Italian municipalities and parishes have discovered the Italian citizenship industry. To search for the records of an Italian born before 1900, some Italian municipalities are charging up to 100 euros – about R$ 650.
This is the case of Casalmaggiore, a city in the Lombardy region, province of Cremona, with around 14 thousand inhabitants.
The municipality doubled the fee in 2022: it went from 50 to 100 euros for the “laborious” civil registry process, precisely because “there was a great demand”, according to a report from La Provincia, from Cremona.
“We realize that it is a very laborious and time-consuming service”, says the councilor Sara Manfredi, who voted to increase the rate.
Second Franca Filipazzi, head of the Institutional Sector and Administrative Services at Casalmaggiore, every month hundreds of research requests arrive, mainly from Brazil, Argentina and the United States.
“Over the last year, requests for genealogical research have increased. In most cases, the desire for rediscovery combines with the need to obtain the documents, including birth or marriage certificates of ancestors, necessary to acquire jure sanguinis Italian citizenship,” says Filipazzi.
But Casalmaggiore is not alone. The industry of Italian citizenship caused an avalanche of requests in municipalities, mainly in northern Italy.
by law, the issuance of civil registration certificates in Italy must be free, however the rule does not apply to historical research services.
Until recently, some city halls only charged reimbursement for shipping costs abroad.
This is the case of Refrontollo, in the province of Treviso, Veneto. There, it does not matter whether the applicant has the complete details of the certificate he needs. The municipality charged 20 euros – around R$130 – to issue the document. Value well above the stamp to send to Brazil, for example (around 3 euros).
The practice of charging for certificates comes with the seal of “offer” in Italian churches.
Em Lucca, for example, the cost of a certificate sent abroad costs €70 – around R$455. The value rises to €135 if the document is requested in the diocese of Chioggia, in the province of Venice.
Civil status records were instituted in 1866. Prior to that, historical records are found in parishes.
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