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REGISTRATION OF THE BIRTH OF MINOR CHILDREN

NB. The application for a first passport can only be submitted to the Passport Office after the Civil Registry Office has sent the birth certificate to the relevant municipality. The certified email sent by the Civil Registry Office to the municipality, with the parents included in the copy, will be considered valid. Applications for birth registration and passport applications sent together will be returned to the sender.

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SPECIAL CASE: Surrogate motherhood

Surrogate motherhood is completely legal in some countries but it is prohibited in Italy by Law 40 of February 19, 2004.

This law was recently amended to include, in Article 12, paragraph 6, that the penalties provided for in the event of violation of the law apply to conduct by Italian citizens even if carried out abroad.

If this Consulate is asked to send the birth certificate of a child born through this practice to the municipality in Italy, it is required to proceed with the request for transcription to the municipality, communicating the particular conditions of the birth and, at the same time, it is obliged to report the alleged offense to the Public Prosecutor’s Office with jurisdiction over the territory.

The attention of those concerned is therefore drawn to the possible consequences of violating Italian law.

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NEW REGULATIONS ON THE REGISTRATION OF THE BIRTH OF MINORS WHO ARE CHILDREN OF ITALIAN PARENTS

Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, which converted Decree-Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025, with amendments, reformed Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992, introducing significant restrictions on the transmission of Italian citizenship and, consequently, on the procedure for registering the birth certificates of children born abroad. A minor born abroad to an Italian parent is not automatically an Italian citizen.

Under the new legislation, he is recognized as an Italian citizen iure sanguinis (by birth) only if at least one of the following cases applies:

CASE A)

A1) The parent who was born an Italian citizen, even if they also hold another citizenship, has resided in Italy for at least 2 consecutive years at any time prior to the date of birth of their child;

or

A2) The parent who is a citizen has acquired Italian citizenship (through naturalization, etc.) and has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring citizenship and before the date of birth of the child.

Residence in Italy prior to acquiring Italian citizenship is irrelevant, as is the residence in Italy of the foreign parent.

Required documentation case A

PLEASE NOTE: If you fall under case A1) or A2), you will not need to comply with cases B) or C), which require additional documentation.

CASE B)

B1) On the date of birth of the child, one parent, who had not resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years prior to the birth of the child, possessed only Italian citizenship.

Required documentation case B1

or

B2) At the date of birth of the child, one grandparent possessed only Italian citizenship.

PLEASE NOTE: In the case of a grandparent with ONLY Italian citizenship, the child’s parent must still have Italian citizenship, even if it is not the only one.

Required documentation case B2

CASO C)

C) The minor does not possess nor can he obtain another citizenship (e.g., iure sanguinis, iure soli, citizenship by option, etc.).

For example, a minor is considered to have another citizenship if:

    • they acquire it iure sanguinis from one of their parents;
    • they acquire it iure soli (e.g., by birth in countries that apply this principle);
    • acquires it by simple declaration, without the possibility of refusal by foreign authorities (e.g., for “citizenship by option” to be exercised for children born abroad). IMPORTANT: even if the parents decide not to make the declaration of option, the minor is still considered to have another citizenship.

Required documentation case C)

ATTENTION!

The applicant is solely responsible for providing such evidence. No self-declaration regarding the lack of other citizenship will be considered valid.

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Please submit your application for transcription of your birth certificate only if you have all the necessary documentation to verify your right to Italian citizenship.

This Consulate reserves the right to request additional documentation. In such cases, requests deemed incomplete will be rejected with formal pre-notice of refusal pursuant to Article 10 bis of Law 241/1990, following which the applicant will have 10 days to provide any comments or additional documentation.

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IMPORTANT: if you do not fall into one of the above categories, we recommend that you read the information on the relevant “CITIZENSHIP” page of our website and check whether you meet the requirements to apply for citizenship by “benefit of law.”

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REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

In order to apply for birth registration, you must meet ALL of the following requirements:

  • Residence in the consular district: at least one parent must reside in one of the following areas: Provinces of Free State, Gauteng (excluding the metropolitan area of Pretoria-Tshwane), KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West..
  • Italian citizenship and registration with A.I.R.E.: at least one parent must be an Italian citizen registered with the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad. (A.I.R.E) (LINK: AIRE – 1. Iscrizione AIRE).
  • Previous marriages or divorces registered: marriages and divorces of Italian citizens must have been registered in Italy For further information, please consult the following LINKS: How to register a marriage; How to register a divorce.
  • Updated residential address: it is recommended that the residential address stated on the application corresponds to the last residential address communicated to the Consulate. To verify your address in the consular database, access your profile on Fast.it (LINK: Il portale dei servizi consolari) To update your residential address, follow the procedure indicated in the A.I.R.E. section (LINK: AIRE ).

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HOW TO APPLY FOR REGISTRATION THROUGH THE CONSULATE

Send via delivery service to the address:

CONSOLATO GENERALE D’ITALIA IN JOHANNESBURG

37 First Avenue, Houghton Estate, 2198, Johannesburg
P.O. Box 46306, Orange Grove 2119

Telephone information service operating hours:

E-mail:  consolare.johannesburg@esteri.it

Tel 27 11 728 1392/3 ext 2060, 2040 o 2080 from Monday to Friday 11:30 alle 13:00.

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TIMELINE AND PROGRESS OF THE CASE

The birth registration application must be sent exclusively by post and involves the following steps:

1 The applicant sends the documentation to the Consulate

2 The Consulate registers and transmits the birth to the Municipality

3 The Municipality transcribes the birth in its registers.

Requests are processed by the Consulate in the order in which they are received by the Civil Registry Office. At present, it is not possible to provide information on the time required to process applications from the moment the documentation is received.

To monitor the progress of the application, Italian citizens can:

  • Check that the Consulate has received the documents using the tracking service of the Special Delivery service you have chosen.
  • Wait for notification of transmission to the Municipality, which will be sent by this Consulate to the email address you provided. It is important to check your spam folder as well.

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

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RESULT AND CONFIRMATION OF THE TRANSCRIPTION

The municipality will record the certificate in its registry according to its office schedule. In case of rejection, the municipality will communicate the reasons to the consulate via certified email, and the applicant will be informed of the negative outcome.

Once you have received a copy of the notification from the Consulate that the certificate has been sent to the municipality, the Consulate will have completed the procedures under its jurisdiction.

For updates on the transcript, you can:

  • Contact the relevant AIRE municipality directly; email and telephone contact details are available on the municipality’s homepage.
  • Check that your personal details are up to date on the National Register of Resident Population (ANPR), accessible via the Public Digital Identity System (SPID) or Electronic Identity Card (CIE). For more information on how to obtain SPID or how to apply for CIE, visit the following links: What is the SPID and how to obtain it; How to request the CIE).

 

 

Insights

  • FURTHER INFORMATION

    (*) LEGALIZATION AND TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENTS

    1) LEGALIZATION

    Legalization officially certifies the "legal status of the person who has signed documents, certificates, copies, and extracts, as well as the authenticity of the signature itself.

    Foreign birth certificates must be legalized in order to be transcribed in Italy. Different methods of legalization apply depending on whether the country in which the document was issued is a signatory to the 1961 Hague Convention.

    For a complete list of signatory countries click here

    Legalization of South African Birth Certificates

    South African birth certificates must be legalized with an Apostille in order to be transcribed in Italy. Therefore, it is necessary to send the original birth certificate to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) for legalization.

    Legalization of non-South African foreign birth certificates

    1. a) Countries that signed the 1961 Hague Convention

    If the country of birth of the minor is included in the list of Participating States, The original and complete birth certificate must be sent to the competent foreign authority for the affixing of the apostille (for example: for Brazilian birth certificates, the competent authority for legalization is the Cartório). To find the competent authority for each State click here.

    PLEASE NOTE: The Apostille must only certify the signature of the civil registrar indicated on the birth certificate. Certifications of signatures by notaries, lawyers, etc., or the High Court will not be accepted.

    1. b) – All other countries not included in the 1961 Hague Convention

    If the country of birth of the minor is NOT included in the list of Participating States, The original and complete birth certificate must be legalized by the Italian Embassy or Consulate responsible for the place where the certificate was issued (for example: for Ghanaian birth certificates, the Italian representative responsible for legalization is the Italian Embassy in Accra).

    PLEASE NOTE: The Apostille must only certify the signature of the civil registrar indicated on the birth certificate. Certifications of signatures by notaries, lawyers, etc. will not be accepted.

     

    2) TRANSLATION

    Translation of South African birth certificates:

    Those who need to translate South African birth certificates from English into Italian may use a translator, possibly chosen from among those known to this Consulate. Traduttori e interpreti).

    Translation of documents from other countries:

    For certificates originally issued in languages other than English and Italian (e.g., Brazilian certificates, etc.), you can choose one of the following options:

    • Use a sworn translator in Italy—lists of sworn translators are available at Italian courts;
    • Certification of translation (already prepared), to be carried out at Italian courts or Italian municipalities;
    • Translation carried out by an official translator in the country where the document was issued and duly legalized by the authorities of that country or by the Italian Embassy/Consulate in that country.

    For certificates originally issued in English (e.g., South African, British, US, Australian certificates, etc.), it is NOT necessary to legalize the Italian translation (this Consulate will certify it).