Italian Citizenship Acquired
Yes! We’ve done it.
Earlier this month my letter came from the Italian consulate officially congratulating me on my citizenship (and my son’s). It was such an amazing feeling to finally complete the process. It’s been so long in the making I’m not really sure how to celebrate. Nothing seems sufficient.
I took pictures and shared them on social media, texted my mom and my sister, did a little jig, and kissed the wife. I should probably hire a sky-writer or a mariachi band or something.
Next up we have an appointment in early September at the consulate to get our passports and codice fiscale (like an Italian social security number). After that the world is our oyster!
But seriously, there’s a few things to follow up with. For one, my wife can get citizenship as well via marriage, but we’re not 100% sure if that’s necessary or desirable. Mainly it comes down to whether she’d have to give up her US citizenship in the process. If it were me, I’d be all in for that, but she wants to keep hers. We’ll ask the consulate when we visit in a couple weeks.
After that we’re starting online skype lessons in Icelandic. I want to be able to “get by” with my language skills before heading over. My expectation is that with about 6 months hard work I can get there. Meanwhile we’re putting our house up on the market. Once that sells we’ll rent for a few months before making the big move.
Currently my plan is to work a few months once we’re in the apartment and give my son a chance to finish up his school year, or at least half the year. Then I’ll see if my company is willing to keep me on remote in Iceland or if I’ll need to resign. If I do resign, I’ll move over to Reykjavik myself and put in the paperwork to stay while looking for work. The job market for tech workers is pretty solid, and I’m confident I’ll be able to find something, especially as the company won’t need to sponsor me for a work visa since I’ll be coming in as part of the Schengen Agreement.
Once work is established I can file for residency for the first year and the rest of the family can come join me. I’ll need to file once a year for each year for the first four years before I can get permanent residency.
The website information on immigration to Iceland is pretty good. I think the only hurdle to decide upon at this point is the health insurance stuff. If I were to move to Italy I can join the national health plan, but I don’t think I can do that when moving direct to Iceland. I will probably be fine after the first 6 months, but during that initial period I might need to pay out of pocket for health coverage. More to research!
There’s a lot of next steps, but they’re all that… “NEXT”. I can finally close the chapter on this first effort. My son has dual citizenship and that’s the big accomplishment I’ve been hoping for. Seventeen years, what a ride!