@jmstn1--I wish I could report good news, but my meeting today in Chicago was a mild disaster. The reviewer (who was nice and friendly) was an absolute stickler about any discrepancy. Like I have seen others report on this board, I have a couple of relatives whose documents have 3 different first names (Italian birth name, Italian nickname, American nickname) and 3 different last names. The names are close enough to each other (in my opinion) that it is clear that we are talking about the same person. She told me that I needed to get amendments to all of these documents to conform them to the birth certificate, but then I think she decided it is OK (because those documents related to the women, and my lineage is through the men in my family).
I was then told that I was missing a death certificate for my paternal grandfather, who was born in America. I told her that the instructions say that I only need death certificates for "Italian-born ancestors," but she said that I still need one.
I was also told that my naturalization document was insufficient, as I only had a certificate of non-records from the USCIS. She said I needed a letter from the National Archives. I pointed out that the Chicago consulate's instructions only asked that I "double-check" with the National Archives, but it did not require a letter from the Nat'l Archives. I did check over the phone with the Archives (they had no records), but they had no records. Still, she wants me to get a letter from them.
She also wanted a death certificate from my great grandmother's first husband, who was killed a couple of years before she married my great grandfather. I asked why I would need that, and she told me that they needed to know that my great grandmother wasn't still married to this guy when she married my great grandfather. I don't think that my great grandmother was a polygamist!
The part that was driving me crazy during my 90 minute meeting was that my father applied for his Italian citizenship in Los Angeles 6.5 months ago--with the IDENTICAL DOCUMENTS that I submitted! No questions asked of him in L.A.--everything was fine. I brought this up a couple of times, and the examiner was incredulous that L.A. could have accepted the documents in this form. The Chicago woman did tell me a couple of times that I should just wait for my dad to hear back that his application has been approved, and then submit a very simple application as the son of an Italian. She said that it shouldn't be longer than a 6 month turn around for my dad to get approved, but of course, it has already been 6.5 months and counting.
On the plus side, at least I have a file open in Chicago (even if they wouldn't take any of my original documents). And I can submit some of the new documents by e-mail, so I don't have to fly out from Colorado again. I enjoyed my first time in Chicago, but ending my trip with this meeting kind of put a damper on my trip...
Jeffrey