Italian Passport

[dearleuk]

We are planning to retire in the next 3 or 4 years and would like to live in the Canary Islands for a good part of the year. We are going to buy some property over there.

Brexit means that people from the UK can only stay in a EU country for 90 days and then have to have a gap of 180 days before returning, far from ideal for us.

My mom was Irish so I have a Irish passport and dual nationality, so the 90 day rule will not apply to me, but wife only has a UK passport. Getting a Irish passport was fairly straight forward, it was all done online. My wife's grandfather was Italian and emigrated to the UK when he was a young man, we believe that she is entitled to have an Italian passport by descent, We have her dads birth and marriage certificates and are waiting on her Granddads marriage certificate to arrive. That should give us his date of birth.

After that things get complicated. We believe that all documents have to be translated to Italian for a start and the process doesn't appear to be able to be done online.

There are firms on the net who claim to manage the whole process for you, for a fee of course.

Has anyone on here been through the process? Any tips or recommendations?

 

[An Ankoù]

Yes.
Don't part with any money until you have to. These so called experts and facilitators are leaches.
Your wife is married to an EU national, she may not need a European passport in her own right. I think it's only t the UK that had the barbaric practice of breaking up families. Get onto the British embassy in Spain to find out what you really need.
Good luck.

EDIT
If it does turn out you need translations, it needs to be done by a certified translator registered with the Italian authorities. They charge for their services, but it shouldn't be ridiculously expensive. I had to have a French translation of my English birth certificate and I think it was about €50 or thereabouts.

2nd EDIT
Read the first paragraph of this:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-family/index_en.htm

 

[dearleuk]

Thank you, that's really helpful

 

[An Ankoù]

Thank you, that's really helpful

I've got a nice little villa on the island of La Palma going at a very reasonable price, if you're interested: GCH, all mod cons, avocado bathroom suite, one lady owner, etc, etc.