Registering a Birth in Italy – Minors

• Acquire it iure sanguinis (by descent) from one of the parents;
  Acquire it iure soli (by birthright), for example, minors born in the United Kingdom to parent(s) holding settled status;
  Acquire it through a mere declaration without the possibility of refusal by the competent foreign authority (e.g., “citizenship by option” for children born abroad).

EXAMPLES for the United Kingdom:

• Both parents are exclusively Italian and have not met the residency requirements to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain or Settled Status;
• One parent holding exclusively Italian citizenship, who has not yet met the required years of residence to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain or Settled Status, and the other parent with neither Italian nor British citizenship, whose nationality does not allow citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) to a child born in a third country.

Required documentation for Case 1)

IMPORTANT: If Case 1 does not apply, the application may be submitted based on one of the two cases outlined below.

CASE 2)
The parent who is an Italian citizen since birth resided in Italy for at least 2 consecutive years prior to the child’s date of birth;

Or

The parent acquired Italian citizenship (through naturalization, etc.) and resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring citizenship and before the child’s date of birth.
Residence in Italy prior to acquiring Italian citizenship can not be considered, nor can be considered the residence in Italy of the foreign parent.

(IMPORTANT: If Case 2 applies, it is not necessary to follow the instructions related to Case 3, which require additional documentation.)

Required documentation for Case 2

CASE 3)
At the time of the child’s birth, a parent or grandparent held (or held at the time of death) exclusively Italian citizenship.

(IMPORTANT: Before referring to Case 3, which requires additional documentation compared to the previous cases, verify that the requirements for Case 2 do not apply).

Required documentation for Case 3

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It is strongly recommended to submit the request for registration of the birth certificate only if in possession of all the necessary documentation to verify the right to Italian citizenship. Please note that the request to register the minor’s birth certificate in Italy also constitutes a request for recognition of Italian citizenship.

This Consulate reserves the right to request additional documentation. In such cases, applications deemed incomplete will be rejected with a formal notice of denial pursuant to Article 10-bis of Law 241/1990, after which the applicant will have 10 days to submit any observations or supplementary documentation.

IMPORTANT: If you do not fall under one of the categories listed above, please consult the relevant “CITIZENSHIP” page on our website and verify whether you meet the requirements to apply for citizenship by “benefit of law.”

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REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION
To request the registration of a birth, ALL of the following requirements must be met:

• Residence within the jurisdiction of this Consulate: At least one parent must reside in one of the following areas: Southern England, Wales, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, the Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Residents in the jurisdictions of Manchester and Edinburgh must contact the relevant Consular Offices for their territory (LINK: Check your relevant Consulate – The Consular Network).
• Updated residential address: The residential address declared in the application MUST MATCH the last address communicated to the Consulate. To verify your address in the consular database, log into your profile on Fast.it (LINK: The portal for consular services). To update your residential address, follow the procedure indicated in the A.I.R.E. section (LINK: AIRE – 2. Address update).
• Italian citizenship and A.I.R.E. registration: At least one parent must be an Italian citizen registered with the Registry of Italians Residing Abroad (A.I.R.E) (LINK: How to register with AIRE).
• Previous marriages/divorces: If the minor was born after the parents’ marriage, ensure that the marriage has been registered in Italy. For more information, visit the following LINK: How to register a marriage; How to register a divorce decree. If the marriage has never been registered in Italy before, the related registration request may be submitted in a single envelope together with the birth certificate registration request. All marriages and any divorces must be registered in Italy.

• The request for registration;
• The required documents listed above;
• A second “Special Delivery” envelope, pre-paid with an undated stamp, with your address, for the possible return of applications that are not admissible.

PROCESSING TIMES AND APPLICATION STATUS

Requests are processed by the Consulate in the order they are received by the Civil Registry Office. The estimated processing time is currently around ten weeks from the receipt of the documentation, concluding with the transmission of the documents to the competent A.I.R.E. Municipality. Please note that the duration of the procedure also depends on the response times of the Municipalities.

To monitor the progress of the application, applicants may:

• Verify the receipt of documents by the Consulate using the Special Delivery tracking service on the Royal Mail website.
• Wait for the notification of transmission to the Municipality, which will be sent by this Consulate to the email address provided. It is important to check your spam folder too.

Please do not contact the Consulate to inquire about the status of the application.

OUTCOME AND CONFIRMATION OF REGISTRATION

The Municipality will register the certificate in its civil registry according to its internal processing times. In case of rejection, the Municipality will communicate the reasons to the Consulate via certified email (PEC), and the applicant will be informed of the negative outcome.

Once you have received a copy of the notification from the Consulate confirming the transmission of the certificate to the Municipality, the Consulate’s obligations will be completed.

For updates regarding the actual registration at the “Comune”, you may:

• Contact the relevant AIRE Municipality directly; email and phone contacts are available on the Municipality’s homepage;
• Check your personal registry record on the ANPR portal for updates (LINK: ANPR). The portal is accessible using the Public Digital Identity System (SPID) or Electronic Identity Card (CIE). For further information on how to obtain SPID or request a CIE, please visit the following links: What is SPID and how to obtain it; How to request the Electronic Identity Card.