{"id":9029,"date":"2026-04-22T15:52:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/servizi-consolari-e-visti\/servizi-per-il-cittadino-straniero\/cittadinanza\/cittadinanza-per-riconoscimento-elezione-di-cittadinanza\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:32:03","slug":"cittadinanza-per-riconoscimento-elezione-di-cittadinanza","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/servizi-consolari-e-visti\/servizi-per-il-cittadino-straniero\/cittadinanza\/cittadinanza-per-riconoscimento-elezione-di-cittadinanza\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship by recognition \u2013 election of citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"295\">An adult child born to unmarried parents, or born before the marriage of the parents, may be recognized as a natural child in adulthood by a parent who is already an Italian citizen <em data-start=\"182\" data-end=\"198\">jure sanguinis<\/em> (by birth), through acknowledgment or a judicial declaration (Art. 2, paragraph 2, Law 91\/1992).<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"297\" data-end=\"682\">A child recognized during adulthood by a parent who is Italian by birth may acquire Italian citizenship <em data-start=\"401\" data-end=\"417\">jure sanguinis<\/em>. The person will have a non-extendable legal deadline of one year from the date of recognition to appear at the Consulate and sign a declaration electing Italian citizenship. After one year has elapsed, the person will no longer be entitled to Italian citizenship.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"684\" data-end=\"1012\"><strong data-start=\"684\" data-end=\"698\">IMPORTANT:<\/strong> The provisions introduced by Conversion Law No. 74\/2025 of Decree-Law No. 36\/2025 create an exception to the rules on the automatic acquisition of Italian citizenship (acquisition <em data-start=\"879\" data-end=\"895\">jure sanguinis<\/em> through descent from an Italian citizen), including in cases of acknowledgment or judicial declaration of parentage.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1014\" data-end=\"1139\">Therefore, a child recognized during adulthood by an Italian parent may acquire Italian citizenship <em data-start=\"1114\" data-end=\"1130\">jure sanguinis<\/em> only if:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1141\" data-end=\"1406\">\n<li data-section-id=\"16xiqrs\" data-start=\"1141\" data-end=\"1217\">one of the parents or grandparents held exclusively Italian citizenship;<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1ugz0wd\" data-start=\"1218\" data-end=\"1406\">one of the parents or adoptive parents legally and continuously resided in Italy for at least two years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption of the child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1408\" data-end=\"1537\">The acknowledgment must be formalized in the presence of both the Italian parent and the adult child who wishes to be recognized.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1539\" data-end=\"1669\">The deed may be drawn up by a Notary in Italy who is registered with the Notarial Council, if the Italian parent resides in Italy.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1671\" data-end=\"1850\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">If the Italian parent resides abroad, the deed may instead be drawn up through the notarial office of the Italian consular authority with jurisdiction over the place of residence.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"393\">For users residing within this consular jurisdiction who have already formalized an acknowledgment of paternity\/maternity during adulthood and wish to proceed with the election of citizenship, please send an email to request further information regarding the required documentation and the scheduling of an appointment with the Citizenship Office (<a class=\"decorated-link cursor-pointer\" href=\"mailto:consolare.johannesburg@esteri.it\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"348\" data-end=\"380\">consolare.johannesburg@esteri.it<\/a>), providing:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"395\" data-end=\"771\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1plbpjs\" data-start=\"395\" data-end=\"451\">Full name, place, and date of birth of the applicant<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"yrfev0\" data-start=\"452\" data-end=\"519\">Address and proof of residence in South Africa of the applicant<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"t5y1ju\" data-start=\"520\" data-end=\"555\">Copy of the acknowledgment deed<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"uybln2\" data-start=\"556\" data-end=\"617\">Full name, place, and date of birth of the Italian parent<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"n4slrt\" data-start=\"618\" data-end=\"695\">Copy of a valid Italian identity document belonging to the Italian parent<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1a78n95\" data-start=\"696\" data-end=\"771\" data-is-last-node=\"\">Copy of a valid Italian identity document belonging to the Italian parent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An adult child born to unmarried parents, or born before the marriage of the parents, may be recognized as a natural child in adulthood by a parent who is already an Italian citizen jure sanguinis (by birth), through acknowledgment or a judicial declaration (Art. 2, paragraph 2, Law 91\/1992). A child recognized during adulthood by [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":201,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9029","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9032,"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9029\/revisions\/9032"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consjohannesburg.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}