How Long Does Citizenship by Descent Take?
The total timeline from start to finish is typically 1-3 years, though some countries are faster. The process has two phases: document gathering (3-12 months) and government processing (3-24 months).
Processing Times by Country
| Country | Document Phase | Processing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominican Republic | 2-4 months | 4-8 months | 6-12 months |
| Poland | 3-6 months | 3-12 months | 6-18 months |
| Ireland | 1-3 months | 12-18 months | 13-21 months |
| Italy (consulate) | 6-12 months | 6-12 months | 12-24 months |
| Italy (1948 court) | 6-12 months | 12-24 months | 18-36 months |
| Germany | 3-6 months | 12-24 months | 15-30 months |
What Takes the Longest?
Document gathering is usually the bottleneck. You need birth, marriage, and death certificates for every person in your lineage. USCIS FOIA requests for naturalization records take 3-6 months alone. Italian consulate appointment wait times can add 6-24 months.
How to Speed It Up
- Start FOIA requests immediately — they run in parallel with other document gathering
- Order all vital records at once from different states/counties
- Consider hiring a genealogist for complex lineage research
- For Italy, consider applying in Italy directly (no consulate wait)
