Get Italian Citizenship

After Brexit and after the uncertainties relating to the future of the European Union there has been an increase in the applications for acquiring Italian citizenship. This has induced the authorities to modify also the formalities for presenting applications, which can now be made online.
All of those who intend to proceed in formulating their application it is fundamental to seek the assistance of an English-speaking lawyer in Italy, and more specifically an English-speaking lawyer in Rome – where the Ministry that examines applications is based.

Italian citizenship can be acquired:

By birth, which is to say, as a foreigner born from an Italian parent, by the birth of a foreign child in Italy who becomes an Italian citizen on his or her 18th birthday, the so-called birth by “ius soli”, and by adoption of a foreign minor by one or both Italian parents,
By application: through marriage or residence.

Request for Italian citizenship for foreigners by marriage: Requirements

The foreigner or stateless person, if residing for at least 12 months in Italy if they have children born or adopted in marriage; if there are no children the requirement for residence in Italy rises to 24 months, that is to say 2 years of cohabitation with the Italian citizen.
If, on the other hand, the citizens’ residence is abroad: Italian citizenship can be acquired if at least 18 months have passed since the marriage if there are children born or adopted by the spouses or 36 months after the marriage, as long as there has been no break up, ending or annulment of the marriage in the meantime and there is no legal separation underway.

Request for Italian citizenship due to residence: Requirements

Italian citizenship through residence is granted by the Home Office to foreign citizens resident in Italy in possession of at least one of the following requirements:
Foreign Citizen born in Italy and legally resident for at least 3 years.
Adult Foreign Citizen, adopted by an Italian citizen, resident legally in Italy for at least 5 years following adoption.
E.U. Citizen resident legally in Italy for at least 4 years.
Stateless Citizen or Refugee resident legally in Italy for at least 5 years.
Non-E.U. Citizen resident legally in Italy for at least 10 years.
Required limit of annual earnings: all the foreign citizens who fall within one of the above-mentioned cases are required to meet one other requirement – that of personal earnings or family earnings if belonging to the same nuclear family and resulting in the same family status. The earnings taken into consideration are those relative to the 3 years preceding the application for citizenship within the following annual limits:
For applicants without dependents: annual earnings limit of 8.263,31 euro.
For applicants with a spouse, an increase of up to 516,00 euros for each further dependent person. annual earnings limit of 11.362,05 euros.

The documents for the request for Italian citizenship by marriage are:

    • Form A application with € 16,00 stamp duty payable;
    • Birth certificate translated into Italian;
    • Criminal Records Certificate from the country of origin and from any other countries the citizen has resided in;
    • Photocopy of valid passport;
    • Photocopy of Stay of Residence and for E.U. citizens a photocopy of the Declaration of Permanent Stay, to be
    • requested from the Council of residence;
    • Copy of the receipt of payment of €200,00 processing fee.

By residence:

The documents for obtaining Italian citizenship through residence are:

    • Form B application with € 16,00 stamp duty payable only online and presenting the following original documents issued by the competent Diplomatic Consular Authorities of the State of membership:
    • Birth Certificate translated and issued in accordance with the instructions contained in the application form. For foreign citizens who, following marriage, have acquired the surname of their husband it is necessary to verify that the birth certificate includes both the maiden surname and that acquired as a spouse.
    • Criminal Records Certificate from the country of origin and/or from any other countries the applicant has resided in previously. This certificate is not necessary if the foreign citizen was born in Italy or has resided in this country since before his or her 14th birthday.
    • Photocopy of a valid passport and photocopy of the Permit of Stay. For foreign citizens from the E.U. it is sufficient to request the Certificate of Permanent Stay at the Council of residence.
    • CU Form, Income Tax Form and Form 730 from the last 3 years. For house maids and in-home nurses and in general for home helpers, it is necessary to produce a State Pension (INPS) Statement.
    • Copy of receipt of payment of a €200,00 processing fee, to be paid on the current account no. 809020 to the attention of: Ministero Interno D.L.C.I. cittadinanza – with the reason for payment: cittadinanza – contributo di cui all’art. 1 co. 12, legge 15 luglio 2009 n. 94.

Foreign Citizens who are political refugees or stateless:
If the refugees or stateless citizens do not possess a birth certificate they can present in its place an Affidavit, to be requested and drawn up by the Records Office of the competent Court for their place of residence.
– Affidavit to be drawn up by the Council of residence.
– Certificate of recognition of refugee status or stateless citizen status;
– Photocopy of passport, Permit of Stay, fiscal documents and receipt of payment of 200 euro processing fee.

B) ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP RECOGNISED TO DESCENDENTS OF ITALIAN CITIZENS EMIGRATED ABROAD

One particular regulation is provided for foreigners who have an ancestor who was an Italian citizen and emigrated abroad without losing his or her citizenship. The acquiring of Italian citizenship is subject to particular rules.

The requirements are necessary to demonstrate
– lineage with the emigrated ancestor and their original Italian citizenship iure sanguinis
– the absence of interruptions in the transmission of citizenship
– the absence of foreign naturalization on the part of the ancestor
– the absence of declarations renouncing Italian citizenship on the part of their descendents.
Children born before 1948 from a woman of Italian ancestry married to a foreigner
Our legal system has recognised to women the faculty to transmit their Italian citizenship to their children through the Constitution.
To this end, to women of Italian ancestry born abroad, until today, the faculty to transmit citizenship only to children born after 1 January 1948 was recognised, that is to say after the Constitutional Charter came into force, sanctioning the complete application of the principle of parity between men and women, as concerns the transmission to children of one’s citizenship.

A recent sentence by the Supreme Court of Appeal en banc (n. 4466 dated 25 February 2009) nonetheless stated that (on the basis of the sentences of the Constitutional Court no.87 dated 1975 and no.30 dated 1983) the status of Italian citizen can be recognised in a judicial forum to children born before 1° January 1948, from Italian women married to foreigners.

Therefore, it is currently possible for the descendents of these women to request the Court for recognition of Italian citizenship, while it remains impossible to get recognition of this status by administrative means.
The foreigner claiming recognition of Italian citizenship must produce the following documents:

1) Certified Abstract of an Entry in the Register of Births of Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad, issued by Italian Municipality of their birth (including all annotation and obviously especially any regarding possible loss and/or in reacquisition of Italian citizenship);

2) birth certificates, complete and in copy with an official Italian translation of all direct descendents, including that of the person claiming to possess Italian citizenship;

3) Complete marriage certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad, together with an official Italian translation if the marriage took place abroad;
4) Complete marriage certificate of his/her direct descendents, including that of the parents of the person claiming to possess Italian citizenship;
5) Complete death certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad and of his/her descendents;

6) certificate issued by the competent foreign State Authority for emigration, complete with official translation in the Italian language, attesting that the Italian ancestor (indicating also date and place of birth), who had emigrated from Italy, did not acquire the citizenship of the foreign state of emigration before the birth of the ancestor of the claimant.

7) Residence certificate.

N.B. Should the Italian ancestor, born in Italy and emigrated abroad, have used his or her name and surname under a different form, that is to say, if the personal details of the same person are specified differently in the deeds relative to the ancestors, it is necessary that these are all stated on the above-stated certificate.
The agreement between the Italian Republic and the Republic of Argentina, signed in Rome on 9.12.1987, ratified by Law n. 533/1988, regulates the exchange of deeds concerning marital status and the possible exemption of legalization on condition that they are dated, complete with signature and, where necessary, with the stamp of the corresponding Authorities who issued them. Should there be no resulting legalization provided by the competent consular Authorities, all documentation must be presented supplied with the Apostille Treaty (The Hague Convention dated 5 Octtober 1961)

The Importance of finding an Italian law firm specialised in obtaining Italian citizenship.

For the correct presentation of the application and for obtaining the correct documentation to include it is crucial to have the assistance of an English-speaking lawyer/attorney in Rome who is entirely familiar with the subject, who speaks English and who resides in Rome.
An Italian law firm that has experience on the subject of how to get Italian citizenship, through an Italian English speaking Lawyer specialized in citizenship, can help to overcome the numerous formalities necessary for obtaining recognition of Italian citizenship.