GM - F - ME
Father born 1938 in US. Grandmother became US citizen in 1943. (GF became US citizen long before father was born)
I am in the early stages of a 1948 case, currently missing just one document which should be approved by court order in August.
In May I hired a lawyer in Rome who was recommended to me by my Italian friend who is also an attorney. The lawyer I hired is her law office partner so I feel very confident about him and he says he has handled these cases before.
While at his office signing POA etc, we discussed the process. I mentioned getting Apostilles for my NY and MA documents. He responded that it was not necessary and explained that with him having everything translated for me by his certified translators it negated the need for apostilles. I was excited as this seemed to speed up the process significantly.
Once home I continued my research and everywhere I look I see the apostilles as a firm requirement for both 1948 cases and the standard Jure sanguinis applications thru the consulate.
I double checked with him on the need for apostilles - wondering if I somehow misunderstand since we met entirely in Italian. He responded with this (I've Google translated his repy):
"The procedure for issuing the apostille is the "ordinary" procedure: but very long, in terms of time, handled by the territorially competent Italian consulates.
The important point is that the consular procedure states that the US official who "signed" that US registry document had the powers to do so.
For the purposes of recognizing Italian citizenship jure sanguinis, we are interested in the "content" of the US document.
In history, as the Italian consulates are very slow in the apostille procedure and are often far from the places where the interested parties live, the following faster alternative has been identified, recognized by many Courts in Italy; procedure that I reported to you in our conversation at my law firm. This procedure can be summarized as follows:
a) each original US personal document, requested by you in the USA, is delivered IN ORIGINAL (no photocopies, no scanner) to an Italian interpreter registered in the Register of Interpreters in Italy;
b) that personal document is translated by the Italian interpreter, registered in the Register of interpreters in Italy;
c) the Italian interpreter registered in the Register of Interpreters in Italy swears the translation of the US document before the Court of Rome or
c1) the translation of the US document carried out by the Italian interpreter registered in the Register of Interpreters in Italy is authenticated with a deed drawn up or authenticated by a Notary in Rome,
d) the US registry document, translated by the Italian interpreter registered in the Register of Interpreters in Italy, the translation of the US document having been sworn before the Court of Rome or authenticated with a deed drawn up or authenticated by a Notary in Rome, is "legalized" by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome.
With this method, the US registry certificate, thus translated and legalized, can be used throughout the Italian national territory.
By doing so, NY and MA apostilles are not necessary."
Has anyone else experienced this process and found apostilles not necessary??
I would love more information as this seems almost too good to be true and I wonder if I should just get the apostilles done rather than proceed with his process and then potentially having to go backwards if he is incorrect.
Thank you!