Citizenship and Adoption

Decree Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025, was converted with amendments into Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, effective May 24, 2025.

The conversion law reforms Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992, the new full text of which is available at the following link

Attention is drawn, in particular, to the new Article 3-bis:

By derogation of Articles 1, 2, 3, 14 and 20 of this law, Article 5 of Law No. 123 of April 21, 1983, Articles 1, 2, 7, 10, 12 and 19 of Law No. 555 of June 13, 1912, and Articles 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 of the Civil Code approved by Royal Decree No. 2358, a person who was born abroad, even before the effective date of this article, and holds another citizenship. shall be considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of the following conditions is satisfied:

a) the citizen status of the person involved shall be recognized, in accordance with the regulations applicable as of March 27, 2025, following an application, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the relevant consular office or mayor’s office no later than 11:59 p.m., Rome time, on the same date;

a-bis) the citizen status of the person involved shall be recognized, in accordance with the regulations applicable as of March 27, 2025, following an application, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the relevant consular office or mayor’s office on the day indicated by appointment communicated to the person involved by the relevant office by 11:59 p.m., Rome time, on the same date of March 27, 2025;

b) the citizen status of the person concerned shall be judicially established, in compliance with the regulations applicable on March 27, 2025, following a judicial application filed no later than 11:59 p.m., Rome time, on the same date;

c) a first or second degree ascendant possesses, or possessed at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship;

d) a parent or adopter has been resident in Italy for at least two continuous years subsequent to the acquisition of Italian citizenship and prior to the date of birth or adoption of the child.

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Therefore, under the new Law No. 91 of 1992 is recognized as an Italian citizen iure sanguinis (from birth):

• the applicant born in Italy;
• the applicant who has Italian citizenship exclusively, which means that he/she does not have and cannot have any other citizenship.
• the applicant who falls into one of the cases listed in (a), (a-bis), (b), (c) and (d) of Article 3-bis.

In consideration of the new law, it is clarified that:

1) Only applications submitted before March 27, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Italian time, accompanied by the necessary documentation, follow the previous law.

Applications “submitted” means:

Delivered to the consular office desk before the above date and time;

• Sent by mail with tracking of date and time before the above mentioned deadline;
• Sent by mail without date and time tracking, and received by the Consular Office before the above deadline;
• Received on Fast-It before the above deadline.

2) Only applications, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the consular office on the day indicated by appointment set and communicated to the person concerned by the relevant office by 11:59 p.m. Rome time on March 27, 2025 follow the previous regulations.

“Appointment communicated to the person concerned by the relevant office” means the confirmation by e-mail received by the person concerned from the Prenot@mi portal or from the institutional e-mail address of the Section of the Consular Office responsible for the application.

3) In all other circumstances, the new regulations will be applied to applications.

Applied consular fees can be found on this page.

 

For the necessary documentation to be submitted, interested applicants should provide:

1) What is stipulated in Circular K.28.1 dated April 8, 1991 of the Ministry of the Interior, namely:

• Extract of the birth certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad issued by the Italian municipality where he/she was born;
• birth certificates, with official Italian translation, of all his descendants in the direct line, including the one of the applicant for Italian citizenship;
• marriage certificate of Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad, with official Italian translation if formed abroad;
• marriage certificates of his descendants, in a direct line, including that of the parents of the applicant for Italian citizenship;
• certificate issued by the competent Authorities of the foreign State of emigration, with an official translation into Italian, stating that the Italian ancestor time emigrated from Italy did not acquire the citizenship of the foreign State of emigration before the birth of the child;
• certificate issued by the competent Italian Consular Authority certifying that neither ascendants in the direct line nor the applicant for Italian citizenship have ever renounced it under the terms of Article 7 of Law No. 555 of June 13, 1912.

2) For the application of the new regulations, you will also have to produce:

To prove exclusive possession of Italian citizenship (by way of example):

• Negative Certificates of Citizenship;
• Certificates of Renunciation of Citizenship;
• Certificates of Non-Registration on the Electoral Roll;

To prove residence in Italy for at least two continuous years;

• Historical residence certificate.

Appointments will be available from September 2025 on the portal Prenot@mi.

Be aware that this Embassy WILL NOT provide any pre-assessment on the application.

At the appointment at the Embassy, the applicant must submit the following required documentation:

1. Application for Recognition of Italian Citizenship (pdf version here)
2. Copy of valid passport
3. Copy of valid visa proving the status of resident (only for not NZ passport holders).
4. Family tree (pdf version here). In completing the family tree the applicant must start with the first Italian ancestor who was born in Italy and emigrated from Italy. It is also important that the applicant completes all the relevant information in the family tree in terms of the naturalization or non-naturalization of the first ancestor who emigrated from Italy. This is an essential piece of information to be able to make an accurate determination as to entitlement to Italian citizenship.
5. Documentation proving the Citizenship claim to be provided with the application:
   1. For the ancestor: Birth, Marriage/Divorce, Death Certificates and Naturalization or Non-naturalization Certificates (to be presented only for the ancestor born in Italy);
   2. For all the descendents of the ancestor: Birth, Marriage/Divorce and Death Certificates;
   3. For the applicant: Birth, Marriage/Divorce Certificates;
   4. All the above Certificates (except for Italian Certificates) must be legalized and translated (see below the section “Legalization and Translation”).
6. The citizenship consular fee. Please note that the fee is not refundable and is due regardless of the application outcome.
7. The applicant must arrange each family member’s Certificates in their own individually named folder/file.

Should the need for further clarification arise, the Consular Office may request additional documentation.

In case of adult applicants (over the age of 18) whose parents are Italian citizens currently registered in the Consular Registry of the Embassy of Italy in Wellington, it may be sufficient to submit an application including only: Application, Applicant’s Birth/Marriage/Divorce Certificates, Citizenship Consular Fee.

Please note that it is entirely the applicant’s responsibility to gather and provide all the required documentation to assess his/her claim to Italian citizenship. The Embassy does not provide advise on Citizenship applications. Information elicited via email/phone or in person cannot and will not receive a formal feedback. 

 

LEGALIZATION AND TRANSLATIONS

All non-Italian Certificates (birth, marriage, death, naturalization/no naturalization certificates) must be legalized and translated for International use.

Legalization:

• If the Country of the issuing of the certificate is a signatory to the 1961 “Apostille Convention”, an Apostille is issued by the designated authority of the Country. Check the list of signatory countries here.
• If the Country is not a signatory to the 1961 “Apostille Convention”, the Italian Consular authorities in the Country where the certificate has been issued must do the legalization.

Translations:

An official full translation into the Italian language must be attached. New Zealand certificates are translated by the Department of Internal Affairs – Translation Service or any other translator registered with the New Zealand Society of Translators & Interpreters;

. Translations done in New Zealand of Certificates issued in English speaking Countries are allowed (e.g. Australia, Usa, South Africa).

Note that double translations are not accepted (i.e. from Spanish to English and then from English to Italian).

Certificates that are not in English language must be translated by an official translator, registered with the professional body of translators in the country where the documents are issued (traduzione giurata). The translation must be accompanied by the legalization AND by the apostille attached to the “Traducción publica” con firma digital (Argentinian documents) or by apostille attached directly to the translation (Brazilian documents).

In countries where it is not possible to have translators’ signature apostilled, translations must be certified by the Italian Consular/Diplomatic Authority of the country in which the certificates are issued, by means of a sticker/stamp that certifies its conformity to the original text.

In countries that have not adhered to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 and do not use Apostille, documents must be legalized by the Italian diplomatic-consular representation in the Country, and translated into Italian by an official translator. Translations must subsequently be certified by the Italian diplomatic-consular representation in the country of the documents.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

If any of the applicant’s predecessors/relatives in direct line from the same ancestor has already had their Citizenship recognised/confirmed by the Embassy of Italy in Wellington, they are not required to re-present documentation already presented by the predecessor/relative. Please mention their application/file in your application. If the Citizenship was recognized/confirmed by another Embassy/Consulate, all documentation must be re-submitted.