The foreign citizen is the owner of rights recognized and guaranteed by International Laws of the States, such as applying and obtaining the Italian citizenship. However, legal assistance is often required for the protection of immigration rights. In particular, it is required in the most common cases of refusal of the entry visa for work or business reasons, for the complex practices for family reunification, and to obtain citizenship by descent.
The following are some useful guidelines for those who face the complex subject of Italian citizenship for the first time. For additional information, describe us your case: you can find all the references in the Contacts page.
HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CITIZENSHIP?
Italian citizenship can be acquired in various ways:
- By birth: We speak of “ius sanguinis”, or by direct descent from at least one parent in possession of Italian citizenship. A child is Italian if at least one of the parents is Italian. The legislation in this regard is very articulated.
- By birth on the Italian territory: A child born in Italy by foreign parents can ask for citizenship only after being 18 years old and if until that time has resided in Italy “legally and continuously”.
- For adoption, e.g. a minor adopted by an Italian citizen
- By marriage or by residence
By marriage
Art 5 of Law No. 91/92 provides that the citizen, foreign or stateless, who is married to an Italian citizen may acquire Italian citizenship when, after the marriage, he has been legally resident for at least two years in the territory of the Republic. It is also possible after three years from the date of the marriage if resident abroad and, at the time of concession of citizenship, the dissolution, annulment or cessation of the civil effects of the marriage has not occurred and there is no separation. In the case of children, born or adopted by the couple, the terms are reduced by half.
By residence
A foreign, born in Italy, citizen of an EU or non-EU country, stateless person or refugee, residing in Italy, may apply for Italian citizenship, as follows:
- Foreign citizen born in Italy and resident legally for at least 3 years.
- Foreign citizen son or nephew in a straight line of Italian citizens by birth, legally resident in Italy for at least 3 years.
- Foreign national of age, adopted by Italian citizen, legally resident in Italy for at least 5 years, after the adoption.
- Foreign national who has served, even abroad, for at least 5 years in the dependence of the Italian state, in this case the application for Italian citizenship must be requested from the competent consular authority.
- Citizen E.U. Legally resident in Italy for at least 4 years.
- Stateless citizen or refugee who has been legally resident in Italy for at least five years.
- National non resident legally in Italy for at least 10 years.
Attention! For all foreigns falling in one of the above mentioned cases, another requirement is requested: personal income, or family income if they belong to the same household and the same family state, must be above some thresholds. The income to be considered is that for the three years prior to the application for citizenship and the required annual thresholds are:
- € 8.263,31 for applicants without dependent persons;
- € 11.362,05 for applicants with a dependent spouse, with an increase of € 516,00 for each additional dependent person.
CITIZENSHIP BY MATERNAL DESCENT
In application of the principle of ius sanguinis, the descendant of Italian emigrant, who has not achieved foreign citizenship, may claim the Italian citizenship. Hence the concrete possibility that the descendants of second, third and fourth generation, and beyond, of Italian emigrants, are declared Italian citizens by filiation. Services available to customers:
SEARCH FOR DOCUMENTS
Search of birth/baptsim/marriage records in Churches/Municipalities. Costs depend on the complexity of the research, and it depends on the specific target location (ex.: additional attempts due to damage of buildings caused by wars/earthquakes/water floodings…).
ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTS
Necessary to evaluate the feasibility of the judicial process.
JUDICIAL PROCESS
Maternal line (before 1948 cases): for the legal redress of art. 702/bis del Codice di Procedura Civile in the Courthouse of Rome (the only competent court for these cases).
AFTER-JUDGMENT
- Acquisition of the certified copy of the sentence
- Dispatch of civil state acts (certificates of birth/marriage) and judgment to municipalities for the formal approval of citizenship.
- Dispatch of transcripts to customers’ residence, to allow the subscription to AIRE and request of passport.
For additional information, describe us your case: you can find all the references in the Contacts page.
