Country guide · Italy

Italian citizenship by naturalisation: living in Italy

Citizenship-by-Descent.com·Last reviewed November 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

Non-EU citizens who live in Italy can apply for Italian citizenship after ten years of legal residence. If a parent or grandparent is or was an Italian citizen by birth, the wait is only two years. That two-year route matters more since 2025, because many people abroad with Italian ancestry can no longer be recognised by descent. Either way it’s a grant the state can refuse, not a right, and you need B1 Italian, Italian-taxed income and a clean record.

Check first whether you’re already Italian. Our Italian citizenship by descent guide explains who still qualifies after the 2025 law, and recognition by descent doesn’t require living in Italy at all.

Residence periods at a glance

Article 9 of Law 91/1992, as in force in November 2026, sets these minimum periods of legal residence:

  • 2 years: your father, mother or a grandparent is or was an Italian citizen by birth (letter a).
  • 3 years: you were born in Italy (letter a-bis).
  • 4 years: you’re a citizen of an EU country (letter d).
  • 5 years: you’re stateless (letter e) or a refugee recognised by Italy, whom Article 16 treats like a stateless person.
  • 5 years after the adoption: you were adopted as an adult by an Italian citizen (letter b).
  • 5 years of service: you worked for the Italian state, even abroad (letter c). This one needs no residence.
  • 10 years: everyone else from outside the EU (letter f).

If you hold an EU passport through another country, such as Ireland or Poland, the four-year period applies to you instead of ten.

The two-year route for children and grandchildren of Italians

Letter a) lets Italy grant citizenship to a foreigner whose “father or mother or one of the ascendants in the direct line of the second degree are or were citizens by birth” and who has lived legally in Italy for at least two years. The second degree in the direct line means your grandparents.

What changed in 2025. Until 23 May 2025 this letter required three years and covered both descendants and people born in Italy. Law 74/2025, which converted Decree-Law 36/2025, cut the period for descendants to two years, added “are or” so that a living Italian parent or grandparent also counts, and moved people born in Italy to a separate letter a-bis with three years. Some prefecture guides online still show the old three-year rule.

Who counts as a citizen by birth. A parent or grandparent born in Italy to Italian parents clearly does. A grandparent born outside Italy is harder: since 2025, Article 3-bis treats someone born abroad who holds another citizenship as never having been Italian, unless one of its exceptions applies, such as a parent who held only Italian citizenship. Our great-grandparents guide walks through this. We haven’t found official guidance on how prefectures document a foreign-born grandparent who was never recognised, so ask the prefecture before you rely on one.

A great-grandparent isn’t enough on its own. Letter a) stops at grandparents. If your closest Italian-born ancestor is a great-grandparent, you face the ten-year period unless your grandparent counts as a citizen by birth.

Teenagers. Article 4(1)(c) gives a separate, automatic route: a foreigner with a parent or grandparent who is or was a citizen by birth becomes Italian if, on turning 18, they have lived legally in Italy for at least two years and declare within a year that they want citizenship.

What “legal residence” means

The implementing regulation, DPR 572/1993, counts you as legally resident only if you’ve met both the immigration rules for entry and stay and the rules on registering at the anagrafe, the resident register of your comune. In practice that means:

  • a valid residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) for the whole period;
  • registration as a resident in your comune, which is where the clock starts; and
  • keeping both in place until the oath.

Months spent in Italy as a visitor, or living there without registering, don’t count. The law doesn’t define how long you can be away during the period, and we haven’t found an official rule, so keep your registration unbroken and ask your prefecture about long absences.

The income requirement

Law 91/1992 doesn’t set an income figure, but the Interior Ministry says applicants must show enough income to support themselves, and the prefectures publish the reference amounts. A prefecture document dated 30 November 2021 gives these yearly figures:

  • EUR 8,263.31 for an applicant with no dependent spouse or children;
  • EUR 11,362.05 with a dependent spouse;
  • plus EUR 516 for each dependent child.

The same document sets three rules that matter if you’re moving from abroad:

  • Only Italian-taxed income counts. It uses IRPEF taxable income from returns filed with the Agenzia delle Entrate; income taxed abroad isn’t considered. Foreign pensions, remote salaries or savings you haven’t declared in Italy won’t help.
  • It covers the last three years before the application, and the income of close relatives in your registered household can be added.
  • You must keep it up until the oath. The prefecture checks income again before the decree is issued, and applications below the threshold are rejected at the first check.

The B1 Italian requirement

Article 9.1 requires Italian at B1 level or higher. You prove it with an Italian school diploma or degree, or a certificate from a recognised body: CILS (Siena), CELI (Perugia), PLIDA (Dante Alighieri), CertIt (Roma Tre) or Ce.Co.L. (Università per Stranieri Dante Alighieri, Reggio Calabria). You’re exempt if you signed Italy’s integration agreement or hold an EU long-term residence permit, and since a 2025 Constitutional Court ruling, if age, illness or disability seriously limits your ability to learn a language, certified by a public health facility. See our language requirements guide.

Documents

The Avellino prefecture’s 2024 instructions list these for a residence application:

  • your full birth certificate, apostilled and translated into Italian;
  • a criminal record certificate from your country of origin and any other country you lived in, apostilled and translated. It’s valid for 6 months from the date of issue, not from the apostille or translation. For the US, for example, the Italian consulates define the record as an FBI background check plus state checks, so ask your prefecture which checks it wants for your country;
  • your Italian identity card, a copy of your passport and your valid residence permit;
  • a foreign marriage certificate if your name changed, apostilled and translated;
  • your Italian tax returns (or CU forms) for the last three years;
  • your B1 certificate, or proof that you’re exempt; and
  • the EUR 250 fee and the EUR 16 digital stamp, both paid on the portal.

Our apostille guide and certified translation guide explain how to prepare documents from abroad.

Applying, step by step

  1. Complete the residence period on your registered, legal residence.
  2. Pass a B1 exam and make sure your last three years of Italian tax returns clear the income threshold.
  3. Gather the documents. Order the criminal record checks last, because they expire after 6 months.
  4. Apply online on the Interior Ministry’s citizenship portal, logging in with SPID or an electronic ID card (CIE), and give a PEC (certified email) address. The application goes to the prefecture for where you live.
  5. Answer requests from the prefecture, which arrive by PEC or on the portal.
  6. Wait for the decree, signed by the President of the Republic on the Interior Minister’s proposal. The law allows 24 months, extendable to 36. Since 2024 decrees are notified digitally.
  7. Take the oath at your comune within 6 months of notification. You become Italian the day after the oath. Missing the deadline makes the decree void. The Avellino prefecture’s page also mentions a 120-day window after digital notification, so follow the deadline stated in your own notice.

Cost

  • EUR 250 contribution to the Interior Ministry.
  • EUR 16 digital stamp duty.
  • Your own costs: the B1 exam, criminal record checks, apostilles and certified translations.

Why applications are refused

Article 9 says citizenship “may be granted”, so the ministry has discretion. Its overview names the main tests: enough income, no criminal record and no security concerns. Applications also fail on missing B1 proof, an expired criminal record certificate, or details that don’t match across your birth certificate, passport and permit. Citizenship gained under Article 9 can be revoked within ten years of a final conviction for certain terrorism offences, if you hold or can get another citizenship (Article 10-bis).

Can you keep your current citizenship?

Italy doesn’t ask you to give up your current citizenship. Nothing in Article 9 makes renunciation a condition, and Article 11 says an Italian who holds a foreign citizenship keeps Italian citizenship. Whether you keep your other citizenship also depends on your other country’s law: some countries end citizenship when you voluntarily take another, so check yours. Our Italian dual citizenship guide covers the details.

Other routes to compare

Frequently asked questions

How many years do I have to live in Italy to become a citizen?

Ten years of legal residence for most non-EU citizens. It's two years if your mother, father or a grandparent is or was an Italian citizen by birth, and three years if you were born in Italy. EU citizens need four years, and stateless people and recognised refugees five.

I can't claim Italian citizenship by descent after the 2025 law. Is there a shortcut?

If a parent or grandparent is or was an Italian citizen by birth, yes: after two years of legal residence in Italy you can apply for naturalisation under Article 9(1)(a). It's a discretionary grant with B1 Italian, income and clean-record checks, not automatic recognition. A great-grandparent alone doesn't qualify you.

Does income earned outside Italy count toward the income requirement?

No. The prefecture guidance we read says only income taxed in Italy (IRPEF taxable income from your Italian tax returns for the last three years) counts, and foreign income isn't considered. The reference figure is EUR 8,263.31 a year for a single applicant.

What does legal residence mean?

Living in Italy with your immigration paperwork in order and being registered as resident at your comune (the anagrafe). Time in Italy as a tourist, or living there without being registered, doesn't count toward the clock.

How long does the application take?

The law gives the ministry 24 months from the application, extendable to 36. There's no official figure for actual waiting times.

Can I move abroad while my application is pending?

Not without risking it. The Avellino prefecture's instructions say you may not move your residence abroad until the case is decided, or the application is declared inadmissible. You also need to stay in Italy for the oath.

Do I have to give up my current citizenship?

Not for Italy. Article 9 doesn't make renunciation a condition, and Article 11 lets an Italian citizen hold another citizenship. Whether you keep your other citizenship also depends on your other country's law. Naturalising in Italy doesn't cost you US citizenship by itself, for example.

Do my children become Italian when I do?

Minor children who live with you follow you only if, on the day you become Italian, they've lived legally in Italy for at least two continuous years, or since birth if they're under two (Article 14).

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 11 November 2026. Prefectures handle applications for where you live, and their published guides are sometimes older than the law, so confirm the details with yours.