So....DCF is only for US Citizens who LIVE abroad. My daughter and her new husband are just starting the DCF process in hopes of moving back to the states sometime after the first of the year. She arrived in Italy (Naples area) last February 2007. Got their Nulla Osta in early March 2007, which is now more than 6 months ago. They were married July 30 and she's just recently gotten her Italian residence card. Do you have any idea if the 6 months requirement to be able to file directly at the consulate can be based on when she arrived and/or got her Nulla Osta or will it be based on when she officially got her residency?

I think your daughter should probably just call the USCIS office in Rome and ask them if they'll accept her petition. I don't know if they use the six-month guideline or not. If so, I would assume they base it on the date of the "permesso di soggiorno" which is the normal document granting permission to stay in Italy for some specified time period. I think the "nulla osta" is just a paper granting permission to have your wedding in Italy and doesn't have anything to do with residency. Is that right? I never had such a thing because we had our wedding in the US, though we live in Italy. Anyway, have her call the office. Maybe they won't mind that the permesso has just been granted.

Thanks so much -- I'll pass along your suggestion. They have limited Internet access right now so I'm doing some of the research for her. You're right, the Nulla Osta just grants permission to marry in Italy. She was just hoping/thinking that maybe they would accept is as proof of the length of time she's been in the country.

They may well accept it as part of the length of her residency in Italy. When I applied in London, they accepted the time I spent on a student visa even though at that time their official rule was that you had to have indefinite leave to remain. So do please encourage her to ask the embassy (I'm sorry if that was the plan already and it just wasn't clear to me from your comment).