FAQ - Italian Citizenship Assistance (2024)

A: Like all EU citizens, you will obtain the basic rights of being able to live, work and vote in the EU without the need for a residency permit. Also, since 2008 most of the European countries are members of the Schengen agreement, which allows for free movement and travel within the member states. Dual citizens feel more secure when traveling abroad, are not subject to certain restrictions and enjoy the protection of the diplomatic and Consular authorities of any EU state on the same conditions as the nationals of that State.

A: If you are seeking work in Europe, having an Italian passport would definitely make your life easier: many employers prefer not to go through the hassle of hiring non-EU citizens, as the bureaucracy and paperwork behind that is often not worth the trouble. Hiring an EU citizen, one that can reside in the country without time limitations or the need for a residency permit, is the easiest solution for many EU companies. Additionally, many European Universities offer research scholarships for extraordinarily gifted people: in most cases, these scholarships are reserved to EU citizens. Therefore, in such cases, holding an Italian passport may make all the difference in the world!

A: In general, health care and education in Italy are much more affordable, compared to the USA or even the other European countries. For example, usually college tuition does not exceed $10.000 a year and in case of virtuoso students, they may be able to attend university for free (thanks to scholarships offered by European colleges). Many of the oldest universities in the world are located in Italy.

A: Most Western countries allow their citizens to acquire dual (or multiple) citizenship(s). In some cases, people employed in critical areas of the government (where a person may come across state secrets) are prevented from getting dual citizenship. If you are concerned that obtaining dual citizenship may affect your current citizenship you should contact the local authorities for your country; in any case,according to the principle of jure sanguinis, you have actually been an Italian citizen since birth (if you qualify). Obtaining dual citizenship through ancestry is much different from obtaining it through naturalization, which in many cases can result in the loss of your native citizenship.

A. Italian citizens who reside outside of Italy for more than 12 months, are required to register with the AIRE registry. AIRE is the acronym for “Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero”, (Registry of Italians Residing Abroad), and it is a registry jointly held by the local Italian Consulate and the municipality of last residency in Italy (for Italian citizens by descent, the municipality of birth of the Italian ancestor). This registration is necessary to be able to access the consular services, including the issuance of an Italian passport and the registration in Italy of vital record documents issued in the foreign country. The registration in the AIRE registry is also necessary to vote in the Italian elections while living abroad.

A: An Italian citizen’s tax liability is linked to the number of days spent in Italy. In other words, if you obtain Italian citizenship and decide to spend more than 183 days in Italy, or if you are a registered resident in an Italian municipality for more than 183 days, your income will be subject to taxation. On the other hand, if you spend less than 183 days a year in italy or you are not a registered resident in a municipality in Italy, you will be exempt from paying any taxes. Please note that if you own property in the country you will be required to pay property taxes by law.
It is important to note that Italy and the United States have tax treaties to protect their citizens from double taxation, therefore, if you are a U.S. citizen you will be able to avoid or heavily reduce double taxation. We recommend consulting with a dual citizenship tax specialist as each case may vary based on individual circ*mstances.

A: No, the Italian Army is a military force made up of professionals who voluntarily pursue a military career. The mandatory draft has been suspended as of May 8, 2001, when the Italian government passed a law (Art. 7 del D. Lgs. 8 May 2001 n. 215) making military service voluntary starting from January 1, 2007. So, nobody is required to serve in the military except in cases of extreme emergency. This means that the mandatory draft will only be reinstated in the case of extraordinary situations, such as an active conflict involving Italy, and only if the resources available through voluntary enlistment are not considered sufficient to face the situation at hand.

A: The Italian citizenship law is based on the jure sanguinis principle (citizenship by blood). Consequently, anyone with Italian ancestors may be eligible for Italian citizenship regardless of the number of generations involved.
Individuals who qualify for Italian citizenship by descent may start the recognition process by providing:
1. proof of being the descendant of an Italian citizen;
2. proof of the absence of interruptions in the transmission of citizenship, which may have occurred when the ancestor naturalized as a citizen of another country before the birth of his/her child.

A: If you reside abroad you should apply through your local Italian consulate.
There is, however, the possibility of filing the citizenship application directly in Italy by establishing residency in Italy. Please note that Italian women could only transfer citizenship onto their children after 1/1/1948; therefore, if you are applying through a female ancestor whose child was born before that date, it would be necessary to file a lawsuit through the Italian Civil Court to challenge the 1948 rule. In this case, your presence in Italy would not be required, as an attorney would be representing you in the court proceeding.

A: You can only apply at the Italian Consulate that has jurisdiction over the State where you reside: proof of residency is required when submitting the citizenship application.
It can be either a rental agreement, bank statement or utility bill showing the applicant’s name and address. Other proof of residency may be acceptable depending on the requirements of the local Consulate.
Moreover, a picture ID (such as a DL or a State ID) displaying the applicant’s address is required from the applicant at the time of interview at the consulate.

A: Online, on the website of your local Italian consulate.
Websites of Italian consulates usually have a page called “Prenota Online” where you can create your own account and then make your reservation. The information required is normally your full name, date and place of birth, residence address, phone number and US passport number. Some consulates have appointments readily available, some other consulate (normally the busiest) will release new appointments only on specific days/times.

A: First of all, when you sign up for our services we secure the appointment for Italian citizenship at your local Italian consulate. Usually, this process is quite easy; however, some consulates have a more complex booking system, which makes it necessary to repeatedly check for available appointments.
We then start procuring all the vital record documents required for the citizenship application. US states and countries in the world have different policies on access to vital records: some records are public; some others are restricted to specific categories of people (usually close relatives). For this reason, we may need your cooperation in the retrieval of the documents; normally, signatures and occasional mail forwarding is all we need. Also, thanks to our expertise we are able to collect vital record documents which meet the specific requirements set by the Italian consulates.
Once all the documents have been gathered we cross-reference them and address potential major discrepancies to make sure the documents are as consistent as possible.
Once all the vital record documents have been gathered, we get them authenticated by means of Apostilles (where applicable) and officially translated into Italian.
Our service packages include ongoing consultation during the process and frequent updates on the status of the “citizenship portfolio”.
At the end of the process, you will receive a citizenship kit which will be exactly as it needs to be presented to the Italian consulate the day of your interview (including all the application forms required, already filled out, notes related to your specific case, a genealogy tree etc.). Prior to the appointment, ICA generally offers a final phone consultation on what to expect once at the consulate.

A:No. Knowing or understanding the Italian language is not a requirement by law. Since you are enforcinga birthstatus,you are only required to prove your connection to your Italian-born ancestor and that Italian citizenship was passeddown from one generation to the other. The staff of the consulate will interview you in English.

A: No. Citizenship jure sanguinis is a retroactive recognition of citizenship; ergo, all those documents must be legally recorded in Italy. Concealing the existence of marriages, divorces, or minor children is illegal.

A: It is really variable, from our ownexperiencewe are averaging three totwelvemonths for appointments to apply and two tosix months to process an application.

A: Yes. Frequently, a parent must be recognized as a citizen before he or she can request citizenship for an adopted minor child (unlike biological minor children, who are automatically citizens). The adoptions of minor children must go through the Tribunale dei Minori (Children’s Court) for judicial review before they can be passed onto the municipality and the child is recognized as an Italian citizen.

A: Starting from July 2014, applications for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent are subject to the payment of a €300, payable in USD the day of the interview with the consulate in accordance with the exchange rate.
This fee is not refundable, regardless of the outcome of the application.
The fee will apply to applicants for citizenship jure sanguinis who are over 18, as well as to female spouses of Italian citizens who were married before April 27th, 1983, who intend apply for recognition of their automatic Italian citizenship through marriage.

A: There is no generational restriction; however, your ascendant cannot have passed away or naturalized prior to the founding of the Kingdom of Italy on March 17th, 1861.

A: This highly depends on when and how your Italian ascendant naturalized (if he/she ever did). Although that person would be considered your closest ascendant, the fact that he/she emigrated with his/her parents may be a game changer. In fact, if your Italian-born ascendant was a minor when his or her parent naturalized, it is very probable that he or she naturalized on that date as well. Note that in Italy, until 1976, the age of majority was 21. If you wish to prove otherwise, you will need to provide documentation showing that your closest Italian ascendant had to naturalize autonomously once he/she reached the age of majority.

A: Yes. However, in most cases the spouse must apply after the couple’s marriage has been registered in Italy. Foreign women who married Italian men prior to 27 April 1983, however, automatically acquired Italian citizenship, and therefore are entitled to apply simultaneously for recognition.

A: If you are the child or grandchild of an ex-citizen, you can obtain Italian citizenship by residing in Italy for a period of three years. Great-grandchildren (and beyond) are treated no differently than people of purely non-Italian ancestry, and can only acquire citizenship by residence in Italy for a period of ten years. People who do not qualify for citizenship by descent can still acquire citizenship by marriage or by service to the government.

A: Due to the many exchanges of territory between Italy and other nations and the resulting patchwork of citizenship laws, your situation is likely to be too complex to be covered here. Please contact us or the citizenship department at your local consulate, specifying your ascendant’s place and date of birth as well as his or her date of emigration from Italy (or what was by then another nation’s territory).

A: First, double-check that you still qualify. If an intermediate ascendant acquired U.S. citizenship prior to their child’s birth, then even if that ascendant had inherited Italian citizenship from your Italian-born ascendant, the intermediate ascendant could not pass on citizenship to any children born after the acquisition of U.S. citizenship. Secondly, you will in many cases need to provide naturalization records from the country to which your ascendant originally emigrated. The Italian Consulate or Embassy located in that country will be able to tell you what documents you need to provide.

A: Yes. The adoption decree must be submitted (certified copy, with Apostille and translation) along with the applicant’s other documents. If you were adopted as a minor, and are applying as an adult, there are generally no other requirements. If you were adopted as an adult, you must reside in Italy for five years before applying.

A: The official repositories for naturalization records in the US are USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), the National Archives and the local Courts.
Sometimes they upload on genealogical websites (e.g. Ancestry.com) digital copies of the naturalization documents which are filed with their offices.
However, in order to get official copies of the records, you need to contact those facilities and retrieve proof of naturalization for your Italian ancestor directly from them.

A: With regard to US vital records, they must be in original or “certified copy” a.k.a. “long form” or “full form” or “book copy”; moreover, once retrieved, they need to be legalized by means of Apostille and then translated into Italian.
Vital records which were issued by other authorities may require different types of legalization: for those countries that were signees of the Hague Convention, an Apostille is also required; for those countries that did not sign the Hague Convention, the legalization needs to be performed through the Ministry of External Affairs and then completed through the local Italian Consulate.
There are some notable exemptions for the legalization requirements, though. The Bruxelles Convention of 1987 completely abolished the need for legalization for documents to be exchanged among the following countries: Belgium, Denmark (except for Greenland and the Fær Øer Islands), Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia. Pursuant to the Athens convention of 1977, birth and marriage records issued by the following countries also do not require legalization when submitted in Italy: Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, Greece, Portugal. Lastly, Italy signed bilateral agreement abolishing the need for vital records legalization with the following countries: Austria (1990), Germany (1969), Spain (1983), Argentina (1987), Switzerland (1966), Hungary (1977).
In any case, all non-Italian vital record documents need to be translated into Italian unless they are issued in multilingual format pursuant to the Wien Convention of 1976.

A: This document is specifically required by the Italian consulates in the US along with the divorce decree.
It is a certified document proving that no appeal has been filed and therefore the Divorce is final.
A notice of appeal shall be served on all respondents within 30 days after receipt of written notice of the judgment of divorce.
Thus, the Certificate of No Appeal could be a document stating that the clerk of the specific court where the divorce was filed couldn’t find any appeals for the names of the plaintiff and the defendant, and possibly, that the time allowed for an appeal has expired.
Alternatively, it could be a case summary showing no legal actions were taken regarding that divorce after the final judgment of divorce was entered.

A: It is a form of authentication required for international acceptance of notarized and official documents, which has been implemented by “The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirements of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents” of 1961.
In the US, it is provided by the Office of the Secretary of State of the State where the document/certificate was issued. Federally issued documents, on the other hand, are legalized by the US Department of State.

A: All birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates issued in languages other than Italian must be translated into Italian. Apostilles as well as naturalization records do not need to be translated into Italian.

A: The documents are to be “professionally translated” into Italian. The consulates’ websites usually provide lists of approved translators.
For most of the consulates no certification is required on the translations, while some of them, for example the Italian consulate in Boston, need the translator’s signature to be notarized and subsequently legalized with an Apostille.

A: Once the vital record documents for your citizenship application are legalized by means of Apostille they do not have any expiration date and can be filed with the consulate at any time.
If not already apostilled, it is possible that the vital records that you retrieved cannot be legalized if issued too far back in time (usually more than 5 years from the issuance date). Not all states have the same Apostille requirements, though: it is always advisable to check with the competent Secretary of State as to whether a document in your possession is still suitable for the Apostille or not.

A: No. The consulate will keep on file all the vital record documents submitted the day of the appointment (they will become part of your official file).
Only in the case you submitted the certificate of naturalization for your ancestor in original, it will be returned to you.

A: Not all discrepancies have the same importance.
For example, straightforward Americanization of names (like Joseph for Giuseppe) or typographical errors are considered minor discrepancies, while, major discrepancies, such as mistakes in dates or places of birth, or relevant distortions of names, can raise issues.
That said, the evaluation of the discrepancies is very discretional and it depends on the consular clerk.
When possible, we advise to try and have at least major discrepancies amended through the competent vital record office. However, this is not always possible, depending on the specific policies of the local vital records office.

A: It happens frequently that applicants visit the consulate with applications that are not entirely complete (due to the fact that applicants have to schedule appointments almost a year in advance and they then have a limited timeframe to orchestrate the retrieval of all the records needed to apply). When the citizenship application is approximately 90% complete applicants are always allowed to file the application and mail the last remaining items to the consulate after the interview.

A: Normally documents on file at the consulate do not need to be duplicated when additional family members use the same consulate.
Starting from 2012 consulates no longer share documents with each other. Therefore, if your family member was granted citizenship by another consulate, you will need to provide new original vital record documents to the consulate you will be using.

A: The Italian government generally permits name changes in only two situations: (1) your life is in danger, (2) your birth name is obscene. However, if the name change occurred abroad (and there are no Italian judgments against the ruling of such name change decree), the government would normally accept the registration of the foreign judgment.
If you have had a name change prior to applying for citizenship, you would need to submit to the consulate a certified copy of your name change, as well as an amended copy of your birth certificate. To have your birth certificate amended, you will generally need to request a name change decree from your local court, then contact the department of vital records of the U.S. state in which you were born and ask them to amend your birth certificate, presenting the decree as supporting evidence.
If you wish to change your name after your application for citizenship has been submitted, you would need to produce the name change decree to the consulate, which will forward it to the Comune, where it will be annotated on your birth record.

A: Consulates usually only accept church records (baptismal certificates, religious marriage certificates, etc.) if the civil authorities formally declare that they have no record of a birth or marriage. Ergo, if you cannot find a civil record, obtain a statement to that effect from the local authorities.

A: Usually, the only acceptable alternative is a letter from the Comune stating that they do not have the birth certificate, and a copy of the baptismal certificate from the local parish with the stamp of the Diocese. Occasionally, in the case of male ascendants, military draft documents from Italy will have parents’ names and the ascendant’s place and date of birth. Without either one of these substitutes or the birth certificate from the Comune, you cannot apply for citizenship.

A: It depends on what document is missing.
The lack of a death record usually does not represent a big deal. In fact, death records are useful to prove that the ascendants are deceased and to give a better picture of where the ancestor lived but are not strictly required by law.
And the same goes for the lack of civil records and the submission of religious records as substitutes (e.g. certificate of baptism instead of birth certificate).
However, according to our experience, it is almost impossible that your application would be accepted in case you lack a marriage record, if you are applying through the male ancestor.
In fact, the Italian law in the matter of Italian citizenship by descent (Circolare 29/2002) specifically states that applicants need to present (at least) birth and marriage records pertaining to the persons in the Italian line from the ancestors born in Italy up to them. Marriage records are required to establish paternity when a male ancestor is involved: the Italian law presumes that the father of the child is the person married to the mother; the fact that the father is listed on the birth record is generally not sufficient to establish paternity.
The only way to supersede the lack of the marriage record is through an acknowledgment of paternity.

A: The Italian law in the matter of Italian citizenship by descent is very brief and concise, which makes the evaluation process of the submitted documentation quite discretional. As a result, consular clerks are allowed to ask applicants to integrate their application with any other document they believe will be useful to shade light on a citizenship application by descent.
For this reason, to better evaluate the vital records which pertain to the persons in the Italian line, usually consular clerks ask for the vital record documents pertinent to the not-in-the-Italian-line persons.
On the other hand, applicants can submit any additional useful document to underline they qualify for Italian citizenship jure sanguinis or question the ones required by the consulate.
However, if the consular clerk definitively rejects the application, based on the fact that the applicant was not able to prove his/her right to Italian citizenship, you can appeal the consular decision before the Administrative Court in Italy.

A: Italian citizenship through marriage or civil union (same-sex-marriage) to an Italian citizen is regulated by Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the law of Citizenship n. 91 of 1992.
Residents of Italy who are married to an Italian citizen can apply after two years from the date of the marriage/civil union, while the waiting time for foreign nationals married to Italian citizens residing abroad is three years.
The term is reduced by half in case there are minor children born or legally adopted by the couple.
Please note that, if you are a woman married to an Italian citizen before April 26, 1983, you automatically gained Italian citizenship at the time of marriage. You just need to have your right to Italian citizenship recognized through a formal (though, simplified) application process.

A: Yes. Law December 1, 2018 n. 32 (which modified law 91/1992) introduced a new requirement for applications for Italian citizenship by marriage presented after December 4, 2018. Such law establishes that applicants for Italian citizenship by marriage must have an adequate knowledge of the Italian language (B1 level) which must be certified by an educational institution approved by the Italian Ministry of Education (“MIUR”) or Ministry of Foreign affairs (“MAECI”). Applicants are required to present a certificate confirming their knowledge of the Italian language at the time of submission of the citizenship application.

A: As a citizen by descent, your citizenship is recognized retroactively since birth. So, independently from the date of issuance of your citizenship decree, you are technically an Italian citizen since the day you were born. By law, this type of recognition (vs. acquisition) is retroactive.
However, if you have not been granted Italian citizenship by descent yet (because the documentation you submitted for citizenship application by descent is still under evaluation), you need to receive the confirmation by the Italian authorities that you are an Italian citizen first and that your marriage was registered in Italy, and only afterwards your spouse should start his/her citizenship application.

A. Yes, even if you are not a citizen since birth, your spouse is entitled to Italian citizenship through marriage.

A. Yes. For example:
– the Italian spouse, if residing abroad, must be registered with AIRE registry held by the consulate with jurisdiction on the state where he/she currently lives;
– the marriage record of the couple must have been registered in Italy;
– all the previous marriage records and any relevant divorces decrees pertaining to the Italian spouse must have been already registered in Italy.

A: The marriage abstract needs to be obtained from the Italian municipality where the Italian spouse registered with the AIRE.

A: Applications for acquisition of citizenship through marriage must be submitted, directly by the individuals concerned, online through the web portal of the Italian Ministry of Interior. The consulate will then perform an initial examination of the application and verification of the documentation provided.
If the consulate finds any errors or omissions, the applicant will be required to resubmit the application or make the necessary amendments.
Once accepted, the documentation supporting the citizenship application will be transmitted by the Consulate to the office of the Ministry of Interior for a formal evaluation.

A: By law, the Ministry is allowed 48 months to process applications for citizenship by marriage (previously 730 days: this provision was changed by Law Decree October 4, 2018 n. 113). If the Ministry of Interior’s office exceeds the maximum processing time, it is advisable that the applicant files a letter of formal complaint (normally more effective if sent by an attorney) and ask to expedite the conclusion of the process.

A. The law requires that the couple remains married until the conclusion of the process in order for the citizenship application to be approved. If the couple gets divorced during the process, the citizenship application cannot be completed and citizenship will not be granted to the non-Italian spouse. The law requires that the Italian spouse attends a citizenship appointment at the consulate with his/her spouse at the end of the process, in order to confirm that the couple is still legally married.

No: on August 15, 1992 Italy passed a law allowing dual citizenship. As a consequence, those who acquired a foreign nationality after the above-mentioned date have retained their
Italian citizenship.

Yes: pursuant to law no. 555 of 1912 (effective before February 5, 1992) any individual who acquired a foreign citizenship, automatically lost their Italian citizenship.

A: Yes, pursuant to art. 13 of law n. 91 of 1992, a person who lost his/her Italian citizenship can re-acquire it if he/she declares such intention before an Italian authority or, as an alternative, automatically after one year of residency in Italy.

A: Such declarations can be received by the competent Italian Consulate or, if the person resides in Italy, by an officer of the Italian municipality of residency (Ufficiale di Stato Civile). If the declaration is presented before a Consular officer, in order to complete the re-acquisition, the declarant needs to transfer residency in Italy within one year from the date of the declaration. The process will then be completed by the Italian “Comune” of residency of the declarant.

A: The applicant should first visit the Vital Records office to inform them of his/her intention to apply for re-acquisition of Italian citizenship. The clerk will perform a preliminary check of the documentation; if that is sufficient, they will give the go-ahead to the residency office to proceed with the applicant’s registration. Only if the processing time exceeds 90 days the applicant should request a residence permit.

A: Normally, the Italian authorities require the applicant’s Italian birth record (possibly with the annotation of Italian citizenship loss), proof of foreign naturalization, certificate of residency, proof of payment of the €200 fee.

A: Although it usually takes less than 90 days, the process can take up to a year. In fact, after one year of residency, the re-acquisition becomes automatic.

A: If the process takes longer than 90 days, you will be allowed to apply for a special residency permit that is granted to people waiting for the conclusion of their citizenship re-acquisition.

A: The Italian passport is currently one of the most powerful passports globally, giving you access to some 175 countries without the need for an entry visa. According to Henley and Partners, more powerful than the Italian passport are only the German one (177 countries) and the Singapore passport (176 countries).

A: It depends on the authority releasing the passport; it may take one to six weeks, from when the required paperwork is submitted. Many Consulates in the US have a same-day service for passports, if the applicant is regularly registered in their database and all his/her vital records have been correctly transcribed in Italy.

A: Once Italian citizenship will be granted to you, your Italian passport will display your name as it is listed in your birth certificate, submitted the day of your appointment.
In case of married female applicants, their Italian passport will have their maiden name.
This is because the Italian law does not allow women to assume their husband’s name after the marriage: a woman’s name at birth is considered her legal name throughout her life and it is the name listed on all official documents, including their IDs.
Finally, if this is your case, you don’t have to worry about having different names on your US and Italian passport: a woman may be known legally in the US by her married name and in Italy by her maiden name.

A: We suggest to show both passports, US and Italian, one for verifying your identity as the correct passenger, and the other one for immigration purposes for your particular itinerary. Alternatively, the airline (or other transport company) may accept another form of identification with a matching name, such as a DL.

A: Italian Citizenship Assistance (ICA) has offices both in Rovigo, Italy, and in the U.S., in particular in Los Angeles, Memphis and New York City. All of our offices are open to the public.

A: ICA is a Californian Corporation. It provides intermediary services and guidance in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship in partnership with a law firm based in Rovigo, Italy (the Permunian Law Firm). ICA’s founder, Marco Permunian, is an Italian attorney who is specialized in Italian citizenship law.

A: ICA offers help with applying for Italian citizenship by descent, by marriage and by residency. It offers an executive full service, a step-by-step package and an assistance package. Applications for Italian citizenship by descent may be filed at an Italian consulate, a municipality in Italy or via the court system in Italy.

A: If you apply for Italian citizenship through ICA your case will be assigned to a citizenship specialist who will provide you with regular updates regarding the status of your application by email, phone or through videocalls.