Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

->  Can I have my main residence both in Italy and abroad?

NO. The general rule is that you can only have one main residence at any one time: either in Italy or abroad.

-> What about my healthcare services in Italy (SSN/ASL) if I am an AIRE registered national?

Your AIRE registration implies your de-registration from Italy’s SSN/ASL (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale – National Health Service) and the transfer of your healthcare to the authorities of your new country of residence.

For additional information about your health cover for temporary stays in Italy, please visit the Italian Ministry of Health’s website (Ministero della Salute).

->  What about my tax residence if I am an AIRE registered national?

The Consulate is not competent on tax matters. For tax information, please contact the Italian Inland Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate).

->  Do I still have to pay taxes on the house I own in Italy?

For information on tax legislation on properties owned in Italy, please contact the Tax Office (Ufficio Tributi) of the Italian Town Hall (Comune) where the property is located.

->  What are the benefits of repatriation?

If you are an Italian national resident abroad for at least 12 months and you permanently return to Italy you are entitled to customs exemption and – depending on regional, provincial or local regulations – to possible tax relief.

Customs exemption apply to household goods that are for personal use as well as to cars owned for at least 6 months.

The goods must be shipped to Italy within 12 months from the last declared day of residence abroad. For further information, please visit the section of the Notary Office in London (available only in Italian).

->  I need a certificate; how do I proceed?

Consular offices have NO authority to issue certificates e.g. residence or AIRE registration certificates. You should forward your requests directly to the Registry Office of the Town Hall (Comune) in Italy where you are currently AIRE registered. Alternatively, you can use the services available on the national register portal (ANPR).

We remind you that since 1 January 2012, all certificates issued by the Public Administrations (therefore also by this Consulate General) have legal value and can be used only when dealing with other private entities (Law No. 183 of 12 November 2011 art.15). When dealing with public authorities or managers of public services, certificates (including residence certificates) can always be replaced by self-certification or affidavit.

Should you need to submit a certificate to another private individual or entity abroad or to an Administration of a country other than Italy, you should contact directly the Registrar of the Town Hall (Comune) in Italy where you are currently AIRE registered. This certificate will only be valid abroad.

->  What is Fast It?

The acronym Fast It stands for Farnesina Servizi Telematici per Italiani/e all’estero. It is a FREE digital platform created by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to allow Italian nationals living abroad to easily and quickly access consular services online such as register in the AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero – Register of Italians Living Abroad), update their address abroad and transfer their address to another Consular district.

->  What is the AIRE?

AIRE is the acronym for Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero, that is the Register of Italians Residing Abroad. It is a database of all Italian nationals residing abroad for longer than 12 months and is managed by Italian Town Halls (Comuni), based on data provided by Embassies and Consulates.

->  Can I use Fast It to book an appointment for the Electronic ID or Passport?

NO. To book these appointments, please register in the portal prenot@mi. Please note that you must be legally residing and registered in the AIRE of the Consular district where you want to access these services.

->  I do NOT have a Fast It account; what do I do?

• Access the Fast It portal and click on the “Registration” button. To create a personal account, enter an email address / password and fill in your personal information (SURNAME(S), given name(s), place and date of birth) exactly as it appears on the identity documents issued by the Italian authorities, avoiding additions, omissions of any surname(s), given name(s), accent(s) and apostrophe(s), failing which the request will be rejected.
• Select “Regno Unito” (United Kingdom in Italian) and type the City / Town of residence to find the Consulate of competence.
• Click on the link received in the confirmation email sent to the email address you provided to activate your new Fast It account.

->  Which electronic address should I use in Fast It?

Please use an ordinary email address. Please do NOT use a PEC (Posta Electronica Certificata – Certified email) because these mailing systems do not accept emails from ordinary email addresses making it impossible to verify the email you provided during the registration and to reset the password.

->  How do I access Fast It; should I use my credentials (username and password) or my SPID?

From the Fast It homepage, click on the “Login” button to log in with your credentials (username and password) used for your registration. Alternatively, click on the “Enter with SPID” button to log in using your SPID (Sistema Pubblico di Identità Digitale – Public Digital Identity System) credentials.

Should you use the latter, your credentials (username and password) entered during the registration process will be disabled for security reasons. All subsequent accesses to the portal will ONLY be possible using the SPID credentials and both the resetting of the password and the amendment of the personal data will be disabled

->  I have a Fast It account but I am NOT registered in the AIRE; what should I do?

Follow the procedure detailed in section 1.5. For ease of reference, a process map of the registration procedure is available in section 1.6. Further information on how to enter your personal data, what supporting documents to submit for the swift processing of the application and how to upload them to the Fast It is available in section 1.7.

->  I do NOT have a Fast It account but I registered in the AIRE a long time ago; what should I do?

From the Fast It homepage, click on the “Consular Register and AIRE” box and then on the “View your registry personal file” button. Follow the procedure to verify your identity until the confirmation message is displayed. This procedure, normally completed within 1-2 working days, links your new Fast It account with your file stored in the Consular database. Once this is completed, you will be able to access the consular services available on the Fast It portal, such as changing your address / residence within the same Consular district, transferring your address to another Consular district and accessing your personal file in the Consular database.

->  Based on my residential address in the UK, which is my Consulate of competence?

In the United Kingdom there are 3 Consulates: London, Manchester and Edinburgh. A map of their respective Consular jurisdictions is available on their respective website homepages. You can find your Consulate of reference here.

->  Which is the consular district under the jurisdiction of London Consulate General?

The consular district for the London Consulate General includes the south of England, more specifically Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, City of London, Cornwall, Devon. Dorset, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater London, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire e Worcestershire, as well Wales, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

->  When should I register in the AIRE? I have been living in the UK for a long time but I have never registered. Can I do it now?

Registering in the AIRE is your duty as well as your right if you live, or intend to reside, abroad for a period longer than 12 months. You must submit your AIRE registration request within 90 days of your arrival in the foreign country.

You may also submit your application at a later date, but it will not have retroactive effect.

->  My cohabiting partner and I must register in the AIRE. Do we submit two separate applications?

NO. You must submit a SINGLE request which includes all cohabiting family members who are not yet registered in the AIRE. When more than one family member submits the same AIRE application for the same household, unfortunately, the Fast It system automatically completes the submission process only for one and, due to technical constraints, rejects the other.

Once the Consulate has processed your application and sent the request to the competent Town Hall (Comune) in Italy, any other Italian adults of the same household can independently view their registry personal file through their own Fast It account. To create and activate their personal Fast It account, they have to access the Fast It portal, click on the “Registration” button and follow the procedure. Then, they can log in again to the Fast It using either the login credentials just set up or the SPID credentials, click on “Consular Register and AIRE” at the top of the page and then on “View your registry personal file”. This procedure, normally completed within 1-2 working days, links your new Fast It account with your file stored in the Consular database. A step-by-step procedure is available under the question above “I do NOT have a Fast It account, what do I do?”

->  I want to register in the AIRE and in the same household / at the same address of a family member already registered in the Consular database. What do I do?

In the online application do NOT include your family member already registered in the AIRE / in the Consular database as this will change the status of your request into “pending” resulting in a slower registration procedure. Together with the requested supporting documents, you can include a short note mentioning the personal data of any cohabiting family members already registered in the AIRE / in the Consular database. The operator will manually add you to the same household as your family member already registered in the AIRE / in the Consular database.

->  How do I correctly fill in the AIRE request for households including minors?

AIRE registration requests for households including minors whose birth certificates have already been registered in Italy must include the consent of both parents, even if they are non-Italian nationals. Please remember to include any non-Italian cohabiting family members in the Fast It application and to submit the form signed by both parents.

Should one of the parents reside at a different address, please upload their identification document and the consent form, available in the AIRE forms section, duly filled in and signed together with the requested supporting documents. If you cannot obtain the signed consent from the other parent, please contact us at aire.londra@esteri.it.

->  What is the effective date of AIRE registration?

AIRE requests take effect from the date a duly filled application and complete supporting documentation is received by the territorially competent Consulate through the Fast It portal. AIRE requests may be submitted at any time, but the effective date cannot be retroactive.

->  Why cannot the Consulate verify whether the Town hall (Comune) of last residence I specified in the form is correct?

The Consulate does not have direct access to the national register ANPR. To avoid delays in the processing of your AIRE registration, please make sure you select the Town Hall (Comune) of last residence in Italy for the applicant and each cohabiting family member.

->  Which Town Hall (Comune) do I select? What does it mean last residence in Italy and the Town Hall (Comune) of origin of the Italian parent / parents?

Please select the Town Hall (Comune) in Italy where your last residence was registered. Following your request to register in the AIRE, the Town Hall (Comune) updates its registry and electoral databases. This entails that it simultaneously de-registers the entire household (Italian and non-Italian members) from its APR (Anagrafe della Popolazione Residente – Register of the Resident Population) and register the applicant and other cohabiting Italian members of the family in its AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero – Register of Italians Living Abroad);

Italian nationals born abroad who have never lived in Italy, can select the Town Hall (Comune) where the birth certificate was registered. Generally speaking, this is the Town Hall (Comune) of origin of their Italian parent / parents.

->  How do I change the Town Hall (Comune) of my AIRE registration?

You can use the specific form available on our website (click here). We remind you that transferring your AIRE registration to a Town Hall (Comune) different from your current one is possible only when you have members of your household already resident or AIRE registered in the Town Hall (Comune) where you want to transfer your AIRE registration.

->  How do I know if the application I submitted is correct?

Due to the high volume of enquiries we receive, we cannot confirm whether each individual request is correctly submitted until it is processed. Therefore, before clicking to submit your request please doublecheck that you have correctly uploaded all requested supporting documents listed in the relevant subsections of the AIRE registration (section 1.7), Update of the address (section 2.4) and Transfer from / to another Consular district (section 3.4).

Sending incomplete documentation will change the status of your request into “pending” resulting in a slower registration procedure. The application is sent back to the applicant who will have to upload the missing documents and re-submit the request. Please make sure the email address you provided is correct and also check your junk mail or spam folder.

Flowcharts available in the relevant subsections of the AIRE registration (section 1.7), Update of the address (section 2.4) and Transfer from / to another Consular district (section 3.4) provide useful hints for a swift processing of the application.

->  How do I know you have received my request to register in the AIRE?

At the end of the procedure correctly completed online, you will receive an automated “Request sent successfully” message showing the application reference number and its current status as: “Submitted”. Please make sure the email address you provided is correct and check your junk mail or spam folder.

If you do not see the automated message, we recommend that you start the procedure again, making sure that each uploaded file does not exceed the indicated maximum size of 1 MB.

->  How can I receive the confirmation that I have been registered in the AIRE?

Enquiries requesting confirmation of your AIRE registration should NOT be sent to this Consulate but to your Town Hall (Comune) of last residence as this is the sole competent body to maintain and update the registers of citizens residing abroad AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero – Register of Italians Living Abroad). This is shown in the process map available in section 1.6.

When the Consulate sends your request to your Town Hall (Comune) it also forwards a copy of the communication to the email address you provided during the registration process. We recommend that you check your junk mail or spam folder.

->  How can I access my personal file in the Consulate database?

Log in to the Fast It portal using either the login credentials set up during the registration process or the SPID credentials, click on “Consular Register and AIRE” at the top of the page and next on “View your registry personal file”.

->  I have a Fast It account and I am registered in the AIRE; how do I notify my change of address?

Please follow the procedure detailed in section 2.2.

->  How can I receive the confirmation that my AIRE address has been updated?

Enquiries requesting confirmation of the update of your AIRE address should NOT be sent to this Consulate but to your Town Hall (Comune) that is the sole competent body to regularly maintain and update the registers of citizens residing abroad AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero – Register of Italians Living Abroad). This is schematically shown in the process map available in section 2.3.

When the Consulate sends your request to your Town Hall (Comune) it also forwards a copy of the communication to the email address you provided during the registration process. We recommend that you check your junk mail or spam folder.

->  Which ID documents issued by the Italian authorities can I provide with my Fast It application?

For family members listed in the request as ITALIAN nationals, you must upload a copy of their Italian identity document. This can be a passport, an identity card or the documentation granting Italian citizenship or any other document proving the prerequisite for registration in the AIRE (citizenship). These documents will also allow the operator to verify that the personal information you entered matches with that shown in the registers of the Italian authorities.

Nationals born abroad can alternatively provide a copy of the documentation requested to their competent Town Hall (Comune) proving that their foreign birth certificate is registered with the authorities in Italy. This can be a certificate called “estratto per riassunto dell’atto di nascita” or a certified copy of the birth certificate called “integrale dell’atto di nascita”.

->  Which documents proving my address are accepted / not accepted?

A non-exhaustive list of accepted and NOT accepted documents as proof of address is available in the subsections “supporting documents for a swift processing of the application” of the AIRE registration (section 1.7), Update of the address (section 2.4) and Transfer from / to another Consular district (section 3.4).

->  Why do I need to attach a recent proof of address to my Fast It application?

Recent proof of address (issued within the last 3 months) allows the Consulate to keep in contact with the registered nationals who will be able to receive at the correct address documentation such as the election postcard or electoral pack during elections, any communications from the Italian authorities, and notifications from the Consulate.

->  How do I upload all required supporting documents to the Fast It portal?

To complete the Fast It procedure, the portal activates the “Submit the application” button only when a minimum of the 3 essential documents are uploaded. However, please note that the portal allows you to send up to a maximum of 13 attachments.

You can either scan or photograph your documents and upload them in .pdf format or any other commonly used image file formats (e.g. .jpeg, .png etc.). You can merge different documents into a single file but each individual file must NOT exceed a maximum size of 1 MB.

->  Can my non-Italian cohabiting family members listed in the application be registered in the AIRE?

NO. Registration in the AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero – Register of Italians Living Abroad) is only possible for Italian nationals. Cohabiting family members who are not Italian are only registered in the Consular database.