Illinois.  And since this happens to be the county in which I was born, I’ll also pick up a certified copy of my birth certificate at the same time.  Both can be obtained while I wait, for a total of $22.

So my 2-month goal will not quite be met but things should get easier now, since everything else for my dual-citizenship will be done through the State of Illinois, where I live.

Moving right along…

Well, a few more items off the list.

A couple days ago I received the apostilles in the mail, attached to my Father’s and Grandmother’s birth certificates.  So until I get the Italian translations, these two documents are now comlpeted.

Yesterday, I received a certified verification for my Grandparents’ marriage.  It states the date, names of my Grandparents, and their parents.  And a nice gold seal…  Next step on this will be to mail it to the State of Pennsylvania for their apostille.  That’ll go out on Monday.

Thirdly, I finally requested a certified copy of my Grandfather’s naturalization paperwork from 1943, which also includes his written application.  This was done online.  I’ll give instructions in a future blog.  For genealogical purposes, you can request one for only $7.50.  The certified version is $22.50.  Still a bargain.  The other nice thing about the naturalization paperwork is that you don’t need any kind of apostille, so when it arrives, it’ll be ready for translation.

Those are the recent developments.

And the BP spill is now at day 54, still with no end in site.  Maybe August.  Maybe December.  Very sad for everyone.

Ho-hum… moving along… slowly

As I expected, things are still moving along, but slowly.

Unfortunately I can’t spend all my time on this process so I move it along as time permits.  I still have at least 6 months before I need everything completed.

So as of right now, my Father’s and Grandmother’s birth certificates have come back certified by Chautauqua County, NY.  I mailed them back out to the State of New York for the apostille process.  I don’t expect any snags here since supposedly all they do is verify the signature of the county’s clerk.  As I send everything out with delivery verification, I see that they have arrived in Albany, NY today, and I expect, will be delivered tomorrow.  As I was prepared for 3-4 weeks for this process, I was pleased to read that their normal turnaround time is close to 3-4 days.  I’ll let you know when they come back.

Yesterday I called the Courts of Erie, Pennsylvania and found the department that handles marriage certificate records for the County.  Today I mailed a request letter to them giving all the information they should need to pull the marriage certificate records for my Grandparents.  I also paid a bit more (a whopping $10 total) to get the “long (gold-seal) version”.  This will be necessary for the state to apostille it.  Another step done.

Probably the next step I do, will be to get my Grandfather’s naturalization paperwork.  Fortunately this can be done online.

Chautauqua County

Interesting name…

What other words have three u’s in them?  Amazingly, lots!  Like cumulus.  Untruthful.  And several others.  I’m guessing not many have three u’s AND three a’s, though.  And since I’m off on this tangent (I just love tangents), how ’bout words with four o’s?  Again, lots!  Like cookbook, cottonwood, foolproof, schoolroom, obviously voodoo, and many more.  Ok, smarty, how ’bout words with five e’s?  Sure.  Like beekeeper, defenselessness, and effervescence.

By the way, the name “Chautauqua” supposedly translates to “bag tied in the middle”.  So, now that I’ve worked this poor name to death, I’ll continue.

If you have read an earlier blog, I mailed my Father’s and Grandmother’s birth certificates to Chautauqua County, New York, for certification.  Today, I received them back in my S.A.S.E., with attached certifications.  They’re now both certified by the County (a requirement of the Secretary of the State of New York), and are now ready to be apostilled.

So they’ll stay overnight here at the house, and then tomorrow, off to the Secretary of State’s office for the apostille.

The County certification process took just short of two weeks.  I expect the State to take 3-4 weeks.  Time will tell.  There’s still lots more time before I can possibly meet with the Italian Consulate.  (Remember, I can’t even get an appointment date until next January).

While the certificates are off to the State, I’ll next start working on obtaining an original, certified, and apostilled copy (here we go again with an “original copy”, whatever that means) of my Grandfather’s and Grandmother’s marriage certificate.  This will also be from the State of New York so hopefully it will go just as smoothly.

The marriage certificate may be a bit more complicated since it’s considered a vital record, and thus is subject to date restrictions.  A certificate can be mailed if both people have been dead for at least 50 years (New York rules).   In my case, my Grandfather has been dead for 60 years, but my Grandmother, only32 years.

However, I may be able to obtain one either because I need it for a “proper purpose” (their wording), or through a court order.  Looks like I may be able to show paperwork from the Italian Consulate stating I need this information for dual citizenship purposes, and they may just allow it.  As usual, time will tell.  So far, everything I’ve tried, has worked out.

At least things keep moving forward.  I’m not in a hurry (yet) so slow steps are fine.

Still Moving Along… Well, a Little at a Time, Anyway…

A few updates…

A few days ago someone who has already received his dual citizenship told me that the issue regarding the errors on my Grandmother’s birth certificate (mentioned in a previous blog)  should not be a problem, since she is not in the direct Italian blood line.  He had even more discrepancies with his Grandmother’s birth certificate and the consulate passed it just fine.  Time will tell if this is true with the Chicago Consulate.

Second, I now have a copy of a document that should solve an issue with my Grandfather’s different names on various documents.  Not sure if I wrote about this issue before, but here it is.  When my Grandfather entered the US, he used his Italian first and last name.  He arrived here in the US in 1905.  Somewhere between that time and 1910, he began using an entirely different first and last name!  To complicate the matter, when he was out East, he would use one set of names, and when he was in the Midwest, he’d use another.  So I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle this.  In today’s mail, I received a copy of his Alien Registration form.  On it, he lists the name he used when coming here, and his other names he has used.  An original of this form should do the trick!  The problem lies in the fact that his birth certificate has name “x”, marriage certificate has name “y”, and his naturalization, death, and my Father’s birth certificates all have name “z”.

Finally, today, I mailed my Grandmother’s and Father’s city-certified birth certificates to the proper county clerk’s office in New York for their certification.  (Both certificates were from different cities, but the same county.)  One thing about New York, is that it’s a three-step operation.

Step 1 is to obtain a certified certificate from the city that issued the document.  In the case of birth or marriage certificates (“vital statistics” documents), each state has different laws regarding availability. Some states make them available to immediate family, some include children, some only for the person named on the certificate, and many also have time constraints.  Some states, for example, will send you your parent’s birth certificate only if they have been dead for at least 50 or 75 years.  In this case, you may need a court order to obtain one.  Check with the state from which you need the document.  (Check the links I gave for the Apostille/Certification process a few blogs ago).

I have completed step 1 with my Grandmother’s and Father’s birth certificates.

Step 2 for New York is to take the city-certified birth (or marriage) certificate and send it to the proper County Clerk’s office for county certification.  This again, varies state-to-state.  I’m talking about New York in this case.  And New York’s county certification actually does nothing but have someone look at records and verify that the city clerk’s signature on the document is that of the true official.  No other checks are made.  This is why, for example, I can send my Father’s birth certificate myself.  So off they went today, including a money order for a total of a whopping $6 ($3 each) for the certification.

So step 2 is now in progress.

And in the case of New York, Step 3 is to take the county’s certified document, and send it to the Secretary of the State of New York, so someone there can look up and verify the signature of the County Clerk.  Then they issue an attached apostille form!

It’s a good thing they haven’t thought of having us send the final document to Washington for the President’s signature!

Anyway, here I sit for now at step 2 until further notice…

Father’s and Grandmother’s Birth Certificates in Hand

Today, I received my Father’s certified birth certificate.  His birth date, name, and my Grandparent’s names are correct on this.  (Well, my Grandfather’s name on this certificate shows what he changed it to, anyway).  This is a whole other issue that has to be addressed.  Sometime between when he arrived in the US, (back in 1905), and the time he entered the military, (in either 1917 or 1918), he changed his name. I’ll try to figure all this out tomorrow when I have time.

Next step with my Father’s birth certificate will be to have it apostilled by the New York Secretary of State. I’ll wait just a bit, until I find out what dates and names don’t match up on all the rest of the required documents, and figure out if any documents will have to be changed (which apparently is possible).

It will be interesting to find out whether I can request the apostille  myself (which I doubt), or whether I’ll need a letter from him, requesting it.  Either way, at least obtaining the certificate is a step forward.

Today, I also received an original certified copy of my Grandmother’s (my Father’s mother’s) birth certificate.  Two issues with this one.

First, the date is wrong!  It shows June 13, 1904, but her actual birth was June 12.  I’m not sure yet how this will have to be handled.  I figure one of three ways.  Either file something to have them change the birth records, go with the birth certificate date and have other records changed to match this date, or just be able to convince the Consulate to ignore the discrepancy, since this is not related to my Italian blood line.  I’ll do some research and find out the answer and will let you know…

Also, my Grandmother’s name on the birth certificate is all screwed up!  It has her first and middle names reversed, AND has her first name spelled wrong!  Now what?!  Her real first and middle name is Frances Marion, and her birth certificate shows Marion Francis.

Again, I’ll let you know what I find out.  Hopefully this may help someone else…

At least I have things to work on now.