GRANTING ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE
A foreign national or stateless person married to an Italian national may request to acquire Italian nationality in accordance with Article 5 of Law n° 91 of 5 February 1992, in the following cases:
· he has been legally residing in Italy for at least two years from the date of the marriage
· he has been residing abroad for at least three years from the date of the marriage.
The foreign spouse of an Italian citizen who has moved to Italy after three years of marriage spent abroad may present a request for nationality without having to wait a further two years, as it is to be considered that the requirement has already been met while residing abroad.
If the spouse has been naturalised as an Italian citizen, the above-mentioned time-limits run from the date of the relative oath.
All of the aforementioned terms are reduced by half in the presence of children born to or adopted by the spouses.
In order to obtain nationality by marriage, it is an essential and unavoidable requirement that the marriage celebrated abroad is transcribed in the registri dello Stato Civile (Civil Registration) of the residency Comune (the Municipality where you are legally a residente).
From the moment the application is presented, and until you are granted the citizenship, there must be no dissolution, annulment or cessation of the civil effects of the marriage, nor the personal separation of the spouses, on pain of rejection of the application; however, the death of the spouse during the proceedings does not lead to the rejection of the application.
In the event of the reconciliation of the spouses, all the aforementioned deadlines will start to run again from the date of the reconciliation.
GRANTING OF ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY VIRTUE OF UNINTERRUPTED LEGAL RESIDENCY IN ITALY
A foreign national or stateless person may request to acquire Italian nationality in accordance with Article 9 of Law n° 91 of 5 February 1992, in the following cases:
· was born in Italy and has been legally residing there for at least 3 years, or is the son or grandson in the direct line of Italian citizens by birth and has been legally residing in Italy for at least 3 years;
· is of age, adopted by an Italian citizen or the child of a naturalised foreign national, and has been legally residing in Italy for at least 5 years, following the adoption or naturalisation of the parent
· has served, including abroad, for at least 5 years as an employee of the Italian State or of another public State body (in the case of service abroad, it is not necessary to establish residence in Italy and it is possible to submit an application through the competent consular authority);
· is an EU citizen and has been legally resident in Italy for at least 4 years;
· is a stateless person or holder of international protection and has been legally residing in Italy for at least 5 years following the recognition of his status;
· is a foreign national and has been legally residing in Italy for at least 10 years.
COMMUNICATIONS
All communications relating to the process of granting citizenship will be sent to the applicant via the web portal used to submit the application.
It is necessary to carefully monitor the email addresses indicated when submitting the application, as well as the email address linked to the SPID identity as a real "digital domicile".
To check your citizenship application, view the progress of your application and read the communications you have received, you must access the reserved area of the portal.
HOW TO SUBMIT THE APPLICATION
Foreign citizens may apply for Italian citizenship exclusively online at the following web address: portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it
To submit the application, it is necessary to have the SPID digital identity.
In the event that one's personal details, as they result from the SPID system, do not correspond to those indicated in the documentation attached to the application, it is necessary to clarify these inconsistencies by attaching a consular certificate of exact personal details, duly legalised, to one's application.
Women who wish to keep their spouse's surname must attach to their application the certificate of marriage contracted abroad showing the acquisition of the surname in question.
The telematic application form must be filled in very carefully in all its parts, taking care to scan correctly, on both sides and legibly all the REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION:
· documento d’identità (identification document);
· permesso di soggiorno (residency permit);
· ricevuta di pagamento di 250€ (receipt of payment of a contribution of 250€): you have to pay by bollettino postale in a Sportello Amico of Poste Italiane. You must make the payment to the bank account (C/C) 809020, in the name of: Ministero dell’Interno, causale (reason for the payment): “Cittadinanza - contributo di cui all'art.1, comma 12, legge 15 luglio 2009, n.94"
· certificato di nascita (birth certificate) issued by the authorities of one's country of origin, duly legalised and with an annexed Italian translation, also legalised
· certificate penale (criminal record certificate) issued by the authorities of one's country of origin (and of any third countries of residence), duly legalised and with an annexed sworn Italian translation. The criminal record certificate of the country of origin, six
months after the date of issue, is to be considered expired in accordance with Article 41 of Presidential Decree 445/2000.
Foreign nationals who entered Italy before the age of 14 and who have uninterruptedly maintained legal residency in Italy may attach a self-certification or a historical certificate of residency in place of the criminal record of their country of origin.
Applicants who have been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection by the competent Commissione Territoriale (Territorial Commission, who assess international protection needs), can replace the birth and criminal record certificates of his country of origin with the corresponding ones made in Tribunale (court). The applicant must also provide a copy of the documentation attesting to the recognition of the protection in question.
Holders of humanitarian or special protection cannot submit any substitute documentation.
· B1 or higher level certificate of knowledge of the Italian language (in accordance to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages - CEFR). It can be a qualification issued by a public or equal education institution recognised by the Ministry of Education, University and Research and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation or by the Ministry of Education, University and Research.
Alternatively, applicants are required to produce appropriate certification attesting to the required level of knowledge of the Italian language, issued by one of the four certifying bodies recognised by the aforementioned Ministries University for Foreigners of Perugia, University for Foreigners of Siena, University of Roma Tre and the Dante Alighieri Society and the associated national and international network of affiliated institutions and bodies, which can be found in the information published on the websites of the aforementioned ministries and certifying bodies.
If the qualification or certification is issued by a public body, applicants must self-certify their possession of it, indicating the details of the deed, while, if it is a peer institution or a private body, they must produce a certified copy.
Foreign nationals who enclose with their application a signed integration agreement (in accordance with Article 4-bis of Legislative Decree 286/1998), or a valid EC/EU long-term residence permit, are exempt from the requirement to submit the language certificate.
Those who have signed the accordo di integrazione (integration agreement – a “contract” between the foreign citizen and the Italian State) referred to in art. 4-bis of the Consolidation Act (in legislative decree n° 286 of 25 July 1998) and holders of an EU long-term residence permit referred to in art. 9 of the aforementioned legislative decree, must provide, when submitting the application, respectively the details of the signature of the agreement and the valid residence permit.
· It is also necessary to declare an income that, in the last three years, exceeds the parameters established by Article 3 of Law 382/1989, converted by Law 8/1990.
In the event that you do not have your own income, or your income is lower than these parameters, the income of other members of your household present in the same family status as the applicant may be proven.
Presso:
Prefettura di Cremona