ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE/CIVIL UNION

WHO CAN APPLY

A foreign person married/civilly united with an Italian citizen who wishes to acquire Italian citizenship may apply for it if the following conditions are met:

• Is resident in the consular district: Free State provinces, Gauteng (excluding the metropolitan area of the city of Tshwane), KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West;
• at least 3 years have elapsed since the date of marriage/civil union (this period is reduced to eighteen months in the presence of children, including adopted children). Please note that the marriage/civil union bond must remain in place until the time of the oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic, which may be within a period of up to 3 years after the application is submitted.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION

• Birth certificate or equivalent: original, issued no more than six months prior by the country of birth, complete with all personal details (including father and mother and any annotations), duly legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian. The Italian translation must be certified by the relevant Embassy/Consulate or legalized with an Apostille;
• Criminal record certificate from the country of origin and any third countries of residence (from the age of 14) – except Italy – and from the countries of which you are a citizen, in original form, issued no more than six months prior to the submission of the application, duly legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian. The Italian translation must be certified by the relevant Embassy/Consulate or legalized with an Apostille. The applicant is exempt from submitting a criminal record certificate from their country of origin only if they left that country before the age of 14 and have not retained citizenship.
• Receipt of payment of the €250.00 contribution to the Ministry of the Interior, indicating the FIRST NAME and SURNAME of the applicant for citizenship, to be made to the Ministry of the Interior on the postal account in the name of: “Ministero dell’Interno D.L.C.I Cittadinanza”
  Bank name: Poste Italiane S.p.A.
  Address: Viale Europa 175 – Rome
  IBAN: IT54D0760103200000000809020
  Reason for payment: Application for citizenship by marriage/civil union
  BIC / SWIFT CODE of Poste Italiane: BPPIITRRXX
  €250.00
• Identity document: photocopy of a valid passport (pages containing personal details, photograph, date of issue, and expiry date);
• Copy of the full marriage/civil union certificate or extract from the marriage/civil union register, to be requested from the relevant Italian municipality where the certificate is registered, issued no more than six months ago. PLEASE NOTE: If the applicant is an EU citizen, they may use self-certification in accordance with Presidential Decree 445/2000.
• Certificate of knowledge of the Italian language not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

Only the following certifications are accepted:

1. 1. 1. PLIDA from the Dante Alighieri Society
      2. CertIt from Roma Tre University
      3. CILS from the University for Foreigners of Siena
      4. CELI from the University for Foreigners of Perugia
      5. Ce.Co.L from the University for Foreigners of Reggio Calabria

Other certifications from the above institutions or other institutions are not eligible and cannot be accepted.

The following are not required to submit proof of Italian language proficiency:

• • • Foreigners (even if residing abroad) who have signed the Integration Agreement referred to in Article 4 bis of Legislative Decree No. 286/1998 Consolidated Immigration Act.
    • Holders of long-term EU (or EC) residence permits referred to in Article 9 of the same Consolidated Law (even if resident abroad), only if issued by the Italian authorities. Residence permits for family reasons or those issued by other countries are not eligible.
    • Those who have obtained a qualification issued by a public or equivalent educational institution recognized by the Ministry of Education, University, and Research and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

To obtain such certification in South Africa and to have qualified support to learn Italian, you can contact the Dante Alighieri Society Committees present in Johannesburg, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town, or contact the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria.

At http://www.scuoleditaliano.it/prova-il-tuo-italiano you can test your knowledge of Italian free of charge.

Before submitting your application, we recommend that you read Section 6(2) Act 88 of 1995 of the South African Citizenship Law to verify the effects that acquiring another citizenship may have on your South African citizenship and for information on how to obtain the “Retention of South African citizenship” letter from the South African Department of Home Affairs.

Applications for citizenship by marriage/civil union must be submitted online directly by the interested parties through the CIVES portal of the Ministry of the Interior.

To pay the consular fees for the documents to be submitted with the application, the interested party must appear in person at the Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg.

To receive personal login credentials for the portal, you must register on the website https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/. To access the portal, click here.

PROCEDURE

STEP 1 – REGISTRATION AND SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

Applicants residing abroad must register on the Ministry of the Interior portal (https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/AliCittadinanza/ali/home.htm)  with their email address.

Please note that the email address provided on the portal when submitting the online application constitutes the applicant’s elected domicile (Art. 47 of the Italian Civil Code). It is therefore necessary to check your email frequently, as all communications relating to the citizenship application, including requests for additional documentation, summonses, notifications of measures, etc., will be sent ONLY via email.

Applicants are required to enter their details with the utmost care, as these cannot be changed and, in the event of an error, a new registration with a different email address will be required. In particular, the personal details indicated on the birth certificate (including any annotations) and/or in documents issued abroad by the competent foreign authorities (such as marriage certificates, identity documents, name/surname change decrees, etc.) must be reported. In case of discrepancies, the applicant is required to provide appropriate supporting documentation.

The application must declare any minor children of the applicant born from a previous relationship who are living with them.

In the section “DECLARATION OF RESIDENCE” (Residences in Italy and/or in the country of origin and/or in any other country other than the current one) of the AE form, please enter your previous addresses of residence, in chronological order and in full, from the age of 14 up to the residence prior to the current one, which should be entered in the section “RESIDENCE DATA OF THE APPLICANT”.

No special characters or symbols (e.g., cedilla, acute or grave accents within words, circumflex accents, etc.) should be used. Only the accent on the last letter may be entered using an apostrophe, if it also appears in the language of origin.

STEP 2 – CONSULAR VERIFICATION

The Consular Office will be automatically informed of the submission of the application and will proceed with the necessary VERIFICATIONS.

The applicant will then receive, electronically via the Ministry of the Interior portal, a communication regarding the acceptance or reason for inadmissibility.

If the application is rejected, it may be resubmitted, taking care to correct the errors indicated in the rejection, and any payments already made may be reused if the application is resubmitted within one year.

If the application is accepted, the applicant will be summoned, electronically, to the diplomatic-consular representation for the authentication of the signature affixed to the citizenship application, for the delivery of all ORIGINAL paper documentation, including that already transmitted electronically via the Portal, for the collection or verification of the payment of the required consular fees.

All of the above documentation will be kept in original form by the diplomatic-consular representation, with the exception of the passport and language certificate, for which a certified copy will be made with the relevant payments.

STAGE 3 – EVALUATION AND TERMS OF THE PROCEDURE

The evaluation of the application and the definition of the procedure are the exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, within 24 months from the date of submission of the application, extendable up to a maximum of 36 months. If, at the end of the evaluation of the application, the procedure is concluded positively, the Ministry of the Interior will send the decree granting Italian citizenship to the diplomatic-consular representation competent for the residence of the interested party.

STEP 4 – DECREE, NOTIFICATION, AND OATH

The decree granting Italian citizenship will be notified—via the portal—by email to the address provided by the applicant during registration. Upon notification, documents will also be requested – as required by national legislation – to verify the permanence of the marital bond. These documents must be dated after the adoption of the decree:

• full marriage certificate issued by the competent Italian municipality;
• criminal record certificate from the country of current residence, duly legalized and translated (see documents section).

Therefore, on the date of adoption of the decree, there must be no dissolution, annulment, or termination of the civil effects of the marriage or civil union, nor any legal separation (separation ruling).

No later than six months after notification, the interested party will be summoned to the consular offices to take an oath of allegiance to the Republic and its laws. The six-month deadline is mandatory, after which the right to obtain citizenship will be lost.

The full marriage certificate must be requested from the Italian municipality in whose registers the certificate is recorded; the criminal record certificate must be requested from the competent authorities in the country of residence and must comply with the provisions on legalization/apostille and translation.

The person concerned shall take an oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic by saying the words:

“I SWEAR TO BE LOYAL TO THE REPUBLIC AND TO OBSERVE THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE STATE.”

The effects of the oath, i.e., the acquisition of Italian citizenship, shall take effect on the day following the oath.

The original birth certificate will be sent for transcription to the relevant Italian municipality together with the application for registration with the AIRE and the record of the oath taken.