Italian Citizenship by Marriage
If you are married to an Italian citizen, you can acquire Italian citizenship yourself: two years of legal residence in Italy after the marriage, or three years from the marriage if you live abroad, half of either if you have children together, a B1 certificate of Italian, and a clean record. Unlike citizenship by descent, it is not declared: it is granted by decree of the Minister of the Interior, and the law gives the Ministry twenty-four months, extendable to thirty-six, to decide. This page sets out the requirements as they stand in the law, with the article numbers, and what the file has to contain.
Verified against the primary sources on 14 September 2026 · Law 91/1992, articles 5, 6, 7, 9.1, 9-bis, 9-ter, 10, 11 and 14, consolidated text · Law 76/2016, article 1(20)
Every requirement of article 5, listed and explained.
Who qualifies: the text of article 5
Citizenship by marriage is the shortest article in the citizenship law and the one most often misread. Here is what it says, and what each clause means for a couple living in Italy and for a couple living in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia.
“Il coniuge, straniero o apolide, di cittadino italiano può acquistare la cittadinanza italiana quando, dopo il matrimonio, risieda legalmente da almeno due anni nel territorio della Repubblica, oppure dopo tre anni dalla data del matrimonio se residente all’estero, qualora al momento dell’adozione del decreto non sia intervenuto lo scioglimento, l’annullamento o la cessazione degli effetti civili del matrimonio e non sussista la separazione personale dei coniugi.”
The foreign or stateless spouse of an Italian citizen may acquire Italian citizenship when, after the marriage, they have legally resided in Italy for at least two years, or three years after the date of the marriage if resident abroad, provided that at the time of the decree the marriage has not been dissolved, annulled or ceased to have civil effect, and the spouses are not legally separated. The second paragraph: “I termini di cui al comma 1 sono ridotti della metà in presenza di figli nati o adottati dai coniugi” — the periods are halved if the spouses have children born or adopted together.
Two years of legal residence after the marriage
Legal residence means registration with the municipality and a valid residence permit for the whole period; a tourist stay does not count. The two years run from the marriage, not from your arrival, if you were already resident.
Three years from the date of the marriage
No residence in Italy is required at all. The application goes to the Italian consulate competent for your place of residence. Most of our clients under article 5 are in this situation: an American, Canadian, British or Australian spouse of an Italian citizen, living at home.
Three things the article requires that people miss
The marriage must exist in Italy. A marriage celebrated in the United States is valid in Italy, but the Italian administration works on Italian civil records: the marriage has to be transcribed in the registry of your spouse’s Italian municipality before you apply. If your spouse was recognised as Italian only recently, that registration comes first, then the marriage, then your file.
The marriage must still be intact at the decree. Not at the application: at the decree, which by law may come up to three years later. A legal separation in the meantime ends the procedure.
Same-sex couples qualify. A same-sex marriage celebrated abroad is registered in Italy as a civil union (Law 218/1995, article 32-bis), and article 1(20) of Law 76/2016 extends to each party of a civil union every provision that refers to a spouse. Article 5 is one of them.
Italian at level B1: who must prove it, who is exempt
Since December 2018 the law makes the grant of citizenship under article 5 conditional on “un’adeguata conoscenza della lingua italiana, non inferiore al livello B1 del Quadro comune europeo di riferimento per le lingue” (article 9.1). There is no other test: no civics exam, no interview on Italian law.
Either a qualification from an Italian public or state-recognised school, or a certificate of level B1 or higher issued by a certifying body recognised by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The four bodies are the Università per Stranieri di Siena (CILS), the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (CELI), the Società Dante Alighieri (PLIDA) and Roma Tre University (CERT.IT); all four hold sessions abroad, including in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The certificate must be in the file when you apply, not obtained afterwards.
Article 9.1 exempts two categories, both of which concern people already living in Italy:
- foreigners who signed the accordo di integrazione (integration agreement) under article 4-bis of the Immigration Act;
- holders of an EU long-term residence permit (permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo).
A spouse living abroad is never exempt: the B1 certificate is required in every consular application.
B1 is a modest level — the ability to hold an everyday conversation, read a simple text and write a short message — and most spouses who have spent time with an Italian family reach it with a few months of preparation. What we see fail is not the exam but the timing: couples who file without the certificate and are refused, or who sit the exam only after the consulate has asked for it. Book the session first.
Documents for citizenship by marriage, for a spouse who is a US citizen
The list below is what article 5 applications require in practice, written for an American spouse because that is the case we handle most. A Canadian, British or Australian spouse needs the same documents from their own authorities, with the apostille of their own country. The consulate’s or prefecture’s own list is the final word, and it changes: check it the week you file.
Your birth certificate
Long-form, issued by the competent authority of your country of birth, apostilled and translated into Italian. For a US-born spouse: the state-issued certified copy with the Secretary of State’s apostille. The consulate or prefecture specifies how the translation must be certified.
Criminal record certificates
From your country of origin and from every other country where you have lived, each apostilled and translated. For US citizens the FBI Identity History Summary, apostilled by the US Department of State; some consulates also require state-level records. The consulate’s own list prevails.
The marriage, as registered in Italy
The application is not filed on your US marriage certificate but on the Italian record: the marriage must first be transcribed in the civil registry of your spouse’s Italian municipality (through the consulate if you live abroad). The extract from that Italian record is what goes into the file.
Proof of Italian at level B1
A certificate from one of the recognised certifying bodies, or a qualification from an Italian public or state-recognised school. Not required if you signed the integration agreement or hold an EU long-term residence permit (article 9.1).
Your spouse’s Italian citizenship
Proof that your spouse is an Italian citizen: passport or citizenship certificate. If your spouse was recognised by descent through a court case or a consulate, the recognition must already be registered with the Italian municipality before you file.
Identity, residence and the €250 receipt
Your passport; if you live in Italy, the residence permit and residence certificate; and the receipt for the €250 contribution to the Ministry of the Interior (article 9-bis(2)).
Two rules about foreign documents. First, every US public document needs an apostille (Hague Convention of 5 October 1961): state documents from the Secretary of State of the issuing state, federal documents such as the FBI record from the US Department of State. Second, every document must be translated into Italian, and the consulate or prefecture decides how the translation is certified. A file rejected for a missing apostille restarts the clock.
What “residence” means, and what happens to the children
Residence
For a couple living in Italy, the two years are years of legal residence: registered with the municipality (iscrizione anagrafica) and covered by a valid residence permit throughout. Gaps in the permit, or residence registered in one town while living in another, are the reasons files are refused. For a couple living abroad the law asks nothing about residence: three years from the marriage, wherever you live, and the consulate competent for that place.
Children you already have
Children born or adopted together halve the periods: one year in Italy, eighteen months abroad. And when the decree is issued, your minor children who live with you acquire Italian citizenship with you (article 14) — whether or not they are also your spouse’s children — and may renounce it as adults if they hold another citizenship.
Children born after, and the CRBA
American parents register a child born abroad with a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. That is a US document, for US citizenship; it has no role in the Italian file. On the Italian side, a child born to an Italian parent is Italian by birth (article 1) — but a child born abroad who also holds the citizenship of the country of birth is now subject to article 3-bis: Italian by birth only if a parent holds exclusively Italian citizenship or lived in Italy for two continuous years before the birth, and otherwise through a declaration by the parents within three years of the birth (article 4(1-bis)). The rules are on the descent page; if you are expecting a child, read them before the birth, because the three-year term is not extendable.
How the application works, and how long the law allows
Article 7 provides that citizenship under article 5 is acquired “con decreto del Ministro dell’interno, a istanza dell’interessato”. The application is filed online through the Ministry of the Interior’s portal and then handled by the prefecture of your province, if you live in Italy, or by the consulate, if you live abroad.
Registration of the marriage in Italy
Before anything else: transcription of the marriage in your spouse’s Italian municipality, through the consulate if you live abroad. If your spouse’s own citizenship was recognised recently, that registration comes first.
B1 certificate and documents
Exam session booked and passed; birth and criminal-record certificates obtained, apostilled and translated; €250 contribution paid to the Ministry of the Interior (article 9-bis(2)).
Online application, then the appointment
The application is entered on the Ministry’s portal with the documents attached. The prefecture or consulate then convenes you to verify the originals.
The decision: 24 months, extendable to 36
Article 9-ter, as amended in 2020, sets “ventiquattro mesi prorogabili fino al massimo di trentasei mesi dalla data di presentazione della domanda”. Before 2020 the term was forty-eight months. We do not publish how long decisions actually take, because no authority publishes it and it varies by office and by year.
The oath, within six months
The decree has no effect unless, within six months of its notification, you swear to be faithful to the Republic and to observe the Constitution and the laws (article 10). You become Italian the day after the oath. Your existing citizenship is unaffected: article 11 lets you keep both.
Grounds for refusal, and where a refusal is challenged
Citizenship by marriage is a right, not a favour: if the conditions of article 5 are met, the Ministry may refuse only on the grounds listed in article 6. They are three. A conviction for one of the offences against the State in Book II, Title I, Chapters I to III of the Criminal Code. A conviction for a non-negligent offence carrying a statutory penalty of at least three years’ imprisonment, or a foreign conviction to more than one year’s imprisonment for a non-political offence, if recognised in Italy. And proven reasons concerning the security of the Republic. Pending proceedings for those offences suspend the procedure until they are concluded.
Because it is a right, a refusal under article 5 is challenged before the ordinary courts, not the administrative courts that hear disputes on naturalisation by residence under article 9, which is discretionary. The distinction decides the deadline, the judge and the arguments, and it is the first thing we check when a refusal arrives.
The refusals we see most are not article 6 refusals at all: they are files closed for a missing B1 certificate, an apostille on the wrong document, a marriage never transcribed, or a residence permit with a gap. Every one of them is avoidable before filing.
Citizenship by marriage, explained on video
The requirements in one video, and the question we are asked most often by American spouses — which name goes on the Italian documents — in the other. Both were recorded before this page’s last verification; where the law and the video differ, the text above prevails.
Italian Citizenship By Marriage All The Requirements Listed!
The requirements for Italian citizenship by marriage, explained.
Italian Citizenship by Marriage: How To File Using my Married Name?
What to do when the name on the marriage certificate differs from the maiden name.
More than a hundred videos on Italian citizenship, visas and living in Italy on our YouTube channel.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give up my US, UK or Canadian citizenship?
No. Article 11 of Law 91/1992 provides that a citizen who holds or acquires a foreign citizenship keeps the Italian one. The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada also allow their citizens to hold a second nationality. You will hold both.
We live in the United States. Can I apply without moving to Italy?
Yes. If you reside abroad, you may apply three years after the marriage (eighteen months if you have children born or adopted together), through the Italian consulate competent for where you live. No period of residence in Italy is required.
Is there any test other than the B1 language certificate?
No. Article 9.1 requires knowledge of Italian at level B1 or higher, proved by a certificate or an Italian school qualification. There is no civics or history test, and no interview on the law. The certificate must be in the file when you apply.
My spouse obtained Italian citizenship through a court case. When does the three-year period start?
Recognition by descent is declaratory: your spouse has been Italian since birth, so the marriage has always been a marriage to an Italian citizen. The application can be filed only once the recognition has been registered with the Italian municipality and the marriage transcribed there. We check both before filing.
We are a same-sex couple. Does article 5 apply?
Yes. A same-sex marriage celebrated abroad is registered in Italy as a civil union, and Law 76/2016 (article 1, paragraph 20) extends every provision referring to a spouse to each party of a civil union. The same periods and the same B1 requirement apply.
How long does the decision take by law?
Article 9-ter sets the term at twenty-four months from the date of application, extendable to a maximum of thirty-six. That is the legal term. We do not publish estimates of actual processing times because no authority publishes them and they change from year to year.
What happens if we separate or divorce before the decree?
Article 5 requires that, at the time of the decree, the marriage has not been dissolved or annulled and the spouses are not legally separated. A separation before the decree blocks the acquisition, even if the application was complete when filed.
Can my children acquire citizenship with me?
Your minor children who live with you acquire Italian citizenship automatically when you do (article 14), and may renounce it as adults if they hold another citizenship. A child born abroad after that, who also holds the citizenship of the country of birth, falls under article 3-bis: Italian by birth if a parent holds only Italian citizenship or lived in Italy for two continuous years before the birth, and otherwise through the parents’ declaration within three years of birth (article 4(1-bis)). See the descent page.
What this page is based on
Every statement of law above was checked against the text below on 14 September 2026. Actual processing times and consulate-specific document lists change and are not published by any authority: we have left them out rather than repeat what others guess.
- Law no. 91 of 5 February 1992, articles 5, 6, 7, 9.1, 9-bis, 9-ter, 10, 11 and 14, consolidated text (Ministry of Foreign Affairs edition current at 12 March 2025; article 5 unchanged by Law 74/2025).
- Law no. 94 of 15 July 2009 (three-year term for spouses abroad; halving with children); Decree-Law no. 113 of 4 October 2018, converted by Law no. 132 of 1 December 2018 (article 9.1, B1 requirement; €250 contribution); Decree-Law no. 130 of 21 October 2020, converted by Law no. 173 of 18 December 2020 (article 9-ter, 24 months extendable to 36).
- Law no. 76 of 20 May 2016, article 1(20) (civil unions); Law no. 218 of 31 May 1995, article 32-bis (foreign same-sex marriages).
- Law no. 91 of 5 February 1992, articles 3-bis and 4(1-bis), as amended by Law 74/2025 and Law 199/2025 (children born abroad).
- Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents (apostille).
- Ministry of the Interior, online citizenship application portal; consular and prefecture document lists, which prevail over the general list on this page.
Married to an Italian citizen? Tell us where you live and when you married.
Those two facts, plus whether you have children together and whether the marriage is already registered in Italy, are enough for a first answer: whether you can file now, what the file needs, and what to do first. If you are not there yet, we will tell you what is missing and when you will be.
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- Read by an Italian lawyer
- Every message is answered
Italian ancestry rather than an Italian spouse? See citizenship by descent. Costs for every route are on the cost page.
Other Frequently Asked Questions about Italian Citizenship by Marriage.
The Most Common Questions we received were about Italian Citizenship through Marriage, the Italian Citizenship by Marriage requirements, and How to get Italian Citizenship by Marriage.
You may find some valuable responses here below.
HOW TO GET ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
The procedure to get Italian Citizenship by Marriage is almost the same in case You apply as an Italian resident or a non-Italian resident, with a few differences.
In both cases, You have to – first of all – submit Your Italian Citizenship through a Marriage application online.
After that, the Authority will check your documents before evaluating your eligibility.
DO I NEED A LAWYER TO GET ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
In most cases, yes.
The ordinary way to apply for Italian Citizenship by marriage requires you to speak Italian.
If you don’t speak Italian, You have to be assisted by qualified Italian Citizenship Lawyers, as the application is exclusively in the Italian language.
The same is in case Your Italian Citizenship through Marriage is denied or not processed in a maximum of two years wait time.
In these cases, you need us as we have to represent you.
WHAT IS THE SPID REQUESTED FOR THE ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
The so-called “SPID” is a unique digital identity assigned to You.
The Italian Government requests that all applicants have a Digital ID before submitting an Italian Citizenship by Marriage application.
You can obtain it by registering through a few SPID Providers authorized by the Italian Government.
IS IT WORTH APPLYING FOR ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
Getting Italian Dual Citizenship (through marriage) is an excellent investment for the future.
It increases opportunities and quality of life for the Italian Citizenship Applicant and their family members and relatives.
The demands for Italian Citizenship by Marriage will not decrease in the following years.
Still, it will certainly increase because of several political and economic circumstances.
Think, for example, at Brexit.
Or think about travel bans between Countries.
AM I ELIGIBLE FOR ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
You have to meet several requirements and get several documents and certifications to be eligible. Book a Consultancy or Contact Us! We can evaluate together for a 1st free evaluation.
WHAT ARE THE ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS?
There are several requirements when it comes to Italian Citizenship by marriage.
Being married to an Italian citizen doesn’t mean that you automatically qualify.
There are requirements related to the time passed since the date of Marriage: 2 years if living in Italy, three years if living abroad.
These times are decreased by 50% in case You have children.
There are also several requirements related to the documents needed for the application itself, like Certificate of Marriage, Criminal Background, Birth Certificate, Italian Language Certification, etc.
WHAT TYPE OF ASSISTANCE WILL YOU PROVIDE ON MY ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE?
As expert Italian Citizenship Lawyers, we offer the Client tailored assistance on their Italian Citizenship by Marriage.
Our Services comprehends step-by-step assistance from preparing all documents to the Italian Passport.
We focus on assisting Clients (from beginning to end) in letting them become Italian Citizens, solving all issues they can find in actual circumstances.
And we will apply for you.
We also assist the Client in the post-approval stage.
The Italian Government will recognize your Italian Citizenship by Marriage.
Several steps are necessary to fix Your position and get an Italian Passport in your hands!
WHAT HAPPENS IF I WON’T HAVE MY ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE IN 2 YEARS?
We will assist You also in this circumstance.
In this case, we have to solicit the Ministry (and the Consulate) formally.
Suppose the application won’t be decided yet.
In that case, you have to submit an appeal at the Italian Court to approve Your Italian Citizenship through Marriage.
How long does it take to get Italian citizenship through marriage?
You need 2 Years to get Italian Citizenship through marriage.
The Italian Citizenship Law states a maximum processing time of Two Years for ending the process.
For being eligible for starting the application, the times are different.
The non-Italian Spouse married to an Italian citizen can apply for Italian citizenship by marriage after two years from the marriage/civil union, if residing in Italy.
Or 3 years, if not residing in Italy.
This term is reduced by half if the couple has children under the age of 18.
Does Italy give citizenship by marriage?
Yes, Italy gives Citizenship by marriage.
You can apply for Italian citizenship by marriage..
In the case of Italian citizenship, you need to be married for at least two years and reside in Italy.
Or, you need to be married for at least three years and residing abroad.
This timeframe is reduced by 50% if you have children under 18 years old.
Why we are your best choice for getting an Italian Passport by marriage
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