Italian citizenship by marriage
Reference information: rules, amounts and deadlines change. Check the date of the material and the official sources.
under Art. 5 of Law no. 91 of 05.02.1992
The foreign or stateless spouse of an Italian citizen may acquire Italian citizenship if, after the marriage, they have been legally resident in the territory of the Republic for at least two years, or after three years from the date of the marriage if they live abroad, provided that, at the time the decision referred to in Article 7(1) is adopted, the marriage has not been dissolved, annulled or ceased to have civil effects and the spouses are not legally separated.
The periods stated in paragraph 1 are halved if the spouses have children, born to or adopted by them.
Prefects (Prefetti) have the power to grant or refuse citizenship to foreign nationals who are married to Italian citizens and live in Italy.
Responsibility lies instead with the Head of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration if the foreign spouse lives abroad, and with the Minister of the Interior if there are reasons relating to the security of the Republic.
Law no. 132 of 1 December 2018, converting Decree-Law (decreto-legge) no. 113 of 4 October 2018, provides for a requirement of knowledge of the Italian language for applicants for Italian citizenship by marriage.
For applications submitted from 20 December 2020, the maximum time limit for completing the procedure for granting Italian citizenship is twenty-four months, extendable to a maximum of thirty-six months, under Art. 4, paragraph 5, of the Decree-Law of 21 October 2020, converted with amendments by Law no. 173 of 18 December 2020.
For applications submitted before that date, the time limit for a decision is forty-eight months.
