CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE OR BY CIVIL PARTNERSHIP TO AN ITALIAN CITIZEN
(Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Law No. 91/92)
The foreign spouse can acquire Italian citizenship upon request, having the following
PRE REQUIREMENTS:
a) the Italian spouse must be registered at this Consulate General as an Italian citizen residing
Abroad (A.I.R.E)
b) proof of residence: – for the Japanese spouse, residence certificate (住民票 jumin-hyo);
– for the NON Japanese spouse, residence card (在留カード zairyu card);
REQUIREMENTS:
1. in Italy: two years of legal residence after marriage;
abroad: three years after marriage or since the date of acquisition of Italian citizenship by
naturalization. These terms are halved in case of children born or adopted by the
spouses;
2. validity of marriage and registration of the marriage certificate with the competent Italian
Municipality, as well as persistence of the marriage bond until the adoption of the decree;
3. absence of convictions for offences leading to a maximum penalty of three years of
prison or convictions by a foreign judicial authority of over one year for non-political offences,
when the conviction has been registered in Italy; absence of convictions for one of the
offences listed in Book 2, Title I, Chapters I, II and III of the Criminal Code (offences against
the State); absence of obstacles related to the security of the Italian Republic;
4. certified knowledge of the Italian language at a level no lower than B1 of the
“Common reference framework for knowledge of languages” (rule in force for the
applications submitted starting from December 4, 2018).
HOW TO APPLY:
from August 1, 2015, the subjects living abroad shall submit an application to acquire the Italian
citizenship electronically according to the new procedure established by the competent Ministry for
Internal Affairs.
The applicants shall register on the dedicated portal, called ALI, at the following URL
address https://cittadinanza.dlci.interno.it and, after logging in, they will have access to the
e-procedure for submitting the citizenship application.
The user shall complete all the fields envisaged by the form and enclose the following four mandatory
documents indicated by the Interior Ministry to submit the application for citizenship (it should be
noted that EU Regulation No. 2016/1191, which entered into force on February 16, 2019, provides for
the exemption of legalization on condition that public documents are issued to a EU citizen by the
authorities of his / her Member State of citizenship):
DOCUMENTATION TO PROVIDE:
a) birth certificate of the country of origin duly translated and legalized (in compliance with the
obligations provided for by law in relation to legalization/ apostille and translation) containing all
relevant data or, in case of documented impossibility of producing it, an affidavit issued by the
diplomatic-consular authorities of the country of origin stating all accurate personal details (name,
surname, date and place of birth), as well as those of the applicant’s father and mother;
b) criminal record of the country of origin and of any third countries of citizenship, duly
translated and legalized (in compliance with the obligations provided for by law in relation to
legalization/ apostille and translation);
c) receipt of payment of 250 euro;
*Beneficiary account name MINISTERO DELL’INTERNO D.L.C.I. – CITTADINANZA
*Reason of payment Domanda di Cittadinanza
*Name and surname of the payee xxxxxxx xxxxxx
*Receiving Bank Name and address Poste Italiane SPA – Viale Europa 175 , Roma , ITALY
*Int.l Bank Account Num. (IBAN) IT54D0760103200000000809020
*Bank account number 809020
*Receiving Bank Swift/BIC code BPPIITRRXXX
d) certified copy of the identification document (with attached official translation in Italian,
where the document does not contain data also in English or French, in addition to the original
language), certified by the diplomatic-consular Mission of the foreign State that issued it;
e) diploma, degree or qualification issued by a public or equivalent educational institution or
certification issued by a certifying body. Currently the following entities can be considered
certification bodies, as they belong to the unified certification system known as Italian Quality
Language Certification (CLIQ):
• the University for foreigners of Siena,
• the University for foreigners of Perugia,
• the Roma Tre, University
• the Dante Alighieri Society.
Therefore, the certifications issued by these entities, possibly also in collaboration with the local Italian
cultural institutes, will be considered valid. With a view to knowing the educational institutions qualified to
issue the certification requested, please consult the dedicated web page of the Italian language portal
https://www.linguaitaliana.esteri.it/lingua/corsi/certificazioni/ricerca.do?l=en
PROCEDURES:
Before submitting the application electronically contact the diplomatic-consular Mission for a
preliminary review of the documentation that will be submitted.
After submitting the application electronically, the user will be summoned by the diplomatic-consular
Mission that received the application for the identification and the other requirements and procedures
necessary for completing the application, including the acquisition of the original documents attached
to the application submitted online and of any other document useful for processing the application.
In this regard, it is specified that, if the applicant is an EU citizen, the following deeds, i.e. copy of the
marriage certificate, family status certificate and certificate of Italian citizenship of the spouse, are
replaced by self-certification pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 445/2000 and most recently by Law
No. 183/2011.
The applicant who is a citizen of a non-EU country may be exempted from submitting copy of
the marriage certificate, the family status certificate and the spouse’s certificate of Italian citizenship
only if these deeds are already in possession of the diplomatic-consular Mission.
In accordance with Article 4, paragraph 5, of Presidential Decree No. 572/93, the Interior Ministry
may request other documents, as appropriate.
It is recommended to consult the website of the Mission competent by residence
https://consosaka.esteri.it/Consolato_Osaka/it/
Following the publication on the Official Journal (issue No. 22 of January 27, 2017) of the legislative
decrees No. 5, 6 and 7 of January 19, 2017 – adopted pursuant to Article 1, paragraph 28, of Law No.
76 of May 20, 2016 (Provisions regulating civil partnerships between same-sex people and provisions
applied to people living together) – as from February 11, 2017 applications for Italian citizenship can
be submitted online, pursuant to Articles 5 and 7 of Law No. 91/1992, also by male or female foreign
citizens who established a civil partnership with male or female Italian citizens, entered into the civil
status register of the Italian Municipality.