Consulate Delay
With reference to delays, it is unfortunately well known the condition of many Italian consulates in which there are very long waiting times, sometimes more than ten years, for the applicant’s convocation aimed at verifying the documentation proving descent from Italian ancestors. In particular, the Brazilian consulates, but not only, are suffering greatly due to the enormous amount of paperwork to be processed.
On this point it should be noted that on the subject of delays in the administrative procedure at the Consulates there has been in recent years a very important innovation such as to represent an additional tool, as a sort of third way, for the recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis.
Basically, this is the same procedure before the Italian civil courts that can be followed by descendants of the maternal line, but this time promoted by descendants of the paternal line who, having previously undertaken the administrative procedure at the competent Consulate, have seen the two-year period for the completion of the administrative procedure run to no end and consequently request that the ascertainment of their status civitatis be carried out through the courts. Therefore, given the sluggishness of the administration, the court replaces the latter with regard to ascertaining the applicant’s possession of the right to Italian citizenship iure sanguinis.
With the aforementioned appeal, the Consulate’s failure to comply with the terms of the administrative procedure is therefore presented in court, and, as mentioned above, it is requested that the ascertainment of the right be carried out by the court through the judicial reconstruction of the Italian descent.
Hence, the premise of the appeal is the Consulate’s delay, since it is evident that this circumstance is not only contrary to every principle of administrative action but also infringes on the right of the interested party to obtain, albeit negatively, the settlement of the proceedings within a reasonable time. Indeed, it is believed that the absolute uncertainty regarding the conclusion of the procedure is in fact the equivalent of the denial of the right itself.
That clarified, it is noted how in other circumstances the interested parties brought the case before the Tribunal even before the 730-day deadline had expired, showing how the Consulate in any case failed to meet that deadline. In these cases, evidence of the invitation to the Consulate at a date more than two years later is attached to the appeal. Or, if the applicant has not received any kind of appointment, attestations can be produced from the same Consulate acknowledging that the time for receiving and evaluating applications exceeds two years. In the absence of the attestation and appointment, the applicant can likewise proceed in court by proving the administration’s delay through the production of the waiting lists, attesting to the long delay, which can be found on the consulates’ websites.
In light of what has just been stated, the openness on the part of the Italian courts in favor of descendants of Italian ancestors in the paternal line appears to be of extraordinary relevance since, as seen, they too will be able to take legal action to exercise their rights, not only in the case of proven delay on the part of the Consulate in the completion of the administrative process but, even before that, simply by attaching to the appeal proof of the administration’s delay in completing the procedure within the time limits set by law.