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ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP

Who is entitled to Italian citizenship by residency and how do you apply?

Living in Italy for a number of years will make you eligible for citizenship by residency, or naturalisation. But there are other requirements you’ll need to meet to become an Italian 'cittadino'.

Published: 31 July 2024 15:31 CEST
Updated: 3 August 2024 06:06 CEST
Italian flag waving in the wind with a lake in the background
Citizenship by residency is one of three routes available to foreign nationals to become Italian citizens. Photo by Anatol Rurac on Unsplash

There are many practical benefits to obtaining Italian citizenship, including freedom of movement across the EU, free access to Italy’s healthcare system and the right to vote in Italian elections.

Further, the Italian passport is considered to be one of the world’s “most powerful” as it grants visa-free entry to more countries in the world than almost any other passport.

But if you’re not so lucky as to have an Italian ancestor (citizenship by ancestry) or to be married to an Italian national (citizenship by marriage), your only remaining path to becoming an Italian cittadino will be citizenship by right (also known as ‘naturalisation’).

Though it is often regarded as the most complex way to gain Italian citizenship, this is a popular route among aspiring citizens: of the 121,457 people that were granted Italian citizenship in 2021, nearly 51,000 people (42 percent) qualified via residency in Italy.

READ ALSO: The three ways to apply for Italian citizenship

As with the two other citizenship routes however, there are a number of stringent requirements that would-be citizens need to meet.

Who can apply?

As suggested by the name, you need to prove that you’ve legally lived in Italy for a minimum period of time in order to apply for Italian citizenship by residency.

Italian flag hanging by building in city centre

Italy’s citizenship by residency route requires most applicants to take an Italian language test. Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

The length of time you have to live in Italy before you can apply depends on your nationality. 

  • Non-EU nationals (including Brits following Brexit): 10 years
  • EU nationals: four years.
  • Refugees or stateless persons: five years.
  • Adults (aged 18 or over) adopted by an Italian national: five years following adoption
  • People with an Italian parent or grandparent: three years (citizenship by ancestry claims may also be accessible in this case).
  • People born in Italy to foreign parents: three years of legal residency as an adult (unless they’ve spent the first 18 years of their lives in Italy, which makes them eligible for a faster Ius Soli citizenship route, to be completed before they turn 19).
  • Foreign nationals who worked abroad for the Italian State for at least five years: no residency requirement

Legal resident status is taken to begin from the date of registration with Italy’s Anagrafe registry and must be uninterrupted, meaning you can travel abroad but must keep residency in Italy.

What are the other requirements?

As with the marriage route, most applicants must prove proficiency in the Italian language at B1 level (lower-intermediate level) or higher by taking a test. 

For info on exactly what the test involves and where you can take it, see our guide.

If you hold an EU long-term residence permit (permesso di soggiorno per soggiornanti di lungo periodo) or have studied in Italy and own a qualification issued by an Italian institution recognised by the Education Ministry, you are exempt from the requirement.

READ ALSO: Can your Italian citizenship be revoked?

To qualify for citizenship by residency, you must also provide proof of income produced and taxed in Italy for the previous three years. 

Your yearly income cannot be lower than €8.263,31 if you’re not married and without children, or €11.362,05 if you’re married, plus an additional €516 for each child you may have.

If you don’t have an income, or if your yearly income does not meet the threshold, you can indicate somebody else’s provided that they are part of the same household.

Finally, applicants must prove that they have no past criminal convictions by submitting criminal records for all countries they’ve previously lived in.

How to apply

The application for citizenship by residency must be submitted through the Italian Interior Ministry’s website, which you’ll only be able to access with SPID digital identity credentials. 

Italian Air Force unit Frecce Tricolori (Tricolour Arrows) leave trails of green, white and red smoke over Piazza Venezia in Rome

Citizenship by residency applications must be submitted on the Italian Interior Ministry’s website. Photo by LAURENT EMMANUEL / AFP

After logging in, you’ll be asked to complete the relevant application form, upload your supporting documents and then submit the application.

READ ALSO: What are the pros and cons of having Italian dual citizenship?

You’ll be asked to produce the original documents at the local prefecture office (prefettura) at a later stage.

The application costs €250, which can be paid directly online or at a post office.

The paperwork you’ll need

Supporting documents for Italian citizenship by residency generally include:

  • Valid ID
  • Birth certificate, which must be translated and legalised by the Italian consulate in your country of origin
  • Residency permit (for non-EU nationals)
  • Residency certificate, known as storico di residenza in Italian
  • Certificate of knowledge of the Italian language at B1 level unless exemptions apply
  • Proof of income (generally produced via Italian tax returns)
  • Criminal records translated and legalised by the Italian consulate in your home country
  • Receipt of payment of the €250 fee

How long does the process take?

Once you submit your application, Italian authorities have up to 24 months to process it, though they can extend the timeframe to 36 months pending the issuance of an extension notice.

Unfortunately, there currently is no way for applicants to expedite the process.

Italian immigration lawyers strongly advise applicants to carefully prepare all necessary documents before applying to avoid possible delays later on.

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For members

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP

Quick guide: Who is eligible for Italian citizenship?

There are many practical benefits to being an Italian citizen, not least the right to freely move and reside within the EU. But exactly who's eligible and what are the requirements?

Published: 12 September 2024 12:18 CEST
Updated: 15 September 2024 08:14 CEST
Quick guide: Who is eligible for Italian citizenship?

Italian citizenship applications can be drawn-out and expensive affairs, often requiring months of appointments and piles of paperwork.

But being an Italian cittadino comes with a number of practical benefits, including freedom of movement across the EU, the right to vote in Italian elections and free access to Italy’s healthcare system if you live in the country.

Further, the Italian passport is considered to be one of the world’s “most powerful” as it grants visa-free entry to more countries than almost any other passport.

But who is eligible for Italian citizenship?

There are several different routes to Italian nationality, which are generally grouped into two major categories: automatic citizenship (acquisto automatico or cittadinanza automatica), which, as suggested by the name, is granted automatically to those eligible, and citizenship ‘by concession’ (cittadinanza per concessione), which must applied for and is only granted if all the relevant requirements and eligibility criteria are met.

Cittadinanza per concessione

Citizenship by descent 

Italy is fairly lenient when it comes to jus sanguinis, or ancestry-based, citizenship applications.

Anyone who can prove that they had an Italian ancestor who was alive after March 17th, 1861 (when the Kingdom of Italy was officially born) and that no one in their line of descent renounced Italian citizenship before the birth of their descendant is eligible to apply.

However, proving you’re a direct descendent of someone who’s often long dead and you may only know through grainy black and white photographs can be a long and convoluted process.

READ ALSO: An expert guide to getting Italian citizenship via ancestry

Further, anyone applying via their maternal line of descent needs to be aware of the ‘1948 rule’ and how this could affect their application process. Find out more about that here.

Unlike citizenship through residency or marriage (see below), your ancestry-based application isn’t subject to language requirements or other administrative hurdles as you’re essentially applying to have an existing right recognised.

You can apply for citizenship via ancestry at the nearest Italian consulate in your home country or at your local town hall if you live in Italy. 1948 rule applicants must directly petition Italian courts to have their citizenship case heard.

Citizenship by marriage

If you’re married to an Italian, you can file your application for citizenship after two years of legal residence in Italy, or after three years if living abroad.

This time is reduced by half if you have children (natural or adopted).

Under a 2018 law change, applicants must take a B1 language test. For info on what the test involves and where you can take it, see our guide.

You cannot apply for citizenship via this route if you’re divorced from your Italian spouse, or if she or he has passed away.

READ ALSO: What I learned from applying for Italian citizenship by marriage

You can apply for citizenship via marriage at an Italian consulate in your home country, or in Italy by submitting your application to the interior ministry online.

Citizenship by residency

Though it is often considered the most complex way to gain Italian citizenship, this is a popular route among aspiring citizens: of the 121,457 people that were granted citizenship in 2021, nearly 51,000 people qualified via residency.

As suggested by the name, you need to prove that you’ve legally lived in Italy for a minimum period of time in order to apply. This is 10 years for non-EU nationals and four years for EU citizens, but certain categories benefit from lower thresholds.

READ ALSO: Who is entitled to Italian citizenship by residency and how do you apply? 

As with the marriage route, most applicants must prove proficiency in the Italian language at B1 level (lower-intermediate level) or higher by taking a test. For further info, see our guide.

Applicants are also subject to income requirements.

Children born in Italy to foreign parents

Unlike in other countries around the world, including the US, merely being born in Italy doesn’t grant a child Italian citizenship.

Italy-born children of foreign nationals must reside in Italy ‘without interruption’ until the age of 18 and submit a statement of intent within one year of their 18th birthday in order to apply for citizenship.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Will my children get an Italian passport if born in Italy?

If that time window is missed, or they fail to provide proof of continuous residency, then the only option left is to apply for citizenship by residency (naturalisation) after three continuous years of legal residency in the country. 

This, however, is still lower than the normal residency threshold for EU nationals (four years) and non-EU nationals (ten years).  

Cittadinanza automatica

Children of an Italian national at birth

If at least one parent is an Italian citizen, the child will automatically be granted Italian citizenship at birth by virtue of the so-called jus sanguinis (‘blood right’).

This applies to children born abroad as much as it does to those born in Italy.

Children adopted by an Italian national

A foreign minor who’s adopted by an Italian citizen is automatically granted Italian citizenship. 

A foreign national aged 18 or over who’s adopted by an Italian citizen can apply for naturalisation following five years of continuous residency in the country.

Children of stateless or unknown parents

A child born in Italy to stateless (meaning they have no legal nationality) or unknown parents automatically acquires Italian citizenship.

Children whose parents become Italian citizens

A person who acquires Italian citizenship (or reacquires after losing it) passes it to any child under the age of 18 provided that they live with them “in a stable and concrete manner”. 

Things are different for children whose parents become Italian citizens after they turn 18 as they’ll have to file their own application. 

For instance, over-18s whose parents become Italian citizens via the residency route (or naturalisation) need to file their own naturalisation application following five years of legal residency in the country starting from their parents’ naturalisation date (generally coinciding with completion of the oath ceremony).

Special merits or services

Following a joint proposal from the Interior Minister and Foreign Minister, Italy’s head of state can grant citizenship to foreign nationals who’ve “rendered eminent services to Italy, or when there is an exceptional interest of the State”.

This is a very rare case.

For more information about applying for Italian citizenship see the Italian foreign ministry’s website or contact the nearest Italian consulate in your country.

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