Are you applying for Italian citizenship or residency? Prepare to hear that you have a “discordanza”: your documents don’t match each other.
Italian bureaucracy requires exact matches across all your documents.
Your name spelled slightly differently on two documents? Rejected. A middle name that exists on one document but not another? Problem. Your official translator didn’t use the right type of stamp, and stamp every page? Problem.
I wish I were joking. I had to fly to Rome to swear that the me that was born in New York, USA (as my passport said) was the same me who was born in the town in New York that was written on my birth certificate. That’s right, the town not being on my passport was considered non-matching documents, and these don’t fix themselves.
At one point, I spoke to the people who help foreigners fill out documents. They said that my mismatched birth place was nothing compared to people who come from places like Morocco or Ukraine, whose documents are in non-Latin characters. Imagine every document spelling your name or birthplace differently because of how it’s translated or transliterated from another language. It would be like my documents saying I was born in “New York” but then “Nu York” but then “Nyoo Yawk,” etc.
The fix is usually an official declaration, sometimes called a “dichiarazione sostitutiva.”
You swear that yes, these two things “intend” to say the same thing or represent the same person. You might need this from your original country’s consulate. It takes time and it’s frustrating, but it’s solvable.
Your name on your passport is your legal name in Italy.
I go by “Debbie” and always have, but my passport uses “Deborah” plus a middle name. For a little privacy, let’s not use my real middle name. Let’s say my name is Deborah Elizabeth Levitt. Italians who see my documents call me “Deborah Elizabeth.” They think that’s my name like some people are named “Maria Laura” or “Gianfranco.”
Nothing you can do here but offer your shorter name once they get to know you. In my case, Italians looking at my name written “Debbie” will write “Debby.” Even nine years later. I’ve given up!
Use that name everywhere.
In America, I bought every flight for decades using the name “Deborah Levitt.” Even though my driver’s license and passport have my middle name, culturally, Americans know the middle name is optional. I’d never been told that my documents didn’t match on any flight or at any border.
In Italy, I was once almost blocked at flight check-in because I hadn’t entered “Deborah Elizabeth” as my first name on the ticket. I was told they wouldn’t let me on the flight because the ticket only says “Deborah,” and why did I leave part of my first name off? We had to spend a half hour reissuing the ticket, calling managers, etc. It was scary and ugly.
Everything I buy or fill out officially in Italy must have my first and middle names as my first name. If you have a middle name on your passport, use it in Italy everywhere and on everything. Don’t use it sometimes or randomly. Your docs must always match.
Don’t wait until your application is rejected to discover this.
Audit your documents early, and get help if things don’t line up.
It’s one of the many things we help people with! The first call is always free. Ci vediamo!