Keep the envelope!  I have read that the consulate will want the documents in the envelope they came in from the USICS including any staples intact and/or any optical media that may have been included.  This milestone assumes you are in the United States like I am.  I do not have much info on obtaining these documents from other Country's governments.  I'm sure it's just as flaming hoops as this one.

In the last milestone I wrote about, Request Estratto dell'atto di Nascita, the official document I would somehow have to acquire from Italy, I knew that I would also need to get my GGF Certificate of Naturalization which you can only get from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, also known as the USCIS.

Important Money Saving Note!

The search that you request from USCIS is to obtain the "C number".  If you have the Certificate of Naturalization from your Italian born ancestor, you do not need to search for the C number, it's right there.  In my case "1642414".  You can go ahead and request your documents with the number.  I did not know this. 

First thing I wish I knew before contacting the USCIS

Turns out, the search, if successful, will result in an email sent back to you saying good news: we have found your ancestor's document and the "C-File" is C-1234567

1. You send a search request to the USCIS $65

2. They search and and send the results to you.

3. If they didn't find anything, you have the email to prove it  - Otherwise - You send the request for the documents, again $65

4. They send the stapled copies they send to you in a yellow envelope (don't lose the envelope and don't take out any staples)

5. Scan it in if you want, and then give it all away to the consulate, Forever.

Before I started my search and request for my GGF Certificate of Naturalization, I had read someone's post on the Facebook group that she had just gotten her documents from the USCIS after 1 year, 3 months of waiting.  Yeesh.  This was April of 2019 when I did my search.  I guess I got really lucky because the search took 2 months, and then I believe it took another 5 months to get the actual documents.  About 7 months total.  I hear post COVID, things are backed up 2 years (saw rumor on reddit, 6/22).

When you do this process, you are given a login to the USCIS so you can see the progress they are making which is helpful.

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