Administrative Procedure At Consulates

The competent authority to rule on the right of the interested party to the recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis varies according to his residence. If the applicant does not reside in Italy, the Italian consulate of reference will be competent on the basis of his residence.

If, on the other hand, he does reside in Italy, the competent authority to assess the application will be the Mayor of the Italian municipality of residence.

A pre-requisite and absolutely indispensable condition for initiating the procedure for the recognition of Italian citizenship is the possession of all the documentation by the interested party which must be translated and, where necessary, legalised or apostilled, proving direct descent from the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad.

With regard to the recognition of Italian citizenship, it is actually more accurate to speak of the recognition of the uninterrupted possession of Italian citizenship and not, as is often heard, of the acquisition of citizenship, since the procedure is aimed at the ascertaining of the possession of Italian citizenship since birth, inasmuch as it has been transmitted from a direct ascendant line. The procedure will therefore make sure and declare that the applicant is, and has always been, an Italian citizen.

In this regard, it is essential, that none of the ascendants have renounced Italian citizenship because this condition would interrupt the transmission on the applicant’s side.

The procedure at the Consulates slightly differs for each of them; in fact it appears that some people, already on the date of filing the application, set the appointment (convocation) while in most cases the appointment is not received until later. Very often, unfortunately, several years elapse before the convocation, due to the very long delays at the Consulates. In this regard, we invite you to visit the Consulate delay section.

In case of a positive outcome at the Consulates, the order granting the application will allow the registration at AIRE (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the subsequent procedure aimed at issuing a passport. As anticipated, however, consular representation continues to recognize the possibility of achieving Italian citizenship administratively only in favor of paternal line descendants, giving only them the possibility of filing applications with their offices. In fact, the administrative process is not allowed for maternal line descendants.

Therefore, the only possibility for the latter to obtain Italian citizenship, as indicated by the consular offices themselves, is to undertake the judicial procedure.