I was over at Orange this morning, and a diary about Italian Healthcare was on the recent list (I don’t like to give them a link, they don’t need them, but the thousands of other bloggers do…., but you can find this diary “Healthcare, Italian Style).
Anyhoo, It was a good retort to the Repubs meme that EU Healthcare was not as good as ours.
In the process I thought I would enlighten you as to an interesting, and little know fact about Dual Citizenship. Now, I’m not advocating getting the hell out, I, personally am doing this out of a genealogical perspective.
“Jure Sanguinis” is the Italian principle that you are Italian by blood, not birth in Country. It is handed down on the Paternal side (of course…this is Italy).
There are some stringent rules involved, but basically, there are a lot of people of Italian descent, that can take advantage of this.
My wife’s grandfather was born in Sicily, which makes her eligible. So, if your Italian, and you didn’t know this…start investigating. Most of my wifes relatives ,and acquaintances were not aware of this, so I am assuming that you of Italian descent didn’t either….
It’s a long process, so don’t start your flight bookings yet. It’s not hard…it’s just collecting the pertinent documents can be a long drawn out affair, especially if you are trying to retrieve docs from states like NY. Some Departments send you the records within days…others, months. My time at this is about 18 months, at this point. Not all that many letters and emails were involved, but the time frame for waiting….especially for birth records from Italy, were enormous, considering what century we live in…
I’m only waiting for 1-2 standard docs now…should be getting them in the next month. At that point, we have to trip up to the Italian Consulate in PA, to hand over the documents in person (That’s their rules). They will send off to Italy for final approval. Who knows how long that will be? So after my wife’s app is approved, and her passeport received, I have to file as a Spouse, to get mine…probably a lot quicker to get, but still, I expect a few months.
If you even think that you might be eligible, I think this is worth pursuing.
Here are some links for you to explore: