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Citizenship

Citizenship

NOTICE

The new CIVES portal, which has replaced the SICITT portal, enables the digitalized processing of applications for Italian citizenship (under Articles 5 and 9 of Law no. 91/92).

The Ministry of the Interior has made available to applicants a dedicated technical assistance channel that will assist them during the various stages of the procedure.

Particular attention is recommended in entering personal data which, once entered, cannot be modified (for further information on this aspect, consult ‘Generalities of the foreigner and the CIVES application’).

For the requirements and the documents necessary to present the application, please, go directly to point 5 of this page: Citizenship by Marriage or Civil Union.

At present, Italian citizenship is regulated by Law n° 91 of 5 February 1992 (and its execution regulations: in particular, the Presidential Decree n° 572 of 12 October 1993 and the Presidential Decree n° 362 of 18 April 1994), which, unlike the previous law, re-evaluates the weight of the individual’s will in the acquisition and loss of citizenship, and recognizes the right to hold more than one citizenship at the same time.

The principles on which Italian citizenship is based are:

  • the transmissibility of citizenship by descent (principle of ‘ius sanguinis’);
  • acquisition ‘iure soli’ (by birth in the territory) in certain cases;
  • the possibility of dual citizenship;
  • the manifestation of will for citizenship’s acquisition and loss;

Acquisition of citizenship

Italian citizenship can be acquired in the following ways:

  1. Acquisition of citizenship during minority age

Particular attention is paid by Law n° 91/92 to the acquisition of citizenship during minority age following:

  1. a) recognition or judicial declaration of filiation;
  2. b) adoption;
  3. c) naturalization of the parent.
  4. d) Citizenship by recognition or judicial declaration of filiation

A minor who is recognized as a child by an Italian citizen or who is declared a child of an Italian citizen by a judge (Art. 2, § 1 Law n° 91/92) is an Italian citizen.

If the recognition or judicial declaration concerns an adult, he acquires Italian citizenship only if he expresses his will to do so within a year of the measure by means of a ‘citizenship election’ (Art. 2, § 2, Law n° 91/92).

In the event that the recognition or judicial declaration concerns an adult, according to art. 3 of Presidential Decree n° 572 of 12.10.1993 (Regulations for the implementation of Law n° 91/92), the declaration of the election of citizenship referred to in art. 2, par. 2 of the law must be accompanied by the following documents:

– birth certificate (for the purposes of the exact identification of the interested party)

– deed of acknowledgement or certified copy of the judgment declaring paternity or maternity;

– citizenship certificate of the parent.

These last acts constitute the prerequisite for requesting the benefit in question.

Finally, it should be noted that the judicial declaration of recognition may have been made abroad: in this case, the calculation of the one-year period for making the declaration of the election of citizenship must be made from the date on which the foreign measure is made effective in Italy.

  1. b) Citizenship by adoption

A foreign child adopted by an Italian citizen shall acquire Italian citizenship by a measure of the Italian Judicial Authority or, in the case of an adoption pronounced abroad, by a measure of the foreign authority made effective in Italy by an order (issued by the “Tribunale per i Minorenni”) of transcription in the civil-status registers.

If the adopted child is of age, he may acquire Italian citizenship by naturalization after five years of legal residence in Italy following the adoption.

  1. c) By naturalization of the parents

According to art. 14 of Law 91/92, ‘The minor children of a person who acquires or reacquires Italian citizenship, if they live with him, acquire Italian citizenship, but, having come of age, they may renounce it if they hold another citizenship’.

The acquisition therefore takes place automatically on the sole condition of cohabitation and provided that the person is a minor under Italian law.

In order for the parent who has become an Italian citizen to transmit our status civitatis to his or her child, three conditions must therefore be met:

the filiation relationship; the minor age of the child; cohabitation with the parent.

Article 12 of Presidential Decree n° 572/93 specified that cohabitation must be stable and effective and attested by appropriate documentation; it must also exist at the time of the parent’s acquisition or re-acquisition of citizenship.

  1. Acquisition of citizenship for legal benefit

 This case, regulated by Article 4 of Law No. 91/92, refers to hypotheses that apply only on Italian territory. Please refer, therefore, to the Ministry of the Interior for the relevant regulations.

  1. Citizenship by marriage or civil partnership

The acquisition of Italian citizenship by marriage by a foreign national or stateless person who married an Italian national is currently governed by Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Law n° 91/92 and subsequent amendments.

The foreign spouse may acquire Italian citizenship upon application, in the presence of the following requirements:

  • in Italy: two years of legal residency after marriage or from the date of acquisition of Italian citizenship by naturalization by the spouse; abroad: three years after marriage or from the date of acquisition of Italian citizenship by naturalization by the spouse. These terms are reduced by half in the presence of children born to or adopted by the spouses;
  • validity of the marriage under Italian law and transcription of the marriage record at the competent Italian “Comune” (Town Hall), as well as the permanence of the conjugal bond until the decree is adopted;
  • absence of convictions for offences with a maximum sentence of no less than three years’ imprisonment or convictions by a foreign judicial authority for a sentence of more than one year for non-political offences, when the sentence has been transcribed in Italy;
  • absence of convictions for any of the offences provided for in Book Two, Title I, Chapters I, II and III of the Criminal Code (offences against the personality of the State);
  • absence of grounds for hindering the security of the Republic;
  • certified knowledge of the Italian language at a level no lower than B1 of the ‘Common Frame of Reference for Languages’ (standard in force for applications submitted from 4.12.2018).

As of 1 August 2015, persons residing abroad must submit the application for the acquisition of Italian citizenship electronically according to the new procedure established by the competent Ministry of the Interior.

The applicant must register on the dedicated portal, called ALI, at the web page and, once logged in, will have access to the telematics procedure for submitting the citizenship application.

In order to facilitate the identification of the diplomatic-consular Representation territoriality competent to receive the application, at the above-mentioned internet address there is a link that allows the user -after having selected the country of residence- to choose, by means of a drop-down menu, the competent Representation by accessing a list that includes the entire diplomatic-consular network of the selected country.

The user must fill in all the fields provided by the form and enter the following mandatory documents indicated by the Ministry of the Interior in order to make the citizenship request (please note that the EU Regulation no. 2016/1191, which came into force on 16 February 2019, provides for the exemption of legalization on condition that public documents are issued to an EU citizen by the authorities of his/her Member State of citizenship):

  1. birth certificate from the country of origin, complete with all particulars as well as paternity and maternity, translated into Italian and authenticated with an Apostille.
  2. criminal record certificate of the country of origin, and of any third countries of residence and countries of which he/she holds citizenship, translated into Italian and authenticated with an Apostille.
  3. copy of passport;
  4. qualification issued by a public or peer educational establishment or certification issued by a certifying body. At the moment, the following can be considered certifying bodies, as they belong to the CLIQ (Certificazione Lingua Italiana di Qualità) unified certification system
  • the University for Foreigners of Siena
  • the University for Foreigners of Perugia
  • the University of Roma Tre,
  • the Dante Alighieri Society.

Certifications issued by these institutions, possibly also in collaboration with the local Italian Cultural Institutes, will therefore be considered valid.

To find out which educational institutes are authorized to issue the required certification, please consult the dedicated web page of the Italian language portal (www.linguaitaliana.esteri.it).

  1. FAMILY STATUS translated into Italian and authenticated with an Apostille.
  2. DETAILED RECEIPT OF PAYMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF €250

Identification data of the account to be used by the applicants for the payment:

  • postal current account in the name of ‘Ministero dell’Interno D.L.C.I. – Cittadinanza’ Compulsory reason for payment: Name, Surname, ‘Istanza di cittadinanza per matrimonio di ………………….’. (If the wife has acquired her husband’s surname, please indicate both surnames and first name.
  • IBAN code for the same bank account: IT54D076010320000809020
  • Poste Italiane BIC/SWIFT code: BPPIITRRXXX

After the application has been submitted electronically, the user will be summoned by the diplomatic-consular Representation that received the application, for identification and the other formalities necessary to finalize the application, including the acquisition of the original documentation attached to the application submitted online and any other document that may be useful for its examination. In this regard, it should be noted that the following documents: extract of the marriage deed, certificate of family status, spouse’s Italian citizenship certificate are replaced, if the applicant is an EU citizen, by self-certification in accordance with Presidential Decree 445/2000 and most recently Law 183/2011.

An applicant who is a national of a non-EU country may be exempted from presenting the extract of the marriage certificate, the family status certificate and the spouse’s Italian citizenship certificate, only if these documents are already in the possession of the diplomatic-consular Representation.

According to Article 4, § 5 of Presidential Decree n° 572/93, the Ministry of the Interior may request other documents, depending on the case.

It should be noted that, in accordance with the directive of the Ministry of the Interior of 7 March 2012, as of 1 June 2012, the competence to issue decrees granting citizenship lies with the Ministry of the Interior:

  • to the Prefect in the case of applications made by a foreigner legally residing in Italy;
  • to the Head of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration, if the foreign spouse resides abroad;
  • to the Minister of the Interior in the case of reasons inherent to the security of the Republic.

The deadline for the definition of the proceedings referred to in Articles 5 and 9 of Law n° 91/92 is forty-eight (48) months from the date of acceptance of the application.

Following the publication in the Official Gazette (No. 22 of 27 January 2017) of Legislative Decrees Nos. 5, 6 and 7 of 19 January 2017 – adopted pursuant to Art. 1, para. 28 of Law No. 76 of 20 May 2016 (Regulating civil unions between persons of the same sex and regulating cohabitations) – from 11 February 2017, it is possible to submit online applications for Italian citizenship, pursuant to Arts. 5 and 7 of Law no. 91/1992, also by foreign citizens who have formed a civil partnership with an Italian citizen transcribed in the civil status registers of the Italian municipality.

 Acquisition by residence

Art. 9 of the law provides for the granting of Italian citizenship by means of a Decree of the President of the Republic, providing for different modalities in consideration of the specific requirements of the aspirants and graduating the period of legal residency needed to legitimize the submission of the relative request.

Ordinarily, legal residency in the territory of the State of at least 10 years is required for non-EU foreigners (art. 9, lett. f), but there are many cases in which the period of residency required is shorter:

– 3 years of legal residency: for a foreigner whose father or mother or one of the direct second-degree relatives in the ascending line were Italian by birth or for a foreigner born in Italy and residing there;

– 4 years for a national of a European Community Member State;

– 5 years of legal residency following adoption for a foreigner of age; following recognition of status for a stateless person or political refugee.

There is no residency requirement for a foreigner who has also served abroad for the Italian State for at least five years (letter c of Art. 9).

Referring to hypotheses that only apply on Italian territory, please refer to the Ministry of the Interior for the relevant regulations.

 6. Granting citizenship for special merits

 The second paragraph of Article 9 provides that Italian citizenship may be granted by a Decree of the President of the Republic, after consulting the Council of State and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, in agreement with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to a foreigner who has rendered eminent services to Italy, or when an exceptional interest of the State exists.

The initiation of the procedure does not require an act of impulse by the person concerned, but requires a proposal put forward by bodies, public figures, associations, etc., which provide evidence of a widespread assessment of the existence of the requisites laid down by law in the eventual recipient.

The procedure provides for the acquisition of the opinions of security bodies and, for residents in Italy, of the Prefecture of their place of residence.

It is in any case necessary to acquire the declaration of assent of the interested party to the acquisition of citizenship.

Also in this acquisition hypothesis, the presidential decree granting Italian citizenship is not effective if the interested party, if resident abroad, does not take, before the competent Consular Office, the oath of loyalty to the Republic provided for by art. 10 of the law.

The attainment of our status civitatis will take effect from the day following that of the oath.

7. Recognition of Italian citizenship under special laws

Law no. 379 of 14 December 2000

The declaration aimed at obtaining the recognition of Italian citizenship in favor of persons born and formerly residing in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and their descendants in accordance with Law 379/2000 could be made by 20 December 2010 before the Italian consular office if the applicant resided abroad, or before the civil registrar of the municipality if the applicant resided in Italy.

The declarations presented within the deadline are examined by an inter-ministerial commission, set up at the Ministry of the Interior, which expresses its opinion as to the existence of the requirements of the law. If the opinion is favorable, the Ministry of the Interior issues a nulla osta for recognition.

The necessary requirements for the recognition of Italian citizenship are:

– birth and residence of the ancestor in the territories formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and acquired by Italy at the end of the First World War in implementation of the Treaty of Saint Germain;

– emigration abroad of the ancestor in the period between 25 December 1867 and 16 July 1920.

Law no. 124 of 8 March 2006

It provides for the recognition of Italian citizenship in favor of:

  1. of compatriots residing from 1940 to 1947 in Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia, who lost their Italian citizenship when that territory was ceded to the Yugoslav Republic by virtue of the Treaties of Paris of 10 February 1947, and their descendants;
  2. of compatriots residing until 1977 in zone B of the former Free Territory of Trieste who lost Italian citizenship when this territory was ceded to the Republic of Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Osimo of 10 November 1975, and their descendants.

The application must be submitted to the Italian Consular Office if the applicant resides abroad or to the Municipality if he resides in Italy.

Two distinct categories of beneficiaries must be distinguished

  1. Recipients of art. 19 of the Paris Peace Treaty, as already resident in the territories ceded in 1947.

In order to prove the existence of the requisites required by art. 17 bis, par. 1, lett. a) of law no. 91/92, the following documents are attached to the application for recognition:

  1. a) birth certificate, possibly on an international model;
  2. b) certificate attesting possession of foreign citizenship;
  3. c) certificate of current residence
  4. d) certification or appropriate documentation proving residence on 10.6.1940 in the territories ceded to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
  5. e) certification proving that the interested party on 15.9.1947 – date of entry into force of the Treaty of Peace of Paris – was an Italian citizen (or equivalent documentation such as matriculation papers, passport, etc.);
  6. f) certification issued by any clubs, associations or communities of Italians present in the foreign territory of residence, indicating the date of registration, the usual language of the interested party and any other useful element proving knowledge of the Italian language;
  7. g) any other useful documentation proving the habitual language of the interested party (e.g. copies of certificates of attendance at Italian language schools, school reports, etc.). The children or descendants in the direct line of the beneficiaries of art. 19 of the aforementioned Treaty of Peace of Paris who intend to avail themselves of art. 17-bis, par. 1, lett. b), shall attach the following documents to the application for recognition of Italian citizenship:

certification or documentation showing that the applicant’s parent or direct ascendant meets the requirements set out in points d-e-f-g above;

birth certificate attesting to the direct descent relationship between the applicant and the parent or ascendant;

certificate attesting possession of foreign citizenship;

certification issued by any Associations or Communities of Italians, present in the foreign territory of residence, attesting to the applicant’s knowledge of the Italian language and culture;

any other useful documentation proving the applicant’s knowledge of the Italian language and culture.

  1. Recipients of the provisions of art. 3 of the Treaty of Osimo, already resident in the territory of zone B of the former Free Territory of Trieste

In order to prove the existence of the requirements as per art. 17 bis, par. 1, lett. a) of law no. 91/92, they shall attach the following documents to the application for recognition:

  1. a) birth certificate, possibly on an international model;
  2. b) certificate attesting possession of foreign citizenship;
  3. c) certificate of current residence
  4. d) certification or appropriate documentation proving their residence and Italian citizenship on 3 April 1977 (date of entry into force of the Treaty of Osimo);
  5. e) certification issued by any Circles, Associations or Communities of Italians present in the foreign territory of residence, indicating the date of registration, the usual language of the interested party and any other useful element proving knowledge of the Italian language
  6. f) any useful documentation proving membership of the Italian ethnic group as provided for by the aforementioned art. 3.

The children or descendants in the direct line of the beneficiaries of art. 3 of the Treaty of Osimo shall attach the following documents to the application for recognition of Italian citizenship, presented in accordance with art. 17-bis, paragraph 1 letter b)

certification or documentation proving the possession, on the part of one’s parent or direct ascendant, of the requirements referred to in points d-e-f above documents:

birth certificate attesting to the direct descent relationship between the applicant and the parent or ascendant;

certificate attesting possession of foreign citizenship;

certification issued by any Associations or Communities of Italians, present in the foreign territory of residence, attesting to the applicant’s knowledge of the Italian language and culture;

any other useful documentation proving knowledge of the Italian language and culture.

An interministerial commission set up at the Ministry of the Interior expresses its opinion on the applications and issues a nulla osta if the opinion is favorable.

Loss of citizenship

Italian citizens may lose their citizenship automatically or by formal renunciation.

  1. He/she loses his citizenship automatically;
  2. An Italian citizen who voluntarily enlists in the army of a foreign State or accepts a public office in a foreign State despite being expressly forbidden to do so by the Italian Government (art. 12, par. 1, Law n° 91/92);
  3. An Italian citizen who, during a state of war with a foreign State, has performed military service or held a public office or has acquired the nationality of that State (art. 12, § 2 Law n° 91/92)
  4. The adoptee in the case of the revocation of the adoption for reasons attributable to him, provided that he holds or acquires another nationality (Art. 3, § 3, Law n° 91/92);
  5. He/she loses his nationality on condition that he formally renounces it:
  6. An adult adoptee, following the revocation of the adoption for a fact attributable to the adopter, provided that he holds or acquires another nationality (Art. 3, § 4, Law n° 91/92);
  7. An Italian citizen, if he resides or establishes his residence abroad and if he holds, acquires or reacquires another nationality (art. 11 Law n° 91/92);
  8. An adult who obtained Italian nationality as a minor following the acquisition or reacquisition of nationality by one of his parents, provided that he holds another nationality (Art. 14 Law n° 91/92);

The declaration of renunciation of citizenship is made, in the case of residence abroad, at the competent consular office. It must be accompanied by the following documentation:

  • birth certificate issued by the local authority where the birth certificate is registered or transcribed;
  • certificate of Italian citizenship
  • documentation relating to possession of foreign citizenship;
  • documentation relating to residency abroad, where required.

The minor does NOT lose Italian citizenship if one or both parents lose it or reacquire foreign citizenship.

Women who, after 1 January 1948, have automatically acquired foreign citizenship by marriage to foreign nationals or by foreign naturalization of their Italian-born husbands do NOT lose their Italian citizenship. In order to allow the necessary annotations to be made in the margins of civil-status records, it is necessary for the women concerned (or their descendants) to manifest to the competent consular offices their desire to maintain their citizenship, by means of a declaration of uninterrupted possession.

Dual citizenship

As of 16 August 1992 (when Law n° 91/92 came into force), the acquisition of a foreign citizenship does not lead to the loss of Italian citizenship unless the Italian citizen formally renounces it (Art. 11 Law n° 91/92), unless provided by international agreements.

The denunciation by the Italian State of the 1963 Strasbourg Convention means that, as of 4 June 2010, the automatic loss of Italian citizenship no longer occurs for citizens who naturalize in countries that are signatories to the Convention (following the denunciation by Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France and Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are currently signatories).

Re-acquisition of citizenship

  1. The rules on the re-acquisition of citizenship are set out in Article 13 of Law 91/92. It should be noted, in particular, that a citizen, residing abroad, who has lost his citizenship may re-acquire it according to § 1, letter c), subject to a specific declaration to the competent consular office, if he establishes his residency in Italy within a year of the declaration;
  2. Women married to foreigners before 1 January 1948, who – by virtue of their marriage – automatically acquired their husband’s citizenship, have lost their Italian citizenship and may re-acquire it, even if residing abroad, by declaration. The declaration of the re-acquisition of citizenship is made, in the case of residency abroad, to the competent consular office.

It must be accompanied by the following documentation:

-birth certificate issued by the local authority where the birth certificate is registered or transcribed;

-documentation proving past possession of Italian citizenship;

-documentation relating to the possession of foreign citizenship or stateless status;

-certificate of family status or equivalent documentation.

Administrative simplification

It should be noted that in light of Articles 43, par. 1, 46 and 47 of Presidential Decree 445/2000 (as amended by Law 183/2011) and with the limits set out in Article 3 of the aforementioned Presidential Decree, Italian public administrations are obliged to acquire ex officio the information, data and documents that are already in the possession of the Public Administration, subject to the indication, by the interested party, of the elements that are indispensable for retrieving the information or data requested.

Therefore, in the case of applications, for the acquisition or renunciation of citizenship submitted by Italian, EU or non-EU citizens legally residing in Italy, they do not have to produce certificates containing information or data already in the possession of the Italian Public Administration, but must simply indicate in the application all the elements that are indispensable for retrieving such information or data.