Hey Bill,
As it happens, I have *not* received the final statement yet. There is a delay, here is how it was explained to me:
Agenzia delle Entrate must register the judgment and then report it to the court before the court is able to issue this certificate, and this public body in this period has a lot of workload and backlog.
Unfortunate, but not surprising. Hopefully it comes soon.
With regard to the consulate, it was my understanding that a consular appointment would not be necessary when taking the 1948 judicial route, and that documents would be generated in-Italy once the final statement is received. Do you know differently?
As far as filling the time goes, I have been trying to find distant cousins in Italy, with some minor success. I'm still mid-way through my career, and I'm maybe lucky given that the company I work for has business entities throughout Europe -- for now, at least, it seems likely that I could take my job with me.
Yeah, the waiting game is a tough one, but ICA has been good about notifying me as soon as something happens. Still, when more than the average or expected time for a given step elapses and I don't hear anything, I shoot them a little message to ask if there are any problems. They have been great about explaining the reason behind delays to me throughout this process.
Fingers crossed yours moves along quickly from here!
Tom
