Electronic identity card (EIC)
(Reference Office: D.G.IT. – DESK II)
Please Note: The (electronic) identity card (EIC) is issued by the authorized consular offices (Member States of the European Union, Great Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Principality of Monaco, San Marino and the Holy See – Vatican City), and – on an experimental basis – in some consular posts in non-EU countries.
The EIC may only be issued to Italian citizens regularly residing in their consular district, who are already entered into the consular register and whose personal data are already present in the Interior Ministry’s database of the Register of Italians living abroad (A.I.R.E.) (and, in the future, in the National Register of the Resident Population – ANPR).
For the EIC to be issued, a validated tax code is also required. Otherwise, the tax code shall be attributed or validated by the Inland Revenue Agency through the Consular Office prior to the issuance of the EIC.
1.Validity
The validity of the identity card varies depending on the holder’s age:
- 3 years for minors under 3 years of age;
- 5 years for minors between 3 and 18 years of age;
- 10 years for adults.
2. Application procedure
The application for an electronic identity card shall be submitted using the Booking Online platform or any different channel made available by the relevant consular office and available on its website.
At least 15 days shall elapse from the moment when the application is submitted to the date set for the appointment, which is necessary to enable the consular office to check the applicant’s personal details, correct any mismatch and check that there are no causes that prevent the document from being issued.
Please note that registration with A.I.R.E. is a prerequisite for the purposes of submitting the application for the EIC to be issued. In the case of Italian citizens born abroad, it is also essential that the relative birth certificate has already been registered with the Civil Status Registry of the Municipality of reference.
3. Appointment and documents to be submitted
When showing up at the appointment, the citizen shall provide the following documents:
- 1 passport photo, in accordance with ICAO regulations;
- identity document in accordance with Presidential Decree 445/2000. If the applicant has no identity document, he / she shall be accompanied by two witnesses;
- an affidavit from both parents if the applicant is under the age of 18
atto di assenso di entrambi genitori
At the time of the appointment, the consular officer shall take the applicant’s photo and, except for minors under 12 years of age, the fingerprints, and the signature, which shall be securely recorded inside his / her EIC microchip and not stored in any other place.
4. Cost
The cost for issuing the document is:
- 21.95 euros, in case of first issuance or renewal;
- 27.11 euros, in case of a duplicate due to theft or loss.
Payment shall be made on the day of the appointment, in accordance with the procedures established by the consular office of reference.
5. Delivery of the identity card
The Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato shall print and then deliver the EIC by post to the address of residence (or delivery address) provided by the applicant, within 15 days from the date of the application submitted to the Consulate. Delivery times may vary depending on the country of destination.
In the event of non-delivery due to an incorrect address, the parcel is held at the local post office for collection for the required period of time, at the end of which it is returned to the relevant Consular Office for attempting a further delivery.
6. Discovery of identity cards
Identity cards that are stolen or lost abroad, if found, are normally returned to the Consular Office in the district of which the theft or loss occurred.
Those who have recently suffered a theft/loss abroad and wish to check whether their identity card has been found, are therefore urged to contact the relevant Consular Office for further information.
The above-mentioned documents may be collected from the Consular Office where they were found in the following ways:
- at the Consular Office’s counters;
- at the request of the interested party, by postal service with the cost of postage borne by the said party.
With reference to identity cards issued by Consulates, which are stolen or lost abroad, it shall be the Consular Offices’ responsibility to notify the holder of their discovery, pointing out that they will be destroyed if their return is not requested within one year after the date on which they were found.