The application must be submitted exclusively online through the Italian Ministry of the Interior’s CIVES portal, accessible at: https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it
Registration and completion on CIVES
- Registration is done via email address
- The email address provided becomes a digital address, therefore all communications addressed to the citizen will be sent via the portal at this email address going forward.
When completing the form, it is necessary to:
- enter complete personal details as shown on the certificates/documents submitted
- declare all previously held residences starting from age 14 and up
- declare any cohabitation of the applicant with minor children born out of previous relationships
- not leave gaps or undeclared periods of residence
- avoid the use of any special characters when completing the form (such as cedilla, acute or grave accents within words, circumflex accents, etc.)
In the event of discrepancies in the personal data provided, the discrepancies must be supported by appropriate documentation and can therefore be resolved by the applicant only with documentation issued by the competent authorities. In other words, the authorities in the country of origin, through court rulings, birth and marriage certificates with annotations (long-form), or in general marriage certificates or other official documentation certifying a change of employment or the acquisition of employment following marriage, can clarify these discrepancies.
The above documentation must be accompanied by an apostille and translated into Italian.
The applicant is required to register their data with the utmost care, as once submitted this information cannot be changed. In the event of an error, the applicant will be required to register again with a different email address.
CONSULAR OFFICE AUDIT
The Consular Office will be automatically notified of the application submission and will proceed with the necessary checks. The applicant will then receive, electronically, from the portal of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, a notification regarding the acceptance or rejection of their application.
If the application is rejected, the applicant may resubmit the application, taking care to correct any errors indicated in the rejection note itself. Payments already made may be reused if the application is resubmitted within one year.
If accepted, the applicant will be summoned via e-mail to the diplomatic-consular mission for the process of authentication of the signature on the citizenship application, the submission of all original paper documents, including those already submitted electronically via the portal, and the collection of the applicable consular fees.
All the above documents will be kept in their original form by the diplomatic-consular mission, with the exception of the government issued identity document and the language proficiency certificate, for which a certified copy will be made together with the required payments.
IMPORTANT:
The Ministry of the Interior is solely responsible for evaluating the application and finalizing the procedure within 24 months from the date the application was submitted; this timeframe may be extended to up to a maximum of 36 months. If the application is successfully evaluated, the Ministry of the Interior will send the decree granting Italian citizenship to the diplomatic-consular mission responsible based on the applicant’s place of residence.
DECISION DECREE AND NOTIFICATION
The decree granting Italian citizenship will be notified to the applicant via the portal. Upon notification, documents verifying the permanence of the marital bond, with a date stamp following the decree, will also be requested. These include (but are not limited to):
- A long-form marriage certificate issued by the competent Italian municipality and the corresponding foreign certificate
- A Background Check record from the country of current residence, duly legalized and translated
Therefore, as of the date of the decree, the marriage or civil union must not have been dissolved, nor must there have been a legal separation (judgment of separation). It is important to know, however, that in the event that the spouse dies after the submission of the citizenship application, the right to obtain Italian citizenship is not forfeited.
No later than six months after notification, the applicant will be summoned to the consular offices to swear an oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic and its laws. The six-month deadline is mandatory, after which the right to citizenship will be lost.
SWEARING CEREMONY
The interested party will take an oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic by uttering the following words:
“I SWEAR TO BE FAITHFUL TO THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC AND TO OBSERVE THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS OF THE ITALIAN STATE.”
The acquisition of Italian citizenship will take effect the day after the oath is taken.
The original birth certificate will be sent for registration to the competent Italian municipality, along with the application for AIRE registration and the official record of the oath.
Last update: March 30, 2026