Applying in Italy at your own pace/DIY Italy applications

Applying in Italy at your own pace is a great way to discover if you like living in Italy before
taking the plunge and moving permanently, or a great way to take advantage of your birthright
citizenship after you have already decided to live in Italy long term.

Today many towns require that you stay in Italy the entire time your application is processing, so
that is what I also recommend. The amount of time you must stay in your town depends on how
long your application takes to process (more on this later). The vast majority of applications go
smoothly and quickly but some may take up to 6 months or longer. For stays over 90 days, you
must obtain a permit to stay (permesso di soggiorno) based on your citizenship application so
you are fully legal the entire time.

There are no shortcuts here, but you will find that by applying in Italy your application will be
processed quicker than if you applied at the Consulate. It is also just a really rewarding
experience, if I do say so myself. :)

You can apply anywhere in Italy as long as you are a resident where you apply. You do not
need to apply in your ancestral hometown.

The legal background:

People who are eligible for Italian dual citizenship can currently apply for recognition in one of
two ways:

1) If they live outside Italy, they can make an appointment at their local consulate;

OR

2) If they live in Italy, they can apply in the town where they are an official resident. In
accordance with Circolare k.28 of 1991, anyone who is eligible for dual citizenship can apply in
Italy as long as he or she has established residency there. In the past, aapplicants had to obtain a
permesso di soggiorno per turismo (permit to stay for tourism) in order to enter and stay in Italy
to file their application. However, Circolare no. 32 of June 13th, 2007 changed that: after that
date the permesso di soggiorno for tourism was abolished, allowing Americans to come to Italy
for up to 90 days on just their passports alone. Potential applicants in Italy must apply at any
time during those 90 days in order to stay legal and obtain further permits to stay while their
paperwork is being processed. Italy is incredibly generous in allowing applicants to do this.

Starting the residency process:

As mentioned, there is only one requisite for applicants in Italythey must be lawful residents
of the town where they intend to apply. Thats it! The residency process in Italy is started using
one of two paths:

1) If you are flying directly to Italy from the U.S., the stamp on your passport serves as your
official entry into Italy and the first step for residency;
OR

2) If you have a layover in another Schengen Country before arriving in Italy, you must file a
declaration of presence (dichiarazione di presenza) with the Questura (police precinct) within 8
days of your arrivalthis will substitute the lack of a stamp on your passport, and also serves to
start the residency process.

Keep in mind that just the passport stamp or the dichiarazione di presenza are not sufficient to
complete the residency process; rather, they serve only to start it. In order to be an actual
resident of Italy you must use one of the above in conjunction with either a valid rental contract
that is signed and filed with the Agenzia delle Entrate or a declaration of hospitality
(dichiarazione di ospitalita) prepared by a friend, landlord or family member willing to officially
host you as their guest.

You cannot start the residency process without any combination of the above passport
stamp/declaration of presence and rental contract/declaration of hospitality. It is advisable to find
a place to live and square away all residency questions before entering Italy. There are numerous
websites such as idealista.it, mioaffitto.it, eurekasa.it, subito.it, immobiliare.it, and soloaffitti.it
which allow users to contact realtors or private individuals renting their homes. Realtors are
well-informed of the laws regarding lawful contracts and can help.

Residency:
Once you have the requisite paperwork, you must go to the appropriate comune office to ask for
residency. This is most often the Ufficio Anagrafe. Some comuni are busier and require
appointments after a nominal wait while the vast majority will accept walk-ins. As with many
things in Italy, this is highly variable and not standardized.

At the Ufficio Anagrafe you will fill out paperwork for your residency application. You will
most likely be asked for your codice fiscale, which is a unique Italian tax code and is used for
anything from gaining residency to going to school, akin to a U.S. social security number. You
may not yet have an official one, so you can use a provisional code that you can generate on
www.codicefiscale.com (you can also have an official codice fiscale generated by the Agenzia
delle Entrate if you are not comfortable using a provisional one or feel you may make a mistake).
You will also be asked to provide a copy of your passport. Once you are done with your
residency application, you will be given a receipt.

The residency paperwork may look something like this:

Confirming residency:
In Italy, confirmation of your residency is a two-step process.

1) Once your paperwork for residency is accepted, it takes 2 days (48 hours) to go into the
towns system.

2) After the 2 days are up, your residency must be officially verified. Depending on the town,
they will either send an officer (vigile) to your address to make sure you live there, or they will
send no one and simply wait the 45 days mandated by law until your residency is implicitly
accepted.

You do not have to stay in your apartment the entire time looking out the window and waiting
for the officer; the comune will let you know around when you can expect the vigile and the visit
is actually quite informal. When I applied in Italy, I offered the vigile coffee and we had a nice
chat. That was it!
Handing in your citizenship documents:
Once either the vigile has checked your residence or the 45 days have elapsed from the time you
requested residency (whichever comes first), you can go to the ufficio di stato civile/ufficio
cittadinanza/ufficio anagrafe (it will depend by comune) to file your citizenship paperwork.

The comune officer will want to see your residency paperwork, and will also spend time looking
over your various documents including birth, marriage, death, and naturalization records. By this
time, I will have already sent your documents to the comune officer in charge well in advance
and we should have been able to rectify any missing paperwork/discrepancies.

As an aside: It should be noted that each comune is different in the documents it requires. Some
want death certificates, while others do not. Some want translations apostilled, while others want
them legalized instead by the consulate, and yet others are fine with simple printouts without
further legalization. It is up to you to be proactive and find out what your comune requires. A
good start may be searching the name of the comune + cittadinanza jure sanguinis in Google
to see if they have a dedicated website including a list of required documents. Piacenza, a
comune in Emilia Romagna in Northern Italy, is an example of a town with a comprehensive
website, and a list of required documents:

Getting back to your documents: once everything is handed in, you will be issued a receipt.

The attestato di non rinuncia

After this step, the comune worker will send an official request to the consulates back home
under whose jurisdiction you and your family members have lived. They will ask the consulates
to check that nobody in your family has renounced his or her right to have dual citizenship.

The response time may vary depending on the consulate. Some will respond in weeks, while
some will take months. Sometimes, a consulate may require more documentation from you:
while this is unusual, this does not mean your application will be denied. It is just the consulate
being nosey and wanting to make sure all ducks are in a row. If this happens, we will comply or
we will have the comune worker phone the consulate to tell thempolitelyto butt out. :-)

The attestato di non rinuncia (sometimes called the dichiarazione di mancata rinuncia) may
look like this:
Once all of the relevant consulates have responded and confirmed nobody in your family has
renounced his or her right to citizenship, youre in!

What happens next:

The mayor will sign your citizenship into effect, and you will get a letter or e-mail from the
comune. You will then need to ask the comune to transcribe your birth certificate into their local
registry. Once that is done, you can obtain an Italian passport, either back at your Consulate in
the United States or in Italy where you are living. You can even apply for a passport in Italy and
delegate someone else to pick it up for you. Super easy!

Another document you can obtain directly in Italy is the carta didentita (identity card). It will
look like this:

Just a recap:
The process for applying in Italy will generally go like this. Feel free to check off the items as
you complete them:

Contact the comune beforehand to inquire about the paperwork they accept or to show them
scans of your documents.
Have your documents translated and legalized in accordance to the comunes wishes.
Find a place to live or someone to issue you a declaration of hospitality.
Fly to Italy: if flying directly, get your passport stamped. If having a layover in another
Schengen Country, go to the questura within 8 days to file a declaration of presence.
Go to the ufficio anagrafe to apply for residency. Use your codice fiscale.
 Wait for your residency to be confirmed.
Hand in your vital records. Get a receipt.
Obtain the permesso di soggiorno in attesa di cittadinanza so you can stay in Italy legally
while waiting for your documents to be processed (more info here in Italian:
http://www.antonellapedone.com/guide/permesso-di-soggiorno-per-attesa-cittadinanza). This is
fundamental, otherwise you will be illegal if you stay past 90 days.
Wait until youre recognized!
Get your birth record transcribed after recognition.
Enjoy your citizenship! :)

Relevant laws and circolari:

1. Law 555 of 1912. This is the citizenship law establishing the principle of jure sanguinis (and
is the reason why were all eligible!):
http://www.amblima.esteri.it/resource/2007/03/12736_f_amb61Legge13giugno1912n_555sullaci
ttadinanzaitaliana.htm

2. Circolare k. 28 del 1991. This is the circular sent around to all officials stating that anyone
who is a lawful resident in Italy can apply there.
http://www.esteri.it/mae/normative/normativa_consolare/serviziconsolari/cittadinanza/circk28_1
991.pdf

3. Circolare no. 32 del 13 giugno 2007. This circular states that the permesso di soggiorno for
tourism has been abolished, and those that apply in Italy can use the stamp in their passport or a
declaration of presence to start the residency process. http://www.meltingpot.org/Circolare-del-
Ministero-dell-interno-n-32-del-13-giugno.html