Applying for Italian citizenship at 18 (for young people born in Italy)

In order to apply for Italian citizenship at the age of 18, it is necessary to:

1. Be born in Italy

2. Having always lived in Italy regularly
With a permesso di soggiorno or carta di soggiorno 

3. Have legal residence in Italy from birth up to 18 years
If, on the other hand, your legal residence is not continuous (for example: because you have changed home many times, or you have changed Comune and you have not registered your new residence immediately at the Uffici dell’Anagrafe), but you have always lived in Italy, you can submit other documents to prove that you have always lived here: school certificates (report cards, enrollment and/or school attendance documents), medical certificates, vaccinations, etc.

4. Apply for citizenship at age 18
ATTENTION: the request must be submitted before turning 19. Applications made after the age of 19 may be denied because they are submitted late.

The application for citizenship must be submitted to the Comune by young people who have reached the age of 18, but before they turn 19.

For some years now, Comune offices have been obliged to inform young people of their right to apply for Italian citizenship. They must send a letter 6 months before their 18th birthday explaining they can become citizens and how they can apply.
If this communication does not arrive, the Comune must accept requests submitted after the age of 19. In any case, it is better to submit the request at 18 before turning 19 (even without having received the letter from the Comune) to avoid problems.

It is necessary to make an appointment with the Comune of your city to apply for citizenship. Remember to make your appointment in advance because the Comune may not have immediate availability.

The Comune office that deals with citizenship applications can change depending on the city and can be “ufficio cittadinanza” or “ufficio stato civile“. To find the right office of your Comune, you can search on Google by writing: domanda di cittadinanza a 18 anni + Comune di (your city).

The documents required to apply for citizenship are:

• Permesso di soggiorno
• Valid document of the country of origin
  ex: passport or identity document
• Documents proving residency in Italy from birth up to 18 years
  If, on the other hand, your legal residence is not continuous (for example: because you have changed home many times, or you have changed Comune and you have not registered your new residence immediately at the Uffici dell’Anagrafe), but you have always lived in Italy, you can submit other documents to prove that you have always lived here: school certificates (report cards, enrollment and/or school attendance documents), medical certificates, vaccinations, etc.
• A payment of € 250.00 payable to Ministero dell’Interno
  The Comune will give you more information on how to make the payment, the account number, and the reason for payment (causale)

NOTE: Many Comune offices also allow you to send the request and documents via certified e-mail (PEC) and by post, but we recommend that you submit the request to the Comune in person to be sure that all documents are delivered correctly.

Usually, the waiting time to know the outcome is 120 days.
If the outcome is positive, an appointment is made for the giuramento, which is the official oath ceremony with a representative of the Italian government.

Having Italian citizenship means having the same civil and political rights that other Italian citizens have and being able to participate more actively in society.

Italian citizenship allows you to:

• Have a permanent legal status
  Italian citizenship never expires. Obviously, it is necessary to renew the identification documents, such as the passport and the identity card, but the old documents (permesso or carta di soggiorno) are no longer valid and must be returned to the Questura;
• Vote
  in the Italian elections and those of the European Parliament;
• Travel freely in European Union countries without a passport or visa;
• Participate in public competitions (concorsi pubblici):
  Concorsi are competitions that Comune, Regions, Ministries, and universities organize to choose the most qualified people for the job opportunities they offer. A requirement of many competitions is to have Italian citizenship.

Remember that Italy allows you to have dual citizenship. This means that if you become an Italian citizen, you do not have to give up the citizenship of your country of origin. Contact the Embassy or Consulate of your country of origin in Italy to find out if your country also allows you to have dual citizenship.

In Italy, the citizenship law is based on the ius sanguinis principle.
This means that parents with Italian citizenship automatically pass their citizenship on to their children when they are born. Citizenship is also transmitted to foreign children who are adopted by Italian citizens when they are minors. To transmit citizenship it is sufficient that one parent has Italian citizenship.

Italian citizenship is also given to children born in Italy who have been abandoned by their parents, even if born to foreign parents; if the parents have no citizenship (stateless) and/or if their country does not allow that the citizenship of the parents is passed on to their children.

Over the years, however, there has been a discussion on reforms to change the citizenship law and especially to use the ius soli as the principle for a new law.

According to the ius soli principle, citizenship is the right of anyone born in a country. In this case, all children born in Italy would obtain Italian citizenship from birth regardless of the citizenship of their parents.

At the moment, however, the Italian law on Italian citizenship has not been changed and is still based on the ius sanguinis principle. There are many movements and associations working to bring about this change.