Art. 9 of Law 91/1992 provides for the granting of Italian citizenship by Decree of the President of the Republic, establishing differentiated procedures depending on the specific qualifications of the applicants and varying the period of legal residence required to legitimise the submission of the relevant application.
Ordinarily, a legal residence in the territory of the State for at least 10 years is required for non-EU foreign nationals (art. 9, letter f), however, no residence requirement is established for foreign nationals who have served the Italian State, including abroad, for at least five years (art. 9, letter c).
Since these cases apply only within the Italian territory, reference is made to the Ministry of the Interior for the relevant regulations.
Paragraph 2 of art. 9 stipulates that Italian citizenship may be granted by Decree of the President of the Republic, after consulting the Council of State and following a resolution of the Council of Ministers, upon proposal of the Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to foreign nationals who have rendered distinguished services to Italy or where there is an exceptional interest of the State.
The initiation of the procedure does not require any impetus from the interested party but requires a proposal from public entities, personalities or associations that can demonstrate a widespread assessment regarding the fulfilment of the legal requirements by the potential recipient.
The procedure involves obtaining opinions from security bodies and, for residents in Italy, from the Prefecture of the place of residence.
It is, however, necessary to obtain the consent declaration of the interested party to acquire citizenship.
Even in this case of acquisition, the Presidential Decree granting Italian citizenship does not take effect if the interested party, if residing abroad, does not take the oath of allegiance to the Republic before the competent Consular Office as required by art. 10 of the law.
The acquisition of our status civitatis shall take effect from the day following the oath.