Miami, translations and apostilles

[gbrent]

I WENT ALL THE WAY TO ITALY AND FOUND MY DOCUMENTS!!!! Now I need to make the appointment with the Miami consulate.
Any experience with Miami's Consulate... Apostilles and translations for who and what?

My bloodflow:
-Great grandfather (Giovanni Chiono)
- Grandfather (John Chiono)
-Mother (Sherri Russell maiden name Chiono)
-Son (ME, Brent Russell)


For Apostilles do I just tell the lady at the counter at vital statistics "Oh hey, tack an apostille on that Birth cert for me will ya?".

What does Miami require for apostilles and translations... only the bloodline? And does bloodline mean marriage certificated too? I was reading someplace that they didn't even require translations or apostilles at all!!!!

Finally, How do I make the appointment with the consulate in Miami? I live in Orlando. Do I just email them? I was looking on their site but I can not find anyplace to make appointments.

[Jennifer]

All documents that did not originate in Italy need translations and apostilles. This is a requirement of the Italian government; your paperwork will be eventually sent to Italy to process your citizenship. The exception to this is the certificate of naturalization, if you have one, because it is a federal document.

To get an apostille, you will need to go through the Secretary of State office for the state from which your document came. Here are the links to apostille information for each state (taken from http://italiancitizenship.freeforums.org):

Alabama: http://www.sos.state.al.us/AdminServices/Authentications.aspx
Arizona: http://www.azsos.gov/business_services/notary/Apostille.htm
Arkansas: http://www.sosweb.state.ar.us/corp_ucc_authentication_docs.html
California: http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/authentication.htm
Colorado: http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/notary/apostille.htm
Connecticut: http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3132&q=395696
Delaware: http://corp.delaware.gov/apost_info.shtml and http://corp.delaware.gov/reqguide.shtml
Florida: http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/notproc7.html
Georgia: http://www.gsccca.org/Projects/apost.asp
Hawaii: http://hawaii.gov/ltgov/office/apostilles
Idaho: http://www.idsos.state.id.us/notary/apostill.htm
Illinois: http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/index/divisions.html#notary and http://www.cookctyclerk.com/sub/authenticating_notaries_apostilles.asp
Indiana: http://www.in.gov/sos/business/apostille/
Iowa: http://www.sos.state.ia.us/contactus.html
Kansas: http://www.kssos.org/business/notary_public/certifications.html
Kentucky: http://www.sos.ky.gov/adminservices/apostilles.htm
Louisiana: http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/134/Default.aspx
Maine: http://maine.gov/sos/cec/notary/apostilles.html
Maryland: http://www.sos.state.md.us/Certifications/certifications.htm
Massachusetts: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/precom/comidx.htm
Michigan: http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1638_8734---,00.html
Minnesota: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=984
Mississippi: http://www.sos.state.ms.us/busserv/notaries/notaries%20and%20apostilles.asp
Missouri: http://www.sos.mo.gov/business/commissions/certify.asp
Montana: http://sos.mt.gov/Notary/Certifications/index.asp
Nebraska: http://www.sos.state.ne.us/business/notary/not_auth.html
Nevada: http://sos.state.nv.us/business/apostille/index.asp
New Hampshire: http://www.sos.nh.gov/certific.htm
New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/revenue/dcr/programs/apostilles.htm
New Mexico: http://www.sos.state.nm.us/sos-Apostille.html
New York: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/corp/apostile.htm
North Carolina: http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/authen/
North Dakota: http://www.nd.gov/sos/notaryserv/certifications.html
Ohio: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/authentication.aspx
Oklahoma: http://www.sos.state.ok.us/general/general_home.htm
Oregon: http://www.sos.state.or.us/corporation/notary/howtoauth.htm
Pennsylvania: http://www.dos.state.pa.us/notaries/cwp/view.asp?a=1250&q=445147
Rhode Island: http://www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/apostille/authen.html/document_view
South Carolina: http://www.scsos.com/Apostilles
South Dakota: http://sdsos.gov/adminservices/apostilles.shtm
Tennessee: http://tennessee.gov/sos/bus_svc/apostillesFAQs.htm
Texas: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml
Utah: http://governor.utah.gov/authentications/
Vermont: http://vermont-archives.org/notary/guide/Notary5.htm
Virginia: http://www.soc.state.va.us/OfficialDocuments/Authentications/authentications.cfm
Washington (State): http://www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/apostilles/
Washington D.C.: http://os.dc.gov/os/cwp/view,a,1207,q,522462,osNav,|31376|.asp
West Virginia: http://www.wvsos.com/execrecords/other/authentication_copy(1).htm
Wisconsin: http://www.sos.state.wi.us/apostilles.htm
Wyoming: http://soswy.state.wy.us/AdminServices/AuthenticationOverview.aspx

From what other posters here have said, Miami does not require death certificates, and only wants documents from the direct line.

Miami uses an appointment service called Abtran. You have to call a 900 number to make an appointment, or call an 800 number and give your credit card information. The cost of the call is $2.49 per minute. Click on the Consular Services link on the main page of the consular website to get to the citizenship information page. The phone number for Abtran is there.

[gbrent]

Hmmm. ok so I was checking out the consulate of Miami's website. It says that the wait for a meeting is 1 year! Is this for real? Can anyone confirm that it is actually one year or do they just say that so we expect the worst?

[Jennifer]

It is a year. I made my appointment last month for May 2010. Some consulates are even longer.

[vaguido]

Each consulate works a little differently. I'll give you my recent Miami consulate experience to give you a point of reference.

I obtained apositles for ALL documents, but the officer mainly took documents in the blood line. I think she took one other document out of the blood line due to a discrepency with the birth mother.

I was prepared with translations for all blood line documents, but I was only asked for MY birth certificate in Italian. (So much time went to preparing these documents!!)

If it makes you feel any better, I called in August 2008 and obtained an appointment in July 2009. Make sure you have all discrepencies cleaned up before the appointment. Even one letter variances can cause your application to be denied.

Good luck!

[Destin2BeItaliano]

Wow Jennifer you were fortunate, I made my appointment on August 7, 2009 and the earliest date they had was August 5, 2010. Although since I'm still awaiting a few documents it's probably best. The only one I'm concerned about is the Certification of Non-Existence arriving on time.

[Tonio70]

I am also going through the Miami Consulate, actually through the same descendant line as yourself, GGF, GF, Mother, Me. Here is a little more information that may be helpful: You can make an appointment through the Consulate in person, though it is only a recommendation, I made an appointment in March 2009 for August 27, 2010. Maybe I should have used Abtran. I have been there a couple of times asking questions since the Website is confusing, I have read from other posts that they require an Certificate of Citizenship, I was never told I needed one for my GGF. I was told that I need all documents directly related to my Italian lineage, all original documents with Apostilles and translations, except for Naturalization document which can just be a copy. She said a copy of the Naturalization is acceptable since they are only looking to see if Naturalization occured after my GF's birth. They did ask me to get any documents relating to my father, he is not a direct descendant but they did request any documents (Birth certificate etc.) The lady also made clear to me that the translation of all US documents need to be accurate as well. I need to point out that if there are minor disceprancies with spellings of name (Italian name such as Giovanni, and another document says John) that it would be acceptable. I am assuming they are more or less looking for complete differences in names, dates etc. Just make sure any documents from the US are certified, long form, and have Apostille from the state it was issued from. Hope this was helpful.

A.