A few weeks ago we published an article about applying for Italian citizenship by descent as a family group. In particular, we addressed some of the most frequently asked questions with regards to applying with relatives and we outlined the most common scenarios and the reasons why applying as a group is a cost-effective option. This article instead will explain the implications that acquiring Italian citizenship can have on one’s spouse and children by examining a few specific circumstances.
Italian citizenship and your adult children
If you apply for Italian citizenship and you have adult children, they will not be automatically included in your application and they will need to book an appointment at the consulate in order to formally apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. If you both reside under the same consular jurisdiction you can apply via the same consulate, but you will need two separate appointments. If you cannot secure two appointments on the same day you will need to book two separate appointments on different days. However, you will be able to share the vital records pertaining to the individuals in the Italian lineage.
If your adult children live under a different consular jurisdiction they will need to file their own application and provide the consulate which covers the jurisdiction where they reside with all the vital records pertaining to the individuals in the Italian lineage, starting from the ancestor who was born in Italy and who emigrated to the U.S.
***Note: it is not necessary for your children to wait for your application to be processed. In fact, regardless of whether and when the parent applies for Italian citizenship, most Italian consulates allow the adult children to file their own application.
Italian citizenship and your minor children
If you apply for Italian citizenship while your children are still minors your children will automatically become Italian citizens when you are granted Italian citizenship, provided that you present certified copies of their birth certificates with an Apostille and a translation into Italian when you apply to the Italian consulate abroad or the municipality in Italy. If you are applying via a municipality in Italy a certified translation of their birth certificates will be required.
**Generally speaking, minor children do not need to be physically present on the day of your appointment at the consulate. Similarly, they may not need to be present with you when you file your application at a municipality in Italy.
Once you have been granted Italian citizenship and you register with the AIRE (Registry of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad), you will be able to apply for passports for both your children and yourself.
If you have children after you are granted Italian citizenship, it is important to remember to register their births before they turn 18 in order for them to be recognized as Italian citizens. Registering a birth certificate via an Italian consulate abroad entails filling out a form, signing it and mailing it to the consulate that covers the jurisdiction where the applicant resides together with the child’s birth certificate, which bears an Apostille and which has been translated into Italian. The consulate will then notify the applicant when the vital record has been registered in Italy.
If you do not register your children’s births before they turn 18, they will need to formally apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis (by descent), and they will need to provide the Italian authorities with certified vital records of all the family members in the Italian lineage starting from the ancestor who was born in Italy.
***It is worth pointing out that unlike many other countries, one of the interesting aspects of Italian citizenship is that it is passed down automatically from one generation to the next without any limits. In other words, future generations can be recognized as Italian citizens upon registration of their birth certificate or via a formal application at a consulate if the applicant is over 18.
Before we move on to explaining how acquiring Italian citizenship can affect your wife or husband, it is important to mention that if you apply for Italian citizenship while your children are minors you will need a copy of their other parent’s birth certificate and your marriage certificate. If you are divorced you will also need your divorce decree and a case summary or certificate of No Appeal in order to provide the Italian authorities with evidence that no appeal was filed after the judgement. Furthermore, your spouse will need to sign a consent form for yourself and your children to formally apply for a passport after you have been granted Italian citizenship. In fact, by Italian law, a minor needs the written consent of both parents in order to be issued an Italian passport.
Italian citizenship and your spouse
In Italy, as well as in many other EU member states, the law protects the right for a couple to be together. In essence, if you have acquired Italian citizenship by descent and you wish to move to Italy with your spouse, by law, your spouse will only be able to spend 3 months in Italy on a tourist visa. This applies if your spouse is a non-EU citizen. However, if your spouse wishes to stay longer, he/she can apply for a residency permit provided that you have registered your marriage certificate in the registry office of the municipality where you are living and you are a resident in that municipality. The same applies if you want to move to another EU member state as your spouse will need to apply for a residence card and report his or her presence to the relevant authorities provided that you are also registered as a resident there.
On the other hand, if your spouse wishes to apply for Italian citizenship by marriage, he or she can apply after 2 years from the date of marriage or civil union if you reside in Italy. By contrast, if you reside abroad your spouse can apply after 3 years from the date of marriage or civil union; the number of years is halved if you have children under the age of 18. One of the benefits of applying for Italian citizenship by marriage is that you can apply without residing in Italy. However, there are a number of requirements that your spouse needs to meet. In particular, the Italian authorities require that the applicant passes a B1 level language test, which is intermediate level. Besides the language requirement, the Italian authorities require clear criminal record checks issued by the FBI (if your spouse is a U.S. citizen) and by the U.S. states (and foreign countries, if applicable) where your spouse has resided since the age of 14. If the couple reside in the U.S., the non-Italian spouse can upload all the necessary documents on the Ministry of the Interior’s online portal without the need to travel to Italy. Once the submitted paperwork has been assessed, the Italian consulate where the Italian spouse is registered with the AIRE will contact the non-Italian spouse to provide feedback about the outcome of the application. On the other hand, if the couple reside in Italy, the original documents will need to be submitted to the local prefecture (Prefettura). If you would like more information about applying for Italian citizenship by marriage click here.
With regards to applying for Italian citizenship by marriage, there is a specific circumstance that applies to women who married an Italian prior to April 27, 1983 in that they automatically became Italian citizens by marriage. Therefore, a woman who married an Italian citizen (or an individual with a right to Italian citizenship by descent) prior to that date can apply for the recognition of her Italian citizenship, and this can be done through a process which is much faster than filing a traditional application for citizenship by marriage. This also has implications for the couple’s children in that an individual’s qualifying Italian ancestor might be their mother even though she was not born in Italy. In other words, if the child’s father was born in Italy and became naturalized before the child’s birth, the child cannot apply for Italian citizenship through the father, but he or she might be able to apply for citizenship by descent via a non-Italian mother provided that the parents’ marriage occurred prior to April 27, 1983.
If the child’s parents divorced prior to that date but after the child’s birth, the child can still claim Italian citizenship, however, the mother would have lost her right to Italian citizenship at the time of the divorce. On the other hand, if the child’s parents divorced after April 27, 1983 the mother can still apply for citizenship by marriage.
We hope that this article has provided you with an insight into the possibilities of extending Italian citizenship to your spouse and children. If you are a family and you are considering applying for Italian citizenship by descent, please contact us for a free eligibility assessment at [email protected]. We will be happy to help you!
