How to Become an Italian Citizen: Descent, Marriage, Residency

There are three ways to become an Italian citizen: by descent from an Italian ancestor (jure sanguinis), by marriage to an Italian citizen, or by long-term legal residency in Italy. Each pathway has its own eligibility test, document list, fees, and timeline. Descent is the most common route for Americans and has no generational limit, but it requires proving an unbroken chain of Italian citizenship from your ancestor to you. Marriage and residency both require B1-level Italian, along with a valid marriage or years of continuous legal residence.

Citizenship by Descent

If you have an Italian-born ancestor who never gave up Italian citizenship before the next person in your line was born, you can claim Italian citizenship regardless of how many generations separate you. Italy’s position is that you were Italian all along and simply need formal recognition.

Two things break the chain. The first is your ancestor’s naturalization elsewhere. Under Law No. 555 of 1912, acquiring another citizenship meant automatic loss of Italian citizenship, and minor children living with that parent lost it as well. If your Italian ancestor naturalized as, say, a U.S. citizen before their child (the next link in your line) was born, that child was born to a non-Italian and the chain ends there.¹ After August 16, 1992, when the current citizenship law took effect, naturalizing abroad no longer causes automatic loss of Italian citizenship.²

The second is a woman in your line whose child was born before January 1, 1948. Under the 1912 law, citizenship passed only through the father. The Italian Constitution took effect on January 1, 1948 and established gender equality, so children born to Italian mothers on or after that date received citizenship normally.¹ Italian consulates apply the old rule and will reject applications where the lineage runs through a woman whose child was born before 1948.

The 1948 Court Route

Applicants blocked by the pre-1948 maternal rule can still win recognition through the Italian courts. Judges have consistently held that applying the old paternal-line restriction violates the Constitution’s equality principle, drawing on a 1975 Constitutional Court decision and a 2009 Supreme Court ruling. Most 1948 cases succeed.

The suit is filed in the Italian civil court with jurisdiction over the municipality where your Italian ancestor was born, and you need an Italian lawyer registered with the local bar to represent you.¹ Legal fees are on top of the usual document costs.

Citizenship by Marriage

A foreign spouse of an Italian citizen can apply after two years of marriage while residing in Italy, or three years if the couple lives abroad. Both periods are cut in half if the couple has children together, biological or adopted.³ The marriage must still be valid when the decision is issued, with no pending separation, divorce, or annulment.

Marriage applicants must also demonstrate Italian at the B1 level on the Common European Framework of Reference, using a certificate from an authorized institution. A 2025 Italian Constitutional Court ruling exempts applicants who cannot meet the language requirement due to disability, serious medical conditions, or advanced age, when the limitation is certified by a public healthcare facility.⁴

Citizenship by Residency

If neither ancestry nor marriage applies, continuous legal residency in Italy is the third route. How long you need to live in Italy depends on your status:

Non-EU citizens: 10 years
EU citizens: 4 years
Stateless persons and recognized refugees: 5 years
Foreign nationals born in Italy, or direct descendants of Italian citizens: 3 years

Residency must be continuous and legal throughout. Gaps or expired permits can reset the clock.⁵

Applicants also need to show sufficient income: about €8,263 per year for a single applicant, roughly €11,362 with a dependent spouse, plus about €516 per dependent child.⁵ A clean criminal record and B1 Italian are required, with the same health-based exemption available to marriage applicants.

What Happens With Minor Children

Minor children of someone who acquires or reacquires Italian citizenship automatically become Italian citizens themselves, as long as they live with that parent. They can renounce after age 18 if they hold another nationality. Foreign minors adopted by an Italian citizen also acquire Italian citizenship.⁶ You generally do not file separate citizenship applications for your minor children; their status follows yours.

Documents You’ll Need to Gather

Documentation is where most applications stall. Italian bureaucracy is exacting, and one missing or improperly formatted paper can add months to your case.

Vital Records and Lineage

For descent, you need an unbroken paper trail from your Italian-born ancestor down to you: birth, marriage, and death certificates for every person in the direct line, including yourself. You also need proof of whether and when your ancestor naturalized abroad. For ancestors who lived in the United States, that means either a certificate of non-naturalization or the naturalization record itself.⁷

Marriage and residency applicants need their own vital records, proof of residence, and the language certificate. All pathways require criminal background checks from every country where you have lived since age 14.⁵

USCIS Records

If your Italian ancestor immigrated to the United States, you will likely need records from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to confirm whether they naturalized. The USCIS Genealogy Program lets you run an Index Search online and then submit a Record Request using the file number the search returns.⁸ If the immigrant’s date of birth falls within the last 100 years, USCIS requires proof of death (such as a death certificate or obituary) before releasing records. Start this step early; processing can take weeks or months.

Apostille and Translation

Every document issued outside Italy needs an apostille, a standardized authentication under the 1961 Hague Convention. For U.S. state-issued documents, that means the Secretary of State in the state that issued the document.⁹ Fees and turnaround vary by state.

After apostilling, every non-Italian document, including the apostille itself, must be translated into Italian by a certified translator. Some consulates require translations they certify themselves rather than accepting third-party certifications, so check your specific consulate before paying for translations.

FBI Background Check

U.S.-based applicants need an FBI Identity History Summary. It is valid only for six months from the date of issue, so timing matters: pull it too early and it will expire before your appointment.¹⁰ The FBI check needs an apostille from the U.S. Department of State (since it is a federal document) and an Italian translation. If your application is approved, you may need a fresh check for the oath ceremony.

Name Discrepancies

Spelling variations between Italian and American records are common and can stall applications. Your great-grandfather’s Italian birth certificate may spell his name differently from his U.S. naturalization papers. Minor differences (Giuseppe versus Joseph) are usually resolved with a sworn affidavit confirming the records refer to the same person. Larger discrepancies may require a court order. Review every document in your lineage for name variations before you start; catching these early is far cheaper than fixing them later.

Where to Apply, Fees, and Timing

If you live outside Italy, you apply at the Italian consulate with jurisdiction over your place of residence. If you live in Italy, descent applications go through your local Comune. Marriage and residency applications filed from within Italy are submitted through an online portal run by the Ministry of the Interior, using Italy’s SPID digital identity or an electronic identity card.¹¹

Fees depend on the pathway. As of January 1, 2025, the consular fee for adult descent applicants is €600 per person, doubled from €300 under the 2025 Budget Law.¹² Citizenship by marriage carries a separate €250 fee paid to the Ministry of the Interior.¹⁰ Fees are non-refundable regardless of outcome. Add apostille costs, translations, the FBI check, and any USCIS search fees; the total out-of-pocket cost for a descent application often reaches $1,500 to $3,000 or more before legal help.

Processing takes patience. For descent applications processed through a consulate, the law allows up to 24 months from submission. Marriage and residency applications also have a 24-month window, extendable to 36.⁴ That clock starts only after submission, and simply getting an appointment at a U.S. consulate can itself take a year or more.

Once approved, you take an oath of allegiance. Applications processed through a consulate require the oath to be completed within six months of the notification. Miss that deadline and you risk restarting.¹³

After You Become a Citizen

AIRE Registration

New Italian citizens living outside Italy must register with AIRE, the Registry of Italians Residing Abroad, within 90 days. Registration is mandatory for any Italian citizen living abroad for 12 months or more, and without it you cannot obtain an Italian passport or access most consular services.¹⁴

One tradeoff: AIRE registration means losing access to Italy’s national healthcare system, apart from emergency services during temporary visits of up to 90 days per year, and only if you have no other health insurance.¹⁴ For most Americans keeping their U.S. residence this is not a practical issue, but plan around it if you intend to move to Italy later.

Dual Citizenship

Italy permits dual citizenship. Since Law 91/1992 took effect on August 16, 1992, acquiring a foreign citizenship no longer causes loss of Italian nationality, and taking Italian citizenship does not require you to renounce any other.² The United States likewise permits its citizens to hold additional nationalities.

U.S. Tax Reporting

Becoming an Italian citizen does not by itself create Italian tax obligations if you continue living and working in the United States. Italy taxes based on residency, not citizenship. But if you later open Italian bank or investment accounts, U.S. reporting rules kick in: an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is required if your foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any point in the year,¹⁵ and FATCA (Form 8938) applies at higher thresholds that vary by filing status.¹⁶ A U.S.-Italy tax treaty provides mechanisms to avoid double taxation, including foreign tax credits, if you later earn income in Italy or move there.¹⁷

Getting Your Italian Passport

Once recognition is complete and you have registered with AIRE, you can apply for an Italian passport through your consulate. Italian passports are biometric, so you must appear in person for fingerprinting. Children under 12 are exempt from the fingerprint requirement.¹⁸ Book well in advance; consulates in major U.S. cities often have significant backlogs for passport appointments too.

1
Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship by Descent
2
Globalcit. Act No. 91 of 5 February 1992 (Italy) – Article 11
3
Globalcit. Act No. 91 of 5 February 1992 (Italy) – Article 5
4
Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. Italian Citizenship by Marriage or Civil Union
5
Italian Ministry of the Interior (Prefettura). Italian Citizenship by Residence
6
Globalcit. Act No. 91 of 5 February 1992 (Italy) – Article 3
7
Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. How to Apply for Citizenship by Descent (Iure Sanguinis)
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Genealogy Program
9
U.S. Department of State. Preparing a Document for an Apostille Certificate
10
Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship by Marriage
11
Ministero dell’Interno. Naturalisation of Citizens of Another EU Country Through Residence and Marriage
12
Consolato Generale d’Italia Chicago. Citizenship by Descent
13
Ambasciata d’Italia a Washington DC. Summary of the Procedure’s Steps
14
Consolato Generale d’Italia a San Francisco. AIRE – General Information and FAQs
15
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Reporting Maximum Account Value
16
Internal Revenue Service. Summary of FATCA Reporting for U.S. Taxpayers
17
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Convention Between the United States and Italy for the Avoidance of Double Taxation
18
Consolato Generale d’Italia Chicago. General Information