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ROMANO
Step 1 – Do I qualify?
Italy recognizes 8 grounds for acquiring Italian Citizenship
By BIRTHRIGHT under the Jure Sanguinis law because you have Italian Ancestors
By MARRIAGE to an Italian citizen
Following PATERNITY OR MATERNITY RECOGNITION
By ADOPTION
By RIGHT OF RESIDENCY IN ITALY
By DECLARATION OF INTENT
By BEING BORN WITHIN THE ITALIAN TERRITORY
Through RE-ACQUISITION OF LOST ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP
The most common case is Case 1, acquisition of Italian Citizenship by Birthright through the Jure Sanguinis law.
Step 2 – Establish Italian Citizenship by Birthright
To get your Italian Citizenship recognized under the Jure Sanguinis law you will need to complete a form like the one below (this is the form used by Marciano, but each Commune has its own version) and hand it in to the Anagrafe of the Commune.
Step 3 – Obtaining the Required Documents
In order to deposit your request for Italian Citizenship under the Jure Sanguinis law you will need to support the completed recognition form with a small – or not so small – set of documents.
In the simplest case, where your parent was your most recent Italian ancestor registered in Italy and they are still alive they can simply notify the Italian authorities of your existence by supplying your birth certificate and you’re done.
Most cases, however, require the applicant to go back one or more generations and if the originals are not in Italian they will need to be apostilled and court validated translations attached.
All that you will then need is a residential address in Italy.
Step 4 – Obtaining an Italian Residential Address
Step 4 – Obtaining a Residential Address in Italy
Before the Commune’s Anagrafe can accept your formal request for your Italian Citizenship to be recognized it will require proof that you are physically residing in the Commune.
This is essential because a member of the local Polizia Municipale will visit the address you give to verify that it is your real address.
For the address to qualify as an Italian residential address, the address needs to be registered in your name as:
A property you own.
A property that is rented to you on a standard long term rental agreement with the agreement registered at the Commune.
An address that you are using where you can produce a “Letter of Accommodation”.
Holiday rentals, short term rentals and Airbnb type contracts are not acceptable for this purpose and would result in your application being rejected without consideration.
Interestingly, a property rented to you under the Italian Rent to Buy regulations would qualify. This can be a very interesting option for people on a modest budget because RtB properties can be found for as little €10k – go here for information on Rent to Buy.
You will also need a Codice Fiscale (tax reference number) and an Italian bank account.
Step 5 – Calculating Time and Cost
How long the process will take and how much it will cost depends entirely on the circumstances of your case. We will always give you a fixed price quotation when we know what needs to be done.
The cost will be calculated on a time and materials basis per certificate that we need to source.
You can probably source your own certificates in the country in which you live, but you may need us to source other certificates for you.
The amount of time involved, and thus cost, will depend on what information you can supply us with and how accurate the information is.
At one end of the scale you may have a single Italian ancestor to trace and you know their date, place of birth and actual name (as opposed to the name they conventionally used). This would be a relatively quick and easy case.
At the other end of the scale are ancestors where you only have their usual name, an approximate date of birth (say+ – 10 years) and a location that has a large population.
For example, Cola Romano of Napoli who turned out to be Pietro Paolo Romano of Salerno!
These can be a bit harder but, by working with you, we can usually narrow down the search.
There may also be a cost of obtaining Italian translations of all documents written in other languages which may also need to be Apostilled and Certified by an Italian court approved translator.
There will also be some small amounts payable to the state archives to cover the cost of preparation and postage of certified copies and extracts etc.
Step 6 – Let’s Get Started
The best way to move forward is for us to set up a short online meeting (we can use any of the standard platforms like Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp etc or even the good old telephone) to enable you to explain your situation.
We can then, together, work out the best way forward.