This article will give you an overview of the most common keywords that you will encounter when looking into applying for Italian citizenship by descent. Firstly, applying for citizenship by descent means that you are claiming citizenship via one of your ancestors who was born in Italy.
As a general rule, you can apply for Italian citizenship by descent if your ancestor who was born in Italy was never naturalized or if he/she was naturalized after the birth of his/her child born abroad, and if none of your ascendants in your direct line of descent ever formally renounced their right to Italian citizenship. The word naturalization refers to the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country acquires the citizenship of that country.
*Please note that prior to August 16, 1992, Italian citizens who were naturalized in a foreign country automatically lost their Italian citizenship and could not transmit it to their children. However, after Law 91/1992 was passed on August 16, 1992 important changes in Italian citizenship law were made and Italy allowed for dual citizenship, so the naturalization of an Italian citizen in a foreign country no longer caused the loss of Italian citizenship.
If there is a woman in your Italian lineage who gave birth to her child abroad before January 1, 1948, you may not be able to qualify for Italian citizenship by descent through an application at the consulate, however, you may be able to pursue Italian citizenship via a lawsuit. More specifically, on January 1, 1948 Italy’s constitution came into effect, which granted women and men equal rights. As a result, under the new constitution, Italian women could pass their Italian citizenship onto their children but only if they were born after January 1, 1948. This is why if your female ancestor gave birth to her child prior to January 1, 1948 you can only claim citizenship retroactively via a judicial proceeding and file a 1948 case in court in Italy. On the contrary, if there is a female ancestor in your Italian lineage who gave birth to her child after January 1, 1948 you can file your citizenship application at an Italian consulate or at a municipality in Italy.
In particular, a consulate is a public office which represents a state in a foreign country for the purpose of performing routine functions for that state’s citizens such as issuing visas, renewing passports or processing citizenship applications. The list of consulates in the US can be found here.
*Please note that when applying for Italian citizenship you will need to book an appointment at the consulate which covers the jurisdiction where you reside.
A consulate is different from an embassy which, instead, is the base for a country’s diplomatic mission abroad – meaning all of the political, cultural and social relationships between states. Unlike consulates, there is generally only one embassy for one nation in another country. Finally, a municipality (in Italian, comune) is the smallest administrative unit in Italy and each town in Italy has its own municipality. If you decide to apply for citizenship directly in Italy, you can apply in any Italian municipality and not necessarily in the municipality where your ancestor was born.
Applying for Italian citizenship by descent entails providing the consulate or the municipality in Italy to which you apply with certified copies of your family’s vital records. In order to retrieve them you will need to sign a number of forms, some of which might need your notarized signature. In order words, you will need to sign the forms before a notary public who can verify your identity.
The vital records include birth, marriage, divorce (if applicable) and death certificates, and your Italian ancestor’s naturalization records. These documents must be apostilled and translated into Italian. An apostille is a certificate issued by the Secretary of State which is attached to an original document to verify that it is legitimate and authentic in order for it to be accepted in one of the other countries which are members of the Hague Apostille Convention.
Once you retrieve all of your vital records it is advisable to check whether there are any discrepancies that might negatively affect your citizenship application. These might be related to misspellings, incorrect dates, or middle names that are not consistent in the applicant’s vital records. If there are a lot of discrepancies among your family’s vital records, it is likely that amendments will need to be made. Generally, amendments can be made by contacting the department of health which issued the vital record.
Finally, once all of your vital records have been assessed and apostilled they will need to be translated into Italian. If you apply via a municipality in Italy or via the court system the translations will need to be sworn in court in Italy. A sworn translation is the translation of any document that requires the signature or seal of an authorised translator who certifies that the translation into Italian reflects the original version. Once you submit your citizenship application to the Italian consulate or municipality, if your claim is successful, you will be granted Italian citizenship and you will be registered with the AIRE (Registry of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad); you will then be able to apply for an Italian passport.
Although this article has mainly focused on the terminology used in the realm of applications for citizenship by descent, there are also other paths to acquiring Italian citizenship, namely citizenship by marriage and by residency (or naturalization). If you want to learn more about the differences between citizenship by descent and citizenship by marriage please click here.
We hope that this article has provided you with the necessary information regarding the keywords you need to know if you are looking to apply for Italian citizenship by descent. If you need help with determining your eligibility to apply do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We will be happy to help you.
