Citizenship

In addition to the information below, we would like to point out the Citizenship section of the Italian Ministry of the Interior web site.

• How is Italian citizenship acquired?
• When is Italian citizenship acquired automatically?
• Who can apply for Italian citizenship?
• Under what conditions does naturalisation occur?
• Under what conditions can the requirement of 10 years legal residence be reduced?
• What is the recognition or retracing of citizenship?
• Where do I have to go to have citizenship recognised and what documentation is required?
• My great-grandmother emigrated from Italy to the USA and married an American. Do I have a right to Italian citizenship?
• Can the consulate help me find the documentation I need?
• I have heard that it takes years to conclude the process of recognition of Italian citizenship. Why is the process so long and complicated?
• I am an American citizen and 2 years ago I married an Italian citizen in Las Vegas. Am I entitled to an Italian passport?
• I am a citizen of Moldova residing in Germany.  I applied for Italian citizenship 2 years ago. Who may I contact to check on the status of  my case?
• I am an Italian citizen residing abroad and will soon be having a child with a foreigner with whom I am not married. What citizenship will my child have?
• I am an Italian citizen but am living abroad. If I take another citizenship will I lose my Italian one?

How is Italian citizenship acquired?

Italian citizenship is acquired automatically by law in some cases.

When is Italian citizenship acquired automatically?

• when a child’s parents are Italian citizens;
• a child is born on Italian soil, on the condition that the child’s parents:
  • are unknown or Stateless; or
  • are foreigners who, pursuant to their country’s legislation, do not pass on their own citizenship to their child;
• in cases in which a child has been found abandoned on Italian soil;
• in cases of adoption.

Who can apply for Italian citizenship?

• descendents of Italian citizens (up to the second degree):
  • anyone who has served in the Italian Armed Forces;
  • dependent employees of the Italian government, even abroad;
  • residents in Italy for at least 2 years before reaching the legal age of 18.
• if born on Italian soil and residing legally and without interruption from birth until the legal age of 18.
• if residing on Italy after 2 years of marriage to an Italian citizen; if residing abroad, after 3 years of marriage to an Italian citizen. In the above periods the spouses must not be legally separated and there must be no dissolution or nullity of the marriage or cessation of its civilian effects. The terms are half-reduced if the couple has children

Under what conditions does naturalisation occur?

• after 10 years of legal residence in Italy;
• in the presence of sufficient income;
• in the absence of criminal record;
• upon renunciation of citizenship in country of origin (where required).

Under what conditions can the requirement of 10 years legal residence be reduced?

• 3 years of legal residence for descendents of former Italian citizens up to the second degree and for foreigners born on Italian soil;
• 4 years legal residence for citizens of a European Union country;
• 5 years legal residence for Stateless persons and refugees, as well as for adult foreigners over the age of 18 adopted by Italian citizens;
• 7 years legally adopted by an Italian citizen;
• no period of legal residence is required for foreigners who have served the Italian Republic for a period of at least 5 years, also abroad.

What is the recognition or retracing of citizenship?

A procedure by which the consulate retraces the citizenship of a family that, for example, emigrated abroad, in order to ascertain whether a person has the right to Italian citizenship.

Where do I have to go to have citizenship recognised and what documentation is required?

Application for recognition of Italian citizenship must be made to the Italian consular office   authorised for the place where you live, which we would suggest that you contact before starting to collect documentation since the documentation required depends on the citizenship history of the family of origin.
In any case, it will be necessary to prove that your ancestor was in possession of Italian citizenship at the time he/she left Italy and maintained it, thereby passing it on to descendents; the birth certificate of that ancestor, which can be requested from the Office of Civil Statistics (Ufficio di Stato Civile) of the city of birth and a document that specifies citizenship (old passport, certificate of historic citizenship, etc.). It will also be necessary, by going back through the generations and through all available records of civil status, to demonstrate the blood relationship between the ancestor and the applicant for citizenship.

My great-grandmother emigrated from Italy to the USA and married an American. Do I have a right to Italian citizenship?

By Italian law a woman could not pass on the right to citizenship until January 1st 1948. You would have to verify whether your grandmother maintained her Italian citizenship - and therefore did not become an American citizen - at least until the birth of her son/daughter, which had to have taken place after January 1st 1948.

Can the consulate help me find the documentation I need?

The consulate can help you to ascertain what documentation needs to be submitted in your specific case, but cannot lend itself to tracing those documents for you as a result of the extremely high number of applications submitted on a daily basis and the fact that you are not legally considered an Italian citizen until the recognition procedure has been completed.

I have heard that it takes years to conclude the process of recognition of Italian citizenship. Why is the process so long and complicated?

The process of recognition of Italian citizenship is a substantially simple process that can become complicated when, for example, over the generations, there have been name changes or other events that make it more difficult to demonstrate the blood ties between applicants and their ancestors or else when these latter have lived in various countries.
Another cause that influences the timeframe is the very high number of applications submitted over recent years, which have placed a heavy load on the Italian diplomatic network abroad.

I am an American citizen and 2 years ago I married an Italian citizen in Las Vegas. Am I entitled to an Italian passport?

Anyone who is already an Italian citizen is entitled to a passport. You can obtain one only after you have become an Italian citizen; in your case, you must apply for it in person. You can make application 2 years after the date of your wedding if you reside in Italy, and 3 years after that date if residing abroad.  For information on the documentation necessary please contact the Ministry of the Interior if you reside in Italy or your locally authorised Italian consulate if you do not reside in Italy. It is obligatory to have your marriage registered in Italy.

I am a citizen of Moldova residing in Germany.  I applied for Italian citizenship 2 years ago. Who may I contact to check on the status of  my case?

Applications for Italian naturalisation are not the business of the consulate, which is also subject to the decisions of the Ministry of the Interior.
You may find out the status of your case using the online service available on the website of the Italian Ministry of the Interior. You will be asked for the “K10/C Code” that the Ministry has assigned to your application, which you can obtain by personally contacting the consulate where you submitted it.

I am an Italian citizen residing abroad and will soon be having a child with a foreigner with whom I am not married. What citizenship will my child have?

Your child will, of course, have Italian citizenship and, depending on the laws of the father’s country, could also be entitled to citizenship there; depending on where it is and the laws in force, the child may also automatically have citizenship in the country where it is born.
Your child will only be able to take advantage of its Italian citizenship if it is registered in Italy. Depending on the country, this takes place either automatically or must be requested by submitting the birth certificate to the foreign authorities. In both cases we suggest contacting the Italian consulate for further information.

I am an Italian citizen but am living abroad. If I take another citizenship will I lose my Italian one?

Since 15 August 1992 the voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship no longer leads to automatic loss of Italian citizenship, with the exception of citizenship in any of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Norway. (France allows for some exceptions in the cases of facilitated naturalisation envisaged in the II Amendment Protocol to the Strasbourg Convention of 24.03.1995).