How to get Italian citizenship

Sofia

Updated on Apr 18 • 7 minute read

Foreigners can apply for Italian citizenship after legally residing in Italy for a few years. Getting Italian citizenship has several benefits, including holding the fourth most powerful passport in the world; it grants visa-free access to 193 countries and allows you to live and work anywhere within the EU. Find out how to apply and what the benefits of dual citizenship are.

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In 2020, 131,803 foreigners fell in love with Italy and its culture and acquired Italian citizenship.

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How can I get Italian citizenship?

There’re 4 different ways to obtain Italian citizenship:

Naturalization: Non-EU citizens can apply after 10 years of living in Italy, whereas EU citizens can apply after 4 years.
Descent: if you can prove Italian ancestry and that your ancestors haven’t renounced their Italian citizenship, you can apply for citizenship.
Marry an Italian citizen: Marrying an Italian citizen (including same-sex marriage) or having a civil union can make you eligible for citizenship. You can apply after 3 years of marriage (if residing abroad) or 2 years of marriage (if living in Italy).
Investment: Non-EU citizens can gain residency in Italy by applying for a Golden Visa (investor visa). You'll need to invest upwards of €250,000 and live in Italy for 10 consecutive years before you can apply for citizenship.

You can also get Italian citizenship if you're a refugee or a foreigner working for the Italian government. In either case, you’ve to legally reside in Italy for 5 consecutive years before you can apply.

Is it easy to get Italian citizenship?

Getting Italian citizenship is easy as the steps are quite straightforward. However, some ways of applying for citizenship are more time consuming than others.

The easiest and quickest way to get citizenship is through descendancy as you only need to prove your ancestors were Italian citizens or had the right to Italian citizenship when you were born.

Applying for citizenship via marriage or civil union is a slightly longer process. You'll need to legally reside in Italy for anywhere between 2-3 years before you can apply. The time is reduced to 1-1.5 years if you’re applying for citizenship based on having (adopted) children with your Italian partner.

The most time-consuming but easy option is to apply via naturalization. If you're a non-EU citizen, this means living in Italy for 10 continuous years before your application. If you're an EU citizen, you need to spend 4 years in Italy (or 3 if you've got an Italian ancestor).

The most difficult way of obtaining citizenship is probably via investment as it's time-consuming and costly. Not only do you need to spend 10 years residing in Italy but also have thousands of euros to invest.

How many years does it take to get Italian citizenship?

To apply for Italian citizenship, you need to spend at least a few years living in Italy. How many years you need to wait depends on the route you take to apply for citizenship.

Ways to apply for citizenship	When can you apply for citizenship?
By naturalization	After 10 years (Non-EU) or 4 years (EU)
By descent	After 3 years
By marriage - spouse lives in Italy	After 2 years
By marriage - spouse lives abroad	After 3 years
By marriage - spouse lives in Italy and you’ve got a child	After 1 year
By marriage - spouse lives abroad and you’ve got a child	After 1.5 years
By investment	After 10 years

What are the requirements for Italian citizenship?

The documents needed to apply for Italian citizenship largely depend on which basis you want to apply for citizenship – via naturalization, descent, marriage, or investing.

Italian citizenship by naturalization

Requirements to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalization:

Proof that you’ve legally resided in Italy for 10 years. You can get this proof of residency from the Ufficio anagrafe (civil registry office).
Income statements to show you earn a minimum of €8,263.31 annually (or €11,362.05 if applying as a married partner).
Proof that you’ve passed an Italian language test at B1 level or above.
Proof of no criminal record in Italy or abroad, obtained within 6 months of application.
The application form.
Original passport and a copy of passport.
Original and copy of your Italian residence permit.
Notarized and translated birth certificate.

Italian citizenship by descent

Citizenship can only be passed down if your ancestors were Italian citizens or had the right to Italian citizenship when you were born. Requirements to apply for Italian citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis or by bloodline):

Proof that you’ve legally resided in Italy for 3 continuous years. This means spending more than 183 days per year in Italy.
Proof of Italian ancestory. E.g. Italian passport and birth/death certificate of both your Italian family members and foreign family members.
Since Italian citizenship was exclusive until August 15, 1992, you need proof that if you were born before August 16, 1992, your ancestors haven’t renounced their Italian citizenship before your birth.
Proof that even if you became a foreign citizen because of your birth abroad, you never legally renounced your Italian citizenship.
Proof of no criminal record in Italy or abroad, obtained within 6 months of application.
Your original passport and copy.
Original and copy of your Italian residence permit.
Your notarized and translated birth certificate.
The application form.

If your ancestor is an Italian woman, you can only claim citizenship via her if her child was born on or after January 1, 1948. If you were born before this date, you need to claim citizenship via your paternal line.

Since there’s no generational limit, you can even claim citizenship based on your great grandparents’ Italian citizenship. So even if your parents or grandparents were born outside Italy, you can claim citizenship if your great grandparents were Italian when they gave birth to their children and the children never renounced their Italian citizenship.

Italian citizenship by marriage

You’re eligible to apply for citizenship by marriage after waiting the minimum years required from the date of marriage. The application can only be filed online.

Proof that you’ve been married for 2 years to your Italian spouse, or 3 years if you’re still abroad.
If you’ve minor children and live in Italy, show proof that you’ve been married for 1 year. If you live abroad, you can apply after 1.5 years.
Proof that you’ve passed an Italian language test at B1 level or above.
Marriage certificate which is registered in Italy and translated and notarized, if not in Italian.
Certificate of family status (a document that proves you live at the same address) obtained from the Ufficio anagrafe (civil registry office).
Proof of your spouse’s Italian citizenship with a passport or other legal document.
Proof of no criminal record in Italy or abroad, obtained within 6 months of application.
Your original passport and copy.
Original and copy of your Italian residence permit.
Your notarized and translated birth certificate.
The application form.

Italian citizenship by investment

Getting citizenship by investment is very similar to obtaining citizenship via naturalization. But instead of having to find a job in Italy and spend 10 years working for someone else, you can choose to invest a significant amount to get residency in Italy. The 4 types of investments include:

Invest at least €250,000 in innovative startups
Invest at least €500,000 in any Italian limited company
Invest or donate at least €1,000,000 that can aid Italy
Or purchase government bonds worth €2,000,000 or above.

Your golden visa residence permit is valid for 2 years and can be extended to 3 if the investment is maintained. You can then apply for a permanent resident permit (valid for 5 years) if you don’t wish to maintain the investment level. After these 10 years, you can apply for citizenship.

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The documents needed to get this residence permit are detailed in the Italy Golden Visa guide.

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How much does it cost to get Italian citizenship?

Here’s how much it can cost to get Italian citizenship:

€250 for the citizenship application
€16 for the revenue stamp
€73.50 for issuing a new Italian passport
Variable expenses for issuing different documents, such as the birth certificate and criminal record.

The overall cost is approximately €350.

How long does it take to get Italian citizenship?

The processing time for getting Italian citizenship is a maximum of 2 years. It can be extended to 3 years if there’re additional documents required or if an appeal is made.

For example, if you want to obtain citizenship through naturalization, you'll have to wait for a total of 12 years to gain Italian citizenship as you can only apply after 10 years and it can take up to 2 years to get your new citizenship and passport.

To speed up the process, make sure that you’ve already collected all the necessary (translated and legalized) documents and passed your Italian language test before you can apply for citizenship.

How to apply for Italian citizenship?

If you live in Italy, all citizenship applications can be submitted online on the official Italian website. After creating an account, you can find the online application for citizenship. Later, you’ll be physically invited for identification and submission of all the original documents. If you want to check the status of your application, there’s a specific email where you can get in touch.

If you’re applying for citizenship based on marriage and are currently residing abroad, collect all the necessary documents listed under the ‘Italian citizenship by marriage’ section above and submit them at the nearest Italian consulate or embassy.

Does Italy allow dual citizenship?

Dual citizenship can be useful if you want to live and work in a different country, either temporarily or permanently, without giving up your existing national legal rights.

The good news is that dual citizenship is recognized in Italy. So as long as your country recognises dual citizenship, Italy will not ask you to renounce your original citizenship.

Countries that allow dual citizenship in Italy include the USA, UK, Australia, Israel, Philippines, Switzerland, and more.

However, several countries don’t recognize dual citizenship. This means you’ll need to drop your original nationality to become an Italian citizen. Some countries where dual citizenship is prohibited include Bhutan, China, India, Iran, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, and Zimbabwe.