Citizenship by descent

Article 1 of Law No. 91/92 establishes that the child of an Italian father or mother is an Italian citizen by birth.

Italian citizenship is transmitted from parent to child, with the condition that the Italian parent has never renounced citizenship or has not naturalized while the direct descendant was underage.

For recognition of Italian citizenship by descent, the following points must be proven:

1. that the descent begins with an ancestor born in Italy;
2. that the ancestor has maintained citizenship until the direct descendant comes of age or is emancipated;
3. that descent from the ancestor is proven by means of civil status documents (birth, marriage, divorce, death): these documents must be legalized, if required, and have a translation. Please notice that documents issued in Australia will need the Apostille.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Legislative Decree no. 36/2025, dated March 28, 2025, converted into law on May 24, 2025 (law 74/2025), introduced additional requirements regarding the recognition of citizenship iure sanguinis.

In particular, according to the new provisions, the applicant born abroad, in addition to having to meet the conditions listed above, in order to obtain recognition of Italian citizenship, must also fall into at least one of the following categories:

1. must be exclusively an Italian citizen (i.e. does not have and cannot have any other citizenship other than Italian);
2. a parent (may also be an adoptive parent) or a grandparent must possess – or have possessed at the time of death – exclusively Italian citizenship at the time of the applicant’s birth;
3. a parent (may also be an adoptive parent) who is an Italian citizen must have been resident in Italy for at least two consecutive years, after acquiring Italian citizenship, before the birth or adoption of the applicant.

APPLICATION OF THE NEW LEGISLATION

The additional requirements listed above do not apply to citizenship applications submitted before 27 March 2025 at 23:59 Italian time, accompanied by the necessary documentation, or to applications, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the Consular Office on the day indicated by an appointment set and communicated to the interested party by the competent office by 27 March 2025 23:59 Italian time, booked and confirmed by 23:59 (Italian time) on 27 March 2025. For all other cases, the new regulation applies.

Applications “submitted” means delivered to the Consular Office counter before the date and time indicated above.

“Appointment communicated to the interested party by the competent Office” refers to the email confirmation received by the interested party from the Prenot@mi portal or from the institutional email address of the Section of the Consular Office competent for the application.

ATTENTION

• Italian women would lose the citizenship if they married a foreign citizen up until 01/01/1948.
• Italian women can only transmit the italian citizenship after 01/01/1948.

APPLICATION FOR RECOGNITION OF CITIZENSHIP BY DESCENT

• ONLY adult citizens can submit an application for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. Minors are invited to read the information provided at the link.
• The application can be submitted to this Consulate General of Italy in Melbourne ONLY by Australian citizens or citizens of other Countries with an Australian permanent residency visa in the States of Victoria or Tasmania.

Proof of residence in Victoria or Tasmania is required when submitting the application.

• The application is individual, must be submitted in person by appointment to be booked online and accompanied by the required documentation.
• If two or more members of the same family intend to submit an application for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent starting from the same ancestor, either at the same time or at different times, it is sufficient to submit documentation relating to the ancestor and common descendants only once, provided that the applicants are all residents of Victoria or Tasmania.
• Residents of Victoria or Tasmania whose family members have obtained recognition of Italian citizenship at another Consulate or in Italy, must in any case submit all the documentation relating to the ancestor in original.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

For the necessary documentation to be submitted, interested parties must provide:

1.What is listed in Circular K.28.1 of 8 April 1991 of the Italian Ministry of the Home Affairs, namely:

a) Extract of the birth certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad issued by the Italian Municipality (Comune)where he was born;

b) Birth certificates, with an Italian translation, of all his/her descendants in direct line, including that of the person claiming possession of Italian citizenship;

c) Marriage certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad, with an Italian translation if issued abroad;

d) Marriage certificates of his descendants, in direct line, including that of the parents of the person claiming possession of Italian citizenship;

e) Certificate issued by the competent authorities of the foreign country of emigration, accompanied by a translation into Italian, certifying that the Italian ancestor who emigrated from Italy did not acquire the citizenship of the foreign country of emigration before the birth of the interested party’s ancestor;

f) Certificate issued by the competent Italian consular authority certifying that neither the direct ascendants nor the person claiming possession of Italian citizenship have ever renounced it pursuant to art. 7 of Law 13 June 1912, no. 555;

g) Proof of residence in the State of Victoria or Tasmania;

h) Valid Passport.

2.For the application of the new legislation, the following must also be produced:

• To demonstrate the exclusive possession of Italian citizenship of the grandparent or parent:

o Negative citizenship certificates;

o Certificates of renunciation of citizenship;

o Certificates of non-registration on the electoral rolls;

• To demonstrate that the Italian parent or adoptive parent has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years;

o Historical Certificate of Residency released by the Italian Municipality (Comune).

Australian Civil Status Certificates and Declarations of Non-Acquisition or Acquisition of Australian Citizenship must be complete with Apostille and translation.

In the case of non-Australian documents, they must be duly legalized and translated, and the applicant must verify the formal and substantial correctness of the documentation with the competent Italian Consulate.

In exceptional cases, this Consulate General may certify the translation according to the methods mentioned above, provided that the foreign document is written in English as the official language of the issuing country.

The conformity of the translation will be made by this Consulate General upon payment of art. 72 of the consular fee table.

The Citizenship Office reserves the right to request further documentation if the elements available are deemed insufficient for a correct evaluation of the citizenship application.

The search for documentation is the responsibility of the applicant.

COSTS

As of July 8, 2014, all applications for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent are subject to the payment of a consular fee for processing the application. The fee is of 600 Euros to be paid in local currency (art. 7 of the Consular fee table).

It should be noted that this is a mandatory fee required by law for processing the application that does not in any way imply a positive outcome of the procedure and, therefore, is not refundable under any circumstances.

PLEASE NOTE

• All documents must be submitted in original and will not be returned
• The Citizenship Office reserves the right to request additional documentation if the elements available are deemed insufficient for a correct evaluation of the citizenship application.
• The search for documentation is the applicant’s responsibility.
• The procedure for determining possession of Italian citizenship will be concluded within 730 days, as established by the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers no. 33 of 17/01/2014, in the Official Journal no. 64 of 18/03/2014.
• The Consulate General will send applicants an official communication via email regarding the outcome of the procedure, at the same time as sending the relevant documentation to the Municipality in Italy for registration, in the event of a positive outcome.

It will not be possible to respond individually by email or telephone to user requests for general information on the procedures or documentation required to apply for citizenship and reference is made to the instructions contained on the relevant web pages.