ILA international law firm has a department specializing in the legal protection of individuals’ personal status: our staff, in particular, handles the acquisition and recognition requests for Italian citizenship, when different conditions prescribed by law are present.
The clients that make up this area of International Lawyers Associates are mainly American, Argentinian, Brazilian, Venezuelan, etc. citizens that claim having ancestors of Italian nationality, who have emigrated abroad in a more or less distant past: therefore we refer to this legal phenomenon as jure sanguinis (or right of blood).
The duration for the completion of our citizenship paperwork doesn’t ever exceed six months, clearly a major advantage for the applicant, given that the application via consular means takes about 4 to 7 years.
The request for jure sanguinis citizenship can be carried out by administrative means and through the courts. The law firm, through its foreign offices, is able to obtain the necessary registry documentation, annotations and records of the foreign civil registry offices in no time at all; subsequently the law firm handles all the formalities for document legalization, as well as affixing the Hague Apostille Treaty on the certificates, along with the implementation of certified translations.
There are also other cases in which the granting of citizenship is allowed: one of these is marriage to an Italian citizen.
The foreign citizen or stateless person, married to an Italian citizen, may seek to acquire Italian citizenship by residing legally in Italy for at least 12 months, in the presence of children born or adopted by the spouses. The foreign citizen can make the same request after 24 months residing in Italy without children.
In cases where the couple has their residence abroad, these are the times instead: 18 months (one year and a half) in the presence of children born or adopted by the spouses, or 36 months (three years) from the date of marriage (if there was no dissolution, cancellation or termination of the civil effects and if a legal separation is not underway).
Italian citizenship may also be requested if the applicant has a prolonged residence on the territory of the Republic.
Italian citizenship is permitted if the person requesting it is a foreign citizen born in Italy, or a citizen of an EU country or outside the EU, stateless person or refugee, living in Italy, but on the condition that the following requirements are met:
10 years of legal residence in Italy for non-EU citizens; 3 years of legal residence in Italy for the descendants of Italian citizens by birth (up to second degree – grandparents) and for those born in Italy; 5 years of legal residence in Italy for adoptees of age (from Italian citizens), stateless persons and political refugees and for kids of age of naturalized Italian parents; 4 years of legal residence in Italy for EU citizens; 5 years of employment with the Italian State, even abroad.
Note: In all cases, a personal or family income is mandatory, assessed at the discretion of the Ministry of the Interior, which much date back to at least 3 years, before the date of the request for the application.
In addition, the law provides for some special cases of acquisition of nationality: issue of the adoption verdict from the Court; employment with the Italian State; certificate of recognition as a political refugee or stateless person.
