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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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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)

The minor does not possess, nor can they have, any other citizenship; that is, they are exclusively an Italian citizen.

A minor is considered to possess another foreign citizenship if they:

  • acquire it iure sanguinis (by descent) from one of the parents;
  • acquire it iure soli (by birth in a given territory);
  • acquire it through a simple declaration without the possibility of refusal by the competent foreign authority (for example, “citizenship by option” for children born abroad).

Required documentation – Case A

CASE B)

The parent who is an Italian citizen from birth has resided in Italy for at least 2 continuous years before the child’s date of birth,

or

The parent acquired Italian citizenship (e.g., by naturalization) and has resided in Italy after acquiring citizenship for at least 2 continuous years before the child’s date of birth.

Residence in Italy before acquiring Italian citizenship is not relevant, nor is the residence in Italy of the foreign parent.

Required documentation – Case B

CASE C)

At the time of the minor’s birth, a parent or a grandparent possessed (or possessed at the time of death) exclusively Italian citizenship.

(WARNING: Before referring to Case C, which requires additional documentation compared to the previous cases, verify that the requirements for Case B are not met.)

Required documentation – Case C

CASE D)

Acquisition of citizenship by operation of law (beneficio di legge).

If the minor does not fall within one of the categories above (Case A, Case B, Case C), they are not “automatically Italian.” However, minor children of at least one parent who is an Italian citizen by birth (iure sanguinis) may still meet the requirements for acquiring citizenship by operation of law (Art. 4, paragraph 1-bis, Law No. 91 of 5 February 1992, and Art. 1, paragraph 1-ter, Decree-Law 36/2025).

Required documentation – Case D

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 be an Italian citizen.
However, it is recommended that you keep your personal details and marital status up to date.

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HOW TO APPLY FOR REGISTRATION THROUGH THE CONSULATE

Book an appointment through the Portal  Prenot@mi

Send he documents 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.

Upon arrival at the Consulate, the application is registered and assessed in chronological order of receipt.

In the event of incorrect or missing documentation, the Civil Status Office will issue a “preliminary notice of refusal,” as provided for by Law 241/1990. From the moment of receipt, parents will have 10 days to submit observations. If these are not considered complete or satisfactory, the Consulate will issue a “formal refusal decision.”

Processing times depend not only on the correct submission of the application and its attachments, but also on the citizenship certificates and historical residence records that the Consulate must request from one or more municipalities (depending on the individual case). Please note that municipalities may take a very long time to respond to such requests.

At the end of the procedure, once the Consulate is able to send the request for transcription of the birth certificate to the relevant municipality, parents will receive an email notification (please also check the spam folder). Only then may parents, if applicable, submit a passport application for the minor.

To request information about the status of the application, please wait at least sixteen weeks.

It is therefore very important that the application is submitted complete with all documents and with the correct indication of the applicable case, in order to avoid returns and rejections that would further extend processing times for both your application and those of other citizens.

NOTE: Birth certificates and all documentation submitted here must remain on file at the Consulate and will therefore not be returned once the transcription request has been sent to the municipality.

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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).