2. Requirements
3. Documents
4. Procedure
- Phase 1 Registration and application
- Phase 2 Consular verification
- Phase 3 Assessment and time limits
- Phase 4 Decree, notification and oath
5. Costs
In compliance with current regulations, which require knowledge of the Italian language, information concerning citizenship by marriage is provided in Italian.
Those requesting Italian citizenship by marriage or civil union must be aware of their duties towards the Italian Republic, first and foremost, adherence to national values and irreproachable conduct.
The acquisition of Italian citizenship by a foreign spouse or stateless person who has married an Italian citizen since 27 April 1983 is currently regulated by Law n° 91 of 5 February 1992 (Art. 5, 6, 7 and 8) and subsequent modifications.
Applications for Italian citizenship may also be submitted by a foreign male or female citizen who has entered into a civil union with an Italian citizen recorded in the registers of civil registry of the Italian municipality (D. Lgs. 5, 6 and 7/ 2017).
The foreign spouse/parties to the civil union may acquire Italian citizenship upon application, in the presence of the requirements established by the regulations in force, as explained in the following sections.
Normative references:
- Law n° 123/1983
- Law n° 91/1992 and Presidential Decrees n° 572/1993 and n° 362/1994
- Law no. 94/2009
- Law no. 76/2016 and Presidential Decrees no. 5, 6 and 7/2017
- Law No. 113/2018 and Law No. 132/2018
- Law No. 130/2020 and Law No. 173/2020
2. Requirements for applying for citizenship
- Residence in the consular district:
- The applicant must address the application to the diplomatic-consular Representation in charge of his or her residence, exclusively through the appropriate computer application (see below: Point 4, Procedure, Step 1 – Registration and application entry).
- The spouse/partner of the civil partnership of Italian nationality must be resident and regularly registered with the Registry Office of Italians residing abroad (A.I.R.E.) of the relevant consular district and live at the same address as the citizenship applicant. If this is not the case, both spouses must provide documentation proving the reason (e.g. work, schooling of children, medical treatment, or other reasons) that determines or has determined the need for separate residency.
- Time limits for presenting the application:
- The application may be presented three years after the celebration of the marriage/civil union, if the spouse is an Italian citizen iure sanguinis, that is, from birth. If the Italian spouse acquired citizenship after the marriage (e.g. by residency in Italy), the three years run from the date of the spouse’s naturalisation. The three years are reduced to one and a half years in the presence of children born to or adopted by the spouses.
- Registration and validity of the marriage/civil union:
- If it took place abroad, it must have been previously registered in the Municiplity in Italy.
- The marriage/civil union bond must remain valid and stable until the adoption of the provision granting the citizenship. For Italian citizenship to be granted, the dissolution of the marriage/civil union through legal separation or divorce must not have occurred on the date the decree is adopted. On the other hand, the death of the spouse after the application for citizenship has been presented does not lead to forfeiture of the benefit.
- Criminal situation:
- Absence of convictions by the Italian judicial authorities for crimes that carry a sentence of more than three years of imprisonment.
- Absence of convictions by foreign judicial authorities to a sentence of more than one year for non-political crimes.
- Absence of convictions for crimes against the personality of the State and of reasons hindering the security of the Republic.
- Knowledge of the Italian language not less than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)
- Payment of the taxes and fees indicated in the Documents and Costs sections
3. Documents required for citizenship application
- Extract of the birth certificate or equivalent, in original, issued if possible no more than six months ago by the country of birth, complete with all particulars (including the details of the parents), duly legalised/apostilled and translated into Italian.
- Criminal record certificates of the country of origin, of any third countries of residence (from the age of 14) – except Italy – and of the countries of which one holds citizenship, in original, issued no more than six months before submitting the application, duly legalised/apostilled and translated into Italian.
The applicant is exempt from presenting the criminal record certificate of the country of origin only if he left it before reaching the age of 14 and has not retained its citizenship.
As of 6 January 2025, the application for a Singaporean Criminal Certificate – Certificate of Clearance (COC) – has been fully digitalised.
Applicants with a Singpass profile will have to apply for a COC online using their Singpass accounts and will no longer have to send in fingerprints or make an appointment to visit the police station.
Applicants who no longer reside in Singapore and do not hold a Singpass account will be able to apply for an online COC using their previous FIN along with a scanned digital copy of their fingerprints.
Once completed, applicants will receive an email notification with a link to access their digital COC via the FileSG portal.
To apply for a COC, visit https://www.police.gov.sg/e-services and click on ‘Police Records & Warrants’.
The COC must be duly apostilled by the Singapore Academy of Law and accompanied by a sworn translation into Italian in order to be admissible for application purposes.
- Receipt for payment of the contribution of €250 to the Ministry of the Interior, in the manner detailed in the ‘Costs’ section.
- Identity document: photocopy of valid passport or foreign identity card (pages with personal details, photograph, dates of issue and expiry).
- Copy of the marriage certificate or extract from the marriage register, to be requested from the Italian Municipality in charge where the certificate was registered, possibly issued no more than six months ago.
PLEASE NOTE: If the applicant is an EU national, he may make use of self-certification in accordance with DPR 445/2000.
- Certificate of knowledge of the Italian language not less than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The only certifications allowed are the following:
- PLIDA of Dante Alighieri Society
- CertIt of Roma Tre University
- CILS of University for Foreigners of Siena
- CELI of University for Foreigners of Perugia
- Co.L of University for Foreigners of Reggio Calabria
Other certifications from the aforementioned organisations or other institutions are not suitable and will not be accepted.
They are not, however, required to present proof of knowledge of the Italian language:
- Foreigners (even if resident abroad) who have signed the Integration Agreement referred to in Article 4 bis of Legislative Decree no. 286/1998 Consolidated Act on Immigration.
- Holders of an EU (or EC) long-term residence permit for long-term residents referred to in Article 9 of the same Consolidated Act (even if resident abroad), only if issued by the Italian authorities. Residence permits for family reasons or those issued by other Countries are not eligible.
- Those who have obtained a study qualification issued by a public or equal education institution recognised by the Ministry of Education, University and Research and/or by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
4. Procedure
PHASE 1 – REGISTRATION AND UPLOADING THE APPLICATION
Applicants residing abroad must register on the Ministry of the Interior’s portal (https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/AliCittadinanza/ali/home.htm) without using SPID but with their own e-mail address.
It should be noted that the e-mail address declared on the portal when submitting the online application constitutes an elected domicile (art. 47 of the Civil Code); it is therefore necessary to check one’s e-mail box frequently, as all communications relating to the citizenship application, including requests for supplementary documentation, summonses, notifications of measures, etc., will be made only through an IT channel.
The applicant is required to register his/her data with the utmost care as these cannot be changed and, in the event of an error, a new registration must be made with another e-mail address. In particular, the personal details indicated in the birth certificate (including any annotations) and/or in deeds and documents issued abroad by the competent foreign authorities (such as marriage certificates, identity documents, first name/surname change judgments, etc.) must be entered. In the event of discrepancies, the applicant must provide appropriate supporting documentation.
Any minor children cohabiting with the applicant from a previous relationship must be declared in the application.
All stay periods since the applicant’s age of 14 must be declared and no undeclared periods of time.
No special characters or signs (e.g. cedilla, acute or grave accents within the word, circumflex accents, etc.) should be entered. It will only be possible to enter the accent on the last letter using the apostrophe, if there is one in the language of origin.
PHASE 2 – CONSULAR VERIFICATION
The Consular Office will be automatically informed of the submission of the application and will proceed with the necessary checks. The applicant will then receive, electronically via the Ministry of the Interior’s portal, a communication regarding the acceptance or rejection of his/her application.
In case of rejection, the applicant may resubmit the application, while taking care in rectifying the errors indicated in the rejection, and may reuse payments already made, if the application is resubmitted within one year.
In case of acceptance, the applicant will be summoned electronically at the diplomatic-consular Representation to authenticate his/her signature on the citizenship application, for the delivery of all the original paper documentation, including that already uploaded electronically on the Portal, and for the collection by the Consular Office of the due consular fees.
All the aforementioned documentation will be kept in original by the diplomatic-consular Representation, with the exception of the identity document and the language certificate, for which a certified copy will be made with the related fees.
PHASE 3 – ASSESSMENT AND PROCESSING TIME FRAME
The assessment of the application and the definition of the procedure are the exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, within 24 months from the date of submitting the application, extendable to a maximum of 36 months. If at the end of the assessment of the application the procedure is positively concluded, the Ministry of the Interior will send the decree conferring the Italian citizenship to the diplomatic-consular Representation in charge of the residence of the interested applicant.
PHASE 4 – DECREE, NOTIFICATION AND OATH
The decree conferring Italian citizenship will be notified – through the portal – with a communication addressed to the applicant. At the time of notification, documents will also be requested in order to verify the permanence of the conjugal bond, with a date subsequent to the decree, such as (non-exhaustive list)
- Full marriage certificate issued by the Italian Municipality in charge (not the extract) and corresponding foreign certificate
- Criminal record certificate from the country of current residence, duly legalised and translated (see ‘Documents’ section)
As of the date of adoption of the decree, therefore, there must not have occurred a dissolution of the marriage or civil union, nor a legal separation (separation judgment). However, the death of the spouse that occurs after submiting the citizenship application does not result in the forfeiture of the benefit..
Within and no later than six months after the notification, the interested applicant will be summoned to the consular office to take an oath of allegiance to the Republic and its laws. The six-month deadline is mandatory, after which the right to obtain the citizenship will be forfeited.
A fee will be charged, with the modalities indicated in the ‘Costs’ section.
The full marriage certificate must be requested from the Italian municipal authorities in whose registers the deed is recorded; the criminal record certificate must be requested from the authorities in charge in the country of residency and must be provided with the legalisation/apostille and translation, as explained in the ‘Documents’ section.
The interested applicant will swear an oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic by pronouncing the following words:
‘GIURO DI ESSERE FEDELE ALLA REPUBBLICA E DI OSSERVARE LA COSTITUZIONE E LE LEGGI DELLO STATO’.
The acquisition of Italian citizenship will take effect the day after the oath is taken.
The original birth certificate will be sent for registration to the relevant Italian local authority, together with the AIRE registration request and the statement of the oath.
5. Costs
- The contribution of €250 in favour of the Ministry of the Interior, is to be paid exclusively through PagoPa when filling out the application or by bank transfer to the current account indicated by the Ministry of the Interior (receipt to be uploaded online with the application), with any expenses to be paid by the person making the transfer:
‘Ministero dell’Interno D.L.C.I Cittadinanza’.
Name of the Bank: Poste Italiane S.p.A.
IBAN Code: IT54D0760103200000000809020
Reason for payment:
Richiesta cittadinanza per matrimonio ex art. 5 L. 91/1992 and applicant’s name and surname
BIC/SWIFT code of Poste Italiane: BPPIITRRXXX (for foreign bank transfers)
BIC/SWIFT Code: PIBPITRA (for EUROGIRO circuit transactions)
- Consular table items to be applied with relevant amounts:
- Authentication of signature on the application: art. 24 – 20.00 euros
- Legalisation of translator’s signature: art. 69 – 24.00 euros
- Certified copy of valid identity document: art. 71 – 10.00 euros
(Where the document is not in Latin characters, a translation is also required)
- Certified true copy of language certification: art 71 – 10.00 euro
- Conformity of translation of civil status and criminal certificates: art 72A – 13.00 euros
- Consular fees for the taken oath report: art 8 – 15.00 euros
6. Contacts and useful links
Find your consulate:
https://serviziconsolarionline.esteri.it/ScoFE/services/consulate/find-consulate.sco
Send your application to the Ministry of the Interior:
https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/AliCittadinanza/ali/home.htm
Information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation: