According to the Law, a foreigner who has married an Italian citizen can become an Italian citizen. This is valid whether your spouse is an Italian citizen by birth or obtained the citizenship for instance, after being a legal resident for ten years.
This is a right of all spouses of Italian citizens, and it can only be denied to those who have been sentenced for serious crimes either in Italy or abroad. It can also be denied to those who are considered a threat to the national security and public order.
One doesn’t automatically acquire Italian citizenship after marrying an Italian citizen. There are conditions to be met and a procedure to be followed in applying for citizenship.
A non-EU or EU spouse of an Italian citizen can acquire Italian citizenship if after marriage, he/she has been a legal resident in Italy for at least two years, or after three years if they are living abroad.
This will be reduced by half if the couple has children (natural or adopted). This means that if a foreigner marries an Italian, they have a child and are living in Italy, he/she can apply for citizenship after residing legally in the country for one year. If they are living abroad, then he/she can apply for citizenship after one a half years of marriage.
If the family is living in Italy, the non-EU spouse of an Italian citizen must have a Permit of Stay while the EU spouse must have a certificate of residence. Both must be enrolled with the Registry Office of their local City Council. In case they are living abroad, they’ll be required to be legal residents in that country.
The marriage must be subsisting throughout the process of application for citizenship. Citizenship is only awarded if no annulment, separation, or divorce has taken place. It is also a requirement that the couple must be living together.
What to do
In order to apply for Italian citizenship, you must submit the application to the Prefect in your area of residence using a form called “modello A”. The form is available at the Prefecture. You can also download it from this link: http://www.stranieriinitalia.it/cittadinanza-modello_a_cittadinanza_per_matrimonio_4891.html
Those living abroad can submit the application at the Italian Consulate.
Required documents
The following must be attached to the application for citizenship.
- for non-EU foreigners, a copy of the Permit of Stay while EU foreigners must present the certificate of residence
- copy of marriage certificate
- copy of birth certificate, translated into Italian and legalised by the Italian Consulate
- certificate of criminal records and pending charges issued by Italian Criminal Tribunal
- certificate/declaration of historical residence
- family status certificate
- certificate of criminal records and pending charges from your country of origin, translated into Italian and legalised by the Italian Consulate
- the spouse’s Italian citizenship certificate
- receipt of payment of €200.00 application fee and €14.62 revenue stamp
The Government has opened a postal current account to be used in making payments of the citizenship application fees. Payment is done at the post office, using special forms which can be obtained either at the post office or at the Immigrations Offices at the Prefecture.
The 200 Euro application must also be paid by those applying for citizenship from abroad. For further information, please check with the Italian Consulate in your country of residence.
Procedure
After submitting the application, the Immigrations Office at the Prefecture may ask for additional documents. Such documents must be submitted as soon as possible otherwise the application risks being rejected.
The Immigrations Office at the Prefecture then forwards the application telematically to the Ministry of Home Affairs, while at the same time seeking the views of the Provincial Police Headquarters and the Ministry of Justice.
During the process, police officers may make a home visit to verify if the spouses are living together. If they find out that they are not living together, the application can be rejected.
According to the citizenship law, the authorities must fully process the application within 730 days, that it is within two years from the time one submits the application.
If after two years the Prefecture has not yet issued the order granting citizenship or notified the applicant of rejection of his/her application, the applicant can appeal to the Civil Tribunal to be awarded Italian citizenship.
There is a possibility of checking the status of application for citizenship by logging on to the website: www.cittadinanza.interno.it.
In order to obtain information about the status of one’s application, it is necessary to have at hand the code “K10”.The code is contained in the letter the Prefecture sends to the applicant informing him/her that they've received and are processing the application for citizenship.
If the application is accepted, Ministry of Home Affairs sends to the Prefecture the decree granting citizenship. The Prefecture then forwards it to the applicant.
From the moment once receives the decree awarding citizenship, the foreigner has six months to go and take an oath before a Civil Status Officer at the City Council of residence and to hand over the Permit of Stay.
One becomes Italian citizen the next day after taking the oath, and can apply for Italian passport at the local police station.
Please note that acquiring Italian citizenship doesn’t make one lose his/her original citizenship since Italy allows dual citizenship. One only loses his/her original citizenship if the country of origin doesn’t allow dual citizenship.
By Mascia Salvatore
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