When enquiring about the possibility to apply for Italian citizenship, be it by descent (jure sanguinis), by marriage or by residency, the first questions that come to one’s mind are Am I eligible? How long does it take? How much does it cost? While many of our articles have provided in-depth information regarding the eligibility requirements and the costs associated with applying for Italian citizenship, this article in particular will focus on the time needed to apply and to be recognized as an Italian citizen by analyzing the processes related to the three main pathways to acquiring citizenship: by descent, by marriage and by residency.
ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP JURE SANGUINIS (BY DESCENT)
Before we dig deeper into the process and the corresponding timeline to be recognized as an Italian citizen by descent, it is worth pointing out that regardless of where you will be applying, be it an Italian consulate in the U.S. or outside the U.S., a municipality in Italy, or the court in Italy, you will need to collect certified copies of your family’s vital records. These include:
- Birth and death certificates: these are issued by the U.S. state’s Department of Health, but in some cases they are also available at the county level.
- Marriage records: these are generally issued by the county in which the marriage license was purchased. With regards to this, please note that it is important to retrieve certified copies of marriage licenses or applications because these documents generally provide the registrant’s parents’ names and, ultimately, this information is used by the clerks assessing your application to verify your Italian lineage.
- Divorce decrees: these can be retrieved from the court in which the divorce was filed. Please note that if you are divorced you will also need a Certificate of No Appealstating that no appeal was filed after the final judgment or it will be necessary to obtain a case summary.
- Proof of naturalization or no naturalization pertaining to the ancestor who was born in Italy and who emigrated to the U.S. These documents are provided by USCIS (the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), NARA (the National Archives and Record Administration), or the county in which naturalization occurred.
The list outlined above comprises the records that you will most likely be required to provide when you file an application for Italian citizenship by descent. Nevertheless, please bear in mind that some consulates in the U.S. or abroad, or municipalities in Italy, will only require the vital records pertaining to your direct line of descent, therefore it is advisable to double-check the documents needed with the respective authority processing the application before you submit you file.
It generally takes 3 to 9 months to collect all the records, however, this depends on the specific case and on the processing times of the specific offices issuing the vital records. Some departments of health, for instance, require 6 to 8 weeks to mail certified copies of vital records, however, there are also agencies such as VitalCheck, for instance, which provide a service designed to simplify and accelerate the process of obtaining vital records from the U.S. It may also be possible to request records in-person, however this depends on whether the specific vital records office allows walk-in services. Once all the records have been retrieved, if there are any discrepancies that might negatively affect your application, you will need to request an amendment to the documents. As with requesting the vital records, applying for an amendment can take up to several weeks depending on the specific vital statics office to which you apply. If there are no inconsistencies on the records concerning dates of birth or names pertaining to the individuals in your Italian lineage, the records will need to be authenticated with an Apostille and they will need to be translated into Italian. Apostilles are issued by the Secretary of State or by the U.S. Department of State (for federal documents), and they generally take a few weeks to be issued. Some Secretary of State offices provide a walk-in service and may be able to issue apostilles on the same day. If the records you are submitting were issued outside the U.S. you will need to make sure that they comply with the obligations provided for by law in relation to legalization and translations. The translations of documents originating from countries outside the U.S. will need to be certified prior to being submitted to the Italian consulate in the U.S. However, there are also consular offices such as the one under the Embassy in Washington DC, or the Italian consulate in Boston, for example, which at the time of writing this article require the translations of U.S. records to be certified. If you are applying via the court system in Italy translations must be certified. We at ICA can translate the records needed for your application as part of our service fee, and we can also certify them through a court in Italy, which generally takes a 1-2 weeks. For more detailed information about the documents needed to apply for Italian citizenship by descent please click here.
Therefore, depending on an individual’s specific circumstances which comprise a variety of factors, such as the number of vital records needed to apply, the countries and U.S. states where they need to be retrieved from, whether or not they needed to be amended and whether the translations need to be certified, the timeline to prepare the application may be shorter or longer.
Processing times to be granted citizenship via an Italian Consulate
If you have collected, legalized and translated all the necessary vital records then you are ready to file your application. If you live in the U.S., you will need to determine which consulate to apply to based on your residency address (a list of Italian consulates in the U.S. can be found here). You will then need to visit the consulate’s website and register with the online booking system, Prenotami. Once you have registered and confirmed your account you can log into your account and book an appointment for citizenship by descent. Different consulates in the U.S. have different waiting times, however, since the health emergency, some consulates have started to process citizenship applications via mail, thus making it easier and faster to apply. On the other hand, others have replaced in-person appointments with short interviews conducted over the phone, and they require applicants to submit their application electronically first and then mail their citizenship kits after their online submission had been assessed. By law, consulates have up to 24 months to process an application for Italian citizenship by descent, however, it could also take less. If the consulate fails to process the application within the terms established by law or if the consulate’s online booking system does not release enough appointments for applicants residing in its jurisdiction (or if the waiting time for an appointment exceeds the terms established by the Italian law) there are legal courses of actions which are offered by the Italian government and which we can help you pursue. For more information about submitting an application via an Italian consulate in the U.S. click here.
On the other hand, if you apply for Italian citizenship via an Italian consulate outside the U.S. the processing time to be recognized as an Italian citizen might be slightly shorter (for example Italian consulates in Europe and Asia tend to have fewer applications to process and therefore it might not be necessary to wait up to 24 months to be granted citizenship).
Processing times via a municipality in Italy
If you would prefer to avoid the consulates’ waiting times to be scheduled an appointment, or its processing times, you might want to consider filing an application via a municipality in Italy, which is generally faster than applying via an Italian consulate. Applying in Italy entails establishing legal residency in the country. You can choose your own Italian municipality or one of the municipalities in our network (including the municipality of Rovigo, where our office is located). More specifically, in order to apply for citizenship, you will need to provide the municipality with proof that you can legally use the property where you intend to establish your residency (e.g. lease agreement or property deed) and the local police will verify that you are living in that property within 45 days from your residency application. Once your residency status has been verified you can file an application via the citizenship office in the town hall and provide them with all of your vital records. Most municipalities do not require an appointment to establish residency or to apply for citizenship (and even when an appointment is required the waiting time is relatively short).
It normally takes a few months for the municipality to process your application but this may vary depending on the municipality to which you apply. If the process takes longer than 90 days you will need to apply for a residency permit. For more information about the offices involved in processing your application for Italian citizenship by descent via a municipality in Italy please click here.
Processing times via an Italian court
If you have a 1948 Case you will be able to apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship via a court in Italy. Please bear in mind that starting from June 22, 2022 all 1948 cases must be filed at the court that covers the jurisdiction of the applicant’s ancestor’s municipality of birth. Once all the records are ready and you have signed a power of attorney that enables one of our lawyers to represent you in court, the lawsuit can be filed and the case will be assigned to a judge who will schedule the first hearing. The waiting time varies greatly depending on the availability of the judge, but it can range from a few of months to approximately 18 months. During the first hearing, the judge will examine the petitioner’s vital records, and if no additional documents are required, the decision will be made whether to grant or deny the applicant’s claim to citizenship on the same day on which the hearing is held, or within a few weeks from that day. Once you win the case and the court officially recognizes you as an Italian citizen, the ruling will be filed with the clerk of the court, and the attorney who represented you will need to wait 60 days for the judge’s decision to become final and thus no longer subject to appeal. When that period of time elapses, you can request a certified copy of the final judgment for the Italian consulate which covers the jurisdiction where you reside to register it. The consulate will then send the certified copy of the judgment, together with a certified copy of your vital records to the municipality in Italy where your ancestor was born and register you with the AIRE.
ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE
If you would like to apply for Italian citizenship by marriage the procedure is slightly different compared to applying for citizenship by descent. Firstly, if the couple reside in Italy, the non-Italian spouse can apply for Italian citizenship after 2 years from the date of marriage or civil union. On the other hand, if the couple reside abroad, the non-Italian spouse can apply for Italian citizenship after 3 years from the date of marriage or civil union. In both cases, the number of years is halved if the couple have minor children. The application process is divided into two stages: an online submission and an appointment at the Italian consulate (if you reside outside Italy) or at the local “Prefettura” (prefecture) if you reside in Italy. Firstly, you will need to submit a number of documents via the Ministry of the Interior’s online portal. These comprise:
- a certified copy of the couple’s marriage certificate which has been registered at the Italian municipality where the Italian spouse is registered with AIRE
- a certified copy of the non-Italian spouse’s birth certificate which has been duly legalized and translated into Italian
- criminal record checks issued by the FBI and by the US States (and foreign countries, if applicable) where the non-Italian spouse has resided since the age of 14. These documents must be duly legalized and translated into Italian
- B1 Italian language certificate
- proof of payment of €250
The new law regulating the processing time for applications for citizenship by marriage has set the maximum processing time to 24 months, (which in some cases may be extended to 36 months) from the date of application. The applicant will then need to take the oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic within six months from the day citizenship was granted.
ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY RESIDENCY
If you are an EU citizen you can apply for Italian citizenship by residency after 4 years of legal residency in Italy; on the other hand, if you are a non-EU citizen you can apply after having resided in Italy for at least 10 years. However, some categories of individuals can apply after 3 years of legal residency; this applies to foreigners whose parents or grandparents were Italian by birth and to foreigners who were born in Italy and did not apply for Italian citizenship when they reached the age of 18. As with applying for Italian citizenship by marriage, the processing time to be recognized as an Italian citizen by virtue of being a resident of Italy is 24 months (which can be extended to 36 months). More information about the documents required and the application process can be found here.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO APPLY FOR AN ITALIAN PASSPORT?
If you have applied for Italian citizenship via an Italian consulate, the consulate will send you an official communication stating that you have been recognized as an Italian citizen, it will register you with the AIRE and your vital records will be sent to the municipality in Italy where your ancestor was born in order for them to be registered. Once they have been registered (average waiting time is a couple of weeks), you will then be able to apply for a passport.
If you have applied for citizenship by descent via a municipality in Italy, when your application has been approved you will be able to apply for a passport at the local police headquarters (“Questura”). On the other hand, if you return to your home country, you will need to register with the AIRE.
If you have applied for citizenship by filing a lawsuit at a court in Italy and you win the case and the court officially recognizes you as an Italian citizen, you can apply for an Italian passport through the Italian consulate abroad only after the ruling has been registered in Italy and you have registered with the AIRE. On the other hand if you reside in Italy you can request the registration of the final judgment directly via the Italian municipality where your Italian ancestor was born, and you can apply for a passport at the “Questura”.
It generally between 1 to 6 weeks to be issued a passport from the moment of application via an Italian consulate abroad. The process is generally faster through the “Questura” in Italy.
If you are interested in applying for Italian citizenship by descent and you would like a free eligibility assessment or further information about the application process, please feel free to contact our team at [email protected].
