American looking to move to Italy

2 years ago by Comrade Spood to c/askitaly

Hi, me and my family are looking to move to Italy as we have ancestry that could probably get us citizenship, and we are trying to get out of America due to probably obvious reasons. I need help answering these questions:

1. Are there any colleges that have education degrees that are taught in english? I am currently pursuing a degree in Secondary Education to become a high school history teacher at my local college and need to find a college (ideally in Italy) where I could transfer to.
1. Are there any entry level jobs that are good for english speakers?
1. What are the most trans friendly cities in Italy?
1. Best ways to learn Italian? Especially anyone willing to help me learn.
1. Any advice in general anyone can provide for someone trying to move to Italy.

akesi_seli 10 points 2 years ago

Even admitting Italy has ever been freed from f4asc1sm after 1945 (spoiler: it wasn't), the pinnacle was reached in 2022 when the current far-right government was elected. Listen to me, you are safer in the U.S. no matter what. Italy is not a friendly place for any LGBTQIA+ person, nor for foreigners in general. Moreover, its economic outlook is glooming, many companies are shutting down, inflation is skyrocketing as well as public debt. If you like the Mediterranean climate and want a decent country with decent people and welfare, consider Spain or France. And forget about your ancestry, your ancestors were emigrants for really good reasons.

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Comrade_Spood 3 points 2 years ago

What ever you think about the American situation, it is far worse than you think. In two days they have removed protections against racial and gender discrimination, passed an executive order defining what a man and a woman is (one that goes against a middle school understanding of biology), effectively got rid of all DEI programs and departments, making it so children have to be molested to prove they are not identifying as a different gender when trying to join sports, and are going to be checking people's sex before they can enter bathrooms.

But I do think you are right that Italy might be worth avoiding, but we are gonna need to get citizenship through them as they are the easiest, and Europe is the safest place for us. I think we might stay in the Netherlands while we pursue Italian citizenship.

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akesi_seli 3 points 2 years ago

2025 has started in Italy with a series of public aggressions to gay people, there is no law against homophobia or transphobia (which make homofobic people feel legitimated), there is no marriage equality or possibility to adopt (even lesbians living with their partner and having some children from previous relationships have been taken away their own children), and nobody even questioned there being more than two genders here, don't forget the Vatican is close. If any member of your entourage belongs to the LGBTQ community, avoid Italy as the plague, they would not be safe here. Btw: did I mention that public offices don't run properly due to lack of money? If you apply for citizenship now maybe your grandchildren will be able to have it in 25 years or so.

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akesi_seli 3 points 2 years ago

I forgot to add: of course I'm from the place.

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contracode 3 points 2 years ago

I had my Italian citizenship recognized a couple years back, in preparation for what happened in November and earlier this week.

The best city, from what I've heard, would be Bologna. It's supposed to be the most liberal city in all of Italy. However, the current government is not favorable to LGBTQIA+ people.

That says, Italian citizenship grants you the right of domicile in 27 countries, I believe. Consisting of the EU, Iceland, and Panama. (Going from memory.)

One thing to consider is that the law surrounding recognition of Italian citizenship through blood has changed. As of October 3, 2024, a new interpretation of an old law made it so 80% of those who could claim citizenship, now cannot.

There are services you can hire to evaluate whether you are eligible. I hired My Italian Family to provide that initial consultation, then I gathered most of the documents myself.

That said, what worked for me may not work for you. I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. I'm also not qualified to give life advice. I'm merely sharing my experience.

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Comrade_Spood 2 points 2 years ago

How'd the law change? Last I check the person needed to be a citizen since the creation of Italy as a unified country and had to be a citizen when their child was born. My great-grandfather emmigrated to the US from Sicily and never naturalized as an American citizen, so he died an Italian citizen despite living in the US when my grandfather was born. Getting documentation to find out when he was born though.

Also what service did you use to find out eligibility?

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contracode 2 points 2 years ago

"My Italian Family" is the name of the service.

The law changed to reflect that when your ancestor naturalized, if his/her child (your relative) was a minor (18 or 21, depending on the date your ancestor naturalized), then the child lost Italian citizenship too.

The reason this matters is that your ancestor who emigrated lost citizenship, period, when naturalized. But if s/he had children before naturalization, then the children might be citizens.

The "might be" used to be "are". It didn't matter if the child was a minor until very recently, on October 3rd.

If you don't want to use the company above to evaluate whether you are eligible, the Dual U.S.-Italian Citizenship group on Facebook is invaluable (I use a shill account there) and their website, dualusitalian.com has all of the details too.

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Comrade_Spood 3 points 2 years ago

My great-grandfather never naturalized, he stayed in America through a green card and visas until his death

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contracode 4 points 2 years ago

That supports your case! Buona fortuna, amico/a!

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trolololol 1 point 2 years ago

Instead of Italy consider other countries upsides such as

Australia: education is expensive but language, culture etc is quite close

Canada: I don't know enough to comment

North of Europe: free college with some sort of scholarship even for foreigners, college taught in English, path to citizenship which is also a path to live anywhere in Europe, all of that with less paperwork than Italian citizenship request.

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Comrade_Spood 1 point 2 years ago

Right now we are considering Malta. We are gonna pursue Italian citizenship through jure sanguinis, but also pursue citizenship through naturalization in Malta possibly. We just need citizenship somewhere in the Schengen Area

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lorentz 2 points 2 years ago

Consider Ireland, it is not Shengen but it is EU, meaning that you can freely travel only after you get the citizenship. But you can get it after 5 years you lived in the country, as far as I know it is one of the easiest (if not easier) EU country to get it. Also you wouldn't have language issues. I'm not sure how difficult is to get a working visa tho.

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trolololol 1 point 2 years ago

Well you want to live in Italy with speaking anything other than English, so I'm just saying, go to a Schengen place where that's easier and no citizenship required.

If your thing is living in Italy fine, but if you're flexible there's easier ways to do all the other things.

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Comrade_Spood 1 point 2 years ago

Yeah we are now considering Malta. Other suggestions are appreciated

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