Citizenship
CITIZENSHIP BY FILIATION/DESCENDANCE (“iure sanguinis”)
The request for recognition of Italian citizenship is allowed upon request by the person concerned, as long as he/she is over 18 years of age, and can be presented, abroad, exclusively to the Consular Office in the country of legal residence.
Appointments for submitting an application for recognition of citizenship by descent and for residual cases of an application for recognition of the automatic acquisition of citizenship by a foreign woman married to an Italian citizen before 27/04/1983 (art.10, law 13.6. 1912 n.555), who has never been the holder of Italian documents or registered in an Italian registry office, can be requested exclusively through the new “Prenot@Mi” portal.
For any further information, if not available on our website, write to dublino.cittadinanza@esteri.it
Regulatory notes
The child of parents (father or mother) who are Italian citizens is an Italian citizen. Citizenship is transmitted from parent to child without generation limits, with the condition that none of the ancestors has ever renounced citizenship.
The transmission of citizenship through the maternal line is possible only for children born after 1 January 1948.
The minor child cohabiting with the parent also acquires Italian citizenship on the date on which the latter acquires or reacquires Italian citizenship.
Unlike in the past, the legislation now in force allows you to have dual citizenship, of the foreign country and of Italy.
Starting from 16 August 1992, Italian citizens who acquire foreign citizenship do not lose their Italian citizenship unless they expressly renounce it, except as provided for by international conventions. Prior to that date, loss was automatic. In this case it is possible to repurchase it after at least one year of legal residence in Italy.
Documents to submit in originals plus a copy
- Application Form CLICK HERE
- Proof of residence in this consular district: Long-term residence permit.
(We do not accept applications from students that are temporary resident in Ireland.
- Documentation of the ancestor born in Italy;
-Original birth certificate issued by the Italian Municipality and containing the indications of paternity and maternity;
-Marriage certificate (plus any divorce/remarriage);
-Death certificate (if deceased) copy of a valid identification document, if alive;
– Certificate of non-naturalization issued by the authorities of the country in which he resided (valid for six months from the time of issue) showing all the variants of the name and surname as resulting from the various civil status documents, even though corrected on the certificates.
Important: The documentation must be presented in full starting from the progenitor (ancestor born in Italy) and also if there is a recognition of citizenship of another family member, carried out at another Consulate or at an Italian municipality.
In the event that the Italian descendant was naturalized, it will be necessary to present the relative naturalization sentence from which it is possible to deduce the exact date of acquisition of foreign citizenship. The naturalization of the Italian ancestry could in fact lead to the loss of the right to the recognition of the Italian citizenship of the descendants.
- b) Documentation of EACH of the descendants in a straight line
- Birth certificate;
- Marriage certificate (plus any divorce/remarriage);
- Death certificate (if deceased);
- Documentation of the applicant for citizenship;
- Birth certificate of your own and of any minor children;
- Possible marriage certificate (plus any divorce/remarriage)
- Passport copy.
Important: The exact and complete personal details of the ancestor born in Italy (name, surname, place and date of birth) are absolutely essential and the lack of such data makes it impossible to process the file.
Important: All foreign deeds, sentences and certificates must be legalized by the Italian diplomatic/consular representation in the issuing country or bear the “Apostille” affixed by the competent foreign authority in the countries adhering to the Hague Convention of 10.5.1961. Official translations performed in Italy, must be certified by the Italian Court.
Important: In case one of the family member, other the mother or father has received already the Italian citizenship full documentation, starting ancestor born in Italy must be submitted.
Important: In the event that a direct family member, mother / father, has received Italian citizenship, it will be necessary to produce only the following certificats issued by the Italian Municipality of registration of the family member.
- Extract of the birth record (Estratto atto di nascita);
- Extract of the marriage record (Estratto atto di nascita);
- Certificate of citizenship.
To follow:
- Applicant’s original birth certificate with Apostille if issued in a country outside the EU and its translation in Italian with Apostille if issued outside the EU.
For documents issued in Ireland, for which either a legalization or Apostille is required, a true translation in Italian of the certificate must be produced CLICK HERE
The consular contribution for the treatment of the application for recognition of Italian citizenship of an adult person is equal to euro 300.00. The fee must be collected at the time the application is submitted and is independent of the outcome of the assessment. Therefore, the amount will not be refunded in case of rejection of the application.
Payment must be made by Debit card.
All persons over the age of 18 who apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) and in the residual cases of an application for recognition of the automatic acquisition of citizenship by the foreign woman married to a citizen are required to pay the tax. Italian before 27/04/1983 (art.10, law 13.6.1912 n.555), who has never been the holder of Italian documents nor registered in an Italian registry office.
Applications for recognition of citizenship – in any capacity – presented in the name of minors are exempt from contributions.
Important: The declarations of election of citizenship determined by filiation and ascertained in the child’s majority through recognition or judicial declaration (art.2, paragraph 2, law n. 91 of 02/05/1992) instead fall within (as in the cases of purchase , repurchase and renunciation) in the provisions of art. 14 of Legislative Decree 113 of 4 October 2018 and are subject to the payment of the contribution of euro 250 in favour of the Ministry of the Interior, having to be signed within one year from the date of recognition or judicial declaration.
ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE OR CIVIL UNION Regulatory notes
Those who apply for Italian citizenship by marriage or civil union must be aware of their duties towards the Italian Republic, first of all the adherence to national values and the irreproachability of conduct.
The acquisition of citizenship by the foreign or stateless spouse who abdicates marriage to an Italian citizen starting from 27 April 1983 is currently regulated by Law 91 of 5 February 1992 (articles 5,5,7 and 8) and subsequent amendments .
Citizenship applications can also be submitted by foreign citizens who have formed a civil union with an Italian citizen registered in the civil status registers of the Italian municipality (Legislative Decrees 5,6 and 7 /2017)
The foreign spouse/part of the civil union can acquire Italian citizenship upon application, in the presence of the requirements established by current legislation, as explained in the following sections.
Requirements for applying for citizenship
- Residence in the consular district;
The applicant must address the application to the competent diplomatic-consular mission for his residence;
- The spouse/part of the civil union of Italian nationality must be resident and duly registered in the register of Italians residing abroad (A.I.R.E.) of the consular district of competence and cohabiting at the same address as the applicant for citizenship;
otherwise, you must provide documentation proving the motivation (e.g. work, children’s schooling, medical treatment or other), which determines or has determined the need for separate domicile.
Deadlines for submission: the application can be submitted three years after the marriage/civil union if the spouse is an Italian citizen by descent; in the case of naturalization after marriage, the three years start from the date of naturalization of the spouse. The three years are reduced to one and a half years in the presence of minor children born or adopted by the spouses.
Important: Marriage/civil partnership transcription: if it took place abroad, it must have been registered at the Municipality of Italy.
For the purpose of conferring Italian citizenship, at the date of adoption of the decree, the following must not have occurred:
- Dissolution, annulment or termination of the civil effects of the marriage/civil union (legal separation, divorce, death of the spouse or part of the civil union;
- Absence of convictions by the Italian judicial authorities for crimes for which a penalty of more than three years’ imprisonment is envisaged;
- Absence of convictions by foreign judicial authorities to a sentence exceeding one year for non-political crimes;
- Absence of convictions for crimes against the personality of the State;
- Absence of impediments to the security of the Republic;
- Knowledge of the Italian language not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). DETAIL AS FOLLOWS;
- Payment of fees and receipts indicated in the documents and costs section.
Documents required for applying for citizenship
Extract from the birth certificate or equivalent: in original, possibly issued no later than six months from the country of birth, complete with all personal details (including paternal
and maternity), duly legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian. In the event of a change of surname, voluntarily or following marriage, the birth certificate must bear the relative annotation.
Important: Certificates issued by EU Member States: EU Regulation 2016/1191 provides for exemptions from legalizations for numerous certificates issued by EU Member States (with the exception of the penal certificate for which exemptions are limited to citizens of the State who issues the certificate). The “multilingual standard model” required by the aforementioned Regulation can be attached as a valid translation to these documents, to be requested from the certificate issuing office.
The translation must be direct from the foreign language into Italian.
Translations from any foreign language into Italian performed in other countries must be legalized with an apostille in the country who issued it OR at the Italian consular office present in the issuing country OR in Italy sworn by the official translator at any Italian Court, with payment of the related stamp duty. Translations must be legalized BEFORE attaching the documents to the application.
For documents issued in Ireland for which legalization or Apostille is not required, a copy of conformity must be produced click here clicca qui
Criminal Records Certificate of the country of origin and of any third countries of residence (starting from 14 years of age) – except Italy – and of the countries of which you hold the citizenship, in original, issued no later than six months six months before the submission of the application, regardless of the validity present on the foreign certificate, duly legalized / apostilled and translated into Italian.
For documents issued in Ireland for which legalization or Apostille is not required, a copy of conformity must be produced click here clicca qui
To request the Irish criminal record https://garda.ie/en/about-us/online-services/data-protection-foi-police-certificates/police-certificates.html
Receipt of the payment of euro 250.00 in favour of the Ministry of the Interior in the manner indicated in the “Costs” section.
Important: This contribution must not be paid into the account of the Embassy.
Identity document, photocopy of valid passport (pages with personal data, photograph, date of issue and expiry) or valid identity card for expatriation.
Copy of the marriage certificate or summary extract from the marriage register, to be requested from the competent Italian Municipality in which the deed is transcribed, possibly issued no later than six months before the application. This document can be entered at the time of submitting the application under the heading “generic document” and will be presented at the time of the summons to the consular offices.
If the applicant is an EU citizen, he can use the self-certification instead of the marriage certificate, family record and citizenship certificate of the spouse / part of the civil union (DPR 445/2000).
Certificate of knowledge of the Italian language at least level B1 of the Common European Framework (CEFR) or qualification issued by a public or equivalent educational institution recognized by the Ministry of Education, University and Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international cooperation.
The CLIQ (Italian Quality Certification) certification bodies – possibly in collaboration with local Italian cultural institutes – are exclusively the University for Foreigners of Perugia, the Roma Tre University and the Dante Alighieri Society.
Certified Italian Language Courses are available at the Italian Institute of Culture. Link to follow:
Important: The following are not required to present the certificate of knowledge of the Italian language:
- Foreigners (even if residing abroad) who have signed the integration agreement referred to in Article 4 bis of Legislative Decree. n. 286/1998 Consolidated Law on Immigration.
- Holders who have/ had an ITALIAN long-term or unlimited resident permit ireferred to in Article 9 of the same Consolidated Law on Immigration. (2-bis. The issuance of the EU residence permit for long-term residents is subject to the successful completion by the applicant of a test of knowledge of the Italian language, the procedures for carrying out which are determined by decree of the Minister of the Interior, in agreement with the Minister of Education, University and Research. In the case of an EC residence permit issued for carrying out research activities at universities and bodies supervised by the Ministry of Education, University and Research referred to in Legislative Decree 31 December 2009, n. 213, it is not required to pass the test referred to in the first sentence.
Registration
The applicant must register on the portal of the Ministry of the Interior.
It should be noted that the email address declared on the portal when submitting the online application constitutes an elected domicile (art. 47 of the civil code), frequent consultation of one’s email and the application portal is therefore necessary as all communications relating to the citizenship application, including requests for document integration, convocations, notifications of measures, etc., will only take place via WEB.
Instance Insertion (AE Template)
Once registered, the applicant will be able to proceed with completing the “online” application and inserting all the required documents on the appropriate portal of the Ministry of the Interior:
https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/AliCittadinanza/ali/home.htm
Any question of a technical nature or content relating to the online application must be resolved by contacting the Ministry of the Interior directly, which has set up an assistance service with dedicated FAQs and Help Desks.
Notes for completing the online application
The date and place of birth as indicated in the birth certificate must be entered in the registration form.
The general information indicated in deeds and documents drawn up abroad by the competent foreign authorities must be reported. In case of discrepancies, provide supporting documentation.
The name indicated in the application, i.e. that of the birth certificate, will be the name with which the Italian document will then be issued once the oath has been taken.
The name of the applicant must also include the patronymic, if any. The surname to be used is the one resulting from the birth certificate, unless subsequent changes have occurred. If this is the case, the new surname must be used, i.e. the surname acquired as a result of marriage or a sentence. The surname used in completing the application must in turn coincide with the one present in the certificate (or extract) of the marriage certificate, in the criminal record and in other documents.
Important: if in the certificate or in the extract of the Italian marriage certificate the applicant appears with the maiden/single surname, the system will ask to enter also the foreign marriage or other document showing the change of surname, such as described above. It will not be possible to change the name and surname once the application has been uploaded.
Specify in the application the possible presence of minor children of the applicant, born from a previous relationship.
The Consular Office will be automatically informed of the submission of the application and will proceed with the necessary checks.
The applicant will then receive, electronically via the portal of the Ministry of the Interior, a communication relating to the acceptance or the reason for the inadmissibility.
If the application is accepted, the applicant will be summoned, electronically, to the diplomatic-consular mission for the authentication of the signature affixed to the citizenship application, for the delivery of all the original paper documents including those already sent electronically via the Portal, for the collection or verification of payment of the envisaged consular fees.
All the above documentation will be kept in original by the diplomatic-consular mission, with the exception of the passport and the linguistic certificate, for which a certified copy will be made with the relative payments.
Evaluation and terms of the proceeding
The evaluation of the application and the definition of the procedure are the exclusive competence of the Ministry of the Interior: 24 months from the date of submission of the application – extendable up to a maximum of 36 months – for citizenship applications presented starting from 20 December 2020 (date of entry into force of Law 18 December 2020 n. 173). If at the end of the evaluation of the file the procedure is concluded positively, the Ministry of the Interior will send the Decree conferring Italian citizenship to the diplomatic-consular representation competent for the residence of the interested party.
Decree, notification and oath
The Decree conferring Italian citizenship will be notified – via the portal – by communication addressed to the email indicated by the applicant during registration. At the time of the notification, documents will also be requested – required by national legislation – aimed at verifying the permanence of the marital bond. These documents must be dated after the adoption of the decree:
complete marriage certificate issued by the competent Italian Municipality.
penal certificate from the country of current residence, duly legalized and translated (see documents section).
certificate of existence in life of the spouse/part of the Italian civil union if he/she is not present at the time of the oath.
At the date of adoption of the decree, therefore, the dissolution, annulment or termination of the civil effects of the marriage or civil union or personal separation (separation sentence) must not have occurred.
Within and no later than six months from the notification, the interested party will be summoned to the consular offices, to swear an oath of loyalty to the Republic and its laws.
The payment of the revenue stamp is foreseen on the decree.
- The integral marriage deed must be requested from the Italian municipality in whose registers the deed is transcribed;
- An up to date of the Police Certificate is also required.
to the competent authorities in the country of residence and must be in compliance with the provisions on legalisation/apostille and translation, as explained in the “documents” section.
The effects of the oath, i.e. the acquisition of Italian citizenship, will be effective starting from the day following that of the oath.
The original birth certificate will be sent for transcription to the Italian Municipality of reference together with the request for registration in the AIRE and the record of the oath. If the application has been presented to a different Office and the original of the deed or birth certificate is deposited there, the transmission will take place by said Office of origin.
Administrative simplification and costs
If the applicant is a citizen of an EU country, he/she can avail himself of the self-certification for the possession of the Italian citizenship of the spouse/part of the civil union, for the bond of marriage/civil union with an Italian citizen and the composition of the family nucleus .
The information, data and documents already in the possession of the Public Administration are acquired automatically, subject to indication by the interested party of the essential elements for retrieving the requested information (Presidential Decree 445/2000).
Contribution of euro 250.00 in favour of the Ministry of the Interior, to be made exclusively on the current account indicated by the Ministry of the Interior (receipt to be included in the online application).
“Ministry of the Interior D.L.C.I Citizenship”
Bank name: Poste Italiane S.p.A.
IBAN code: IT54D0760103200000000809020
Reason for the payment: Request for citizenship by marriage pursuant to art. 5 L. 91/1992 and name and surname of the applicant
Poste Italiane BIC/SWIFT code: BPPIITRRXXX (for foreign transfers);
BIC/SWIFT code: PIBPITRA (for transactions on the EUROGIRO circuit)
NB payment system named PagoPA is available and preferred on the Ministry of the Interior Website