Registry Office
Registration in Italy of events occurring abroad (citizenship, birth, marriage, death) may be submitted by the interested parties or by anyone with an interest, either directly to the relevant Italian Municipality (see Art. 12, paragraph 11, DPR 396/2000) or to the Consular Office of the interested party’s residence or the one in whose district the records were issued.
Birth
To request the registration of a birth from the Consular Office, the following documents must be submitted:
- original birth certificate issued by the Civil Status Office on a multilingual form;
- self-declaration proving the Italian citizenship of at least one of the parents (if not registered in the consular registry).
Attribution of the maternal surname to children at birth
Pursuant to Constitutional Court judgment no. 286/2016, parents may, by mutual agreement, pass on to the child at birth the maternal surname in addition to the paternal one, by making a request to the registry officer who registers the newborn.
This possibility is independent of the parents’ marital status and extends to children recognised by the father outside of marriage. Similarly, the maternal surname can be given to an adoptee when the adoption is initiated by both spouses.
Italian parents to children to be born in Slovenia may express their will to attribute the maternal surname to the newborn at the time of the birth registration request submitted to the consular office.
Request for transcription of birth certificate
General Registry
The Registry Office is authorised for the Registry of Citizens Residing Abroad (AIRE). Law no. 470/1988 states that all Italian citizens who intend to live abroad must register at an authorised Consulate within 90 days of arriving in their country of residence. Even those who emigrated before this law went into effect must register. AIRE registration is necessary in order to obtain any and all documents and certificates issued by the Consulate as well as requests for passport renewal or issuance. Registration with the Consulate significantly reduces the time required for all procedures.
Italian citizens should be registered at the Registry of an Italian municipality. Registration permits the exercise of all the rights and duties of a citizen depending on each individual situation. The Italian citizen is obliged to inform his/her municipality, as well as the Consulate, of all registry data changes (marital status, citizenship, address, family composition, residency).
Italian citizens can be residents either in Italy or abroad: in the former case they will be registered in the Resident Population Registry (A.P.R.) of their Italian municipality and will refer directly to that municipality for all registry-related procedures; in the second case their names will appear in the AIRE lists of their Italian municipality of origin, or where they most recently resided before expatriating: these citizens must refer to the Italian Consulate of their place of residence abroad for all registry-related procedures. The Consulate will act as go-between for citizens residing abroad and the Italian municipality in which those citizens are registered.
How to register with the AIRE
Application for registration with the AIRE can be made (by an individual Italian citizen and family members) through the Italian Consulate in the country of residence. The Italian municipality is also to provide for registration in its AIRE when it is made aware of the fact that the citizen has established residency abroad. Likewise, the Italian Consulate where that Italian citizen has taken up residency is to request the Italian municipality to register the citizen — for whom it has verified permanent residency abroad (e.g. with the issuance of a passport) — in the AIRE.
Registration with AIRE can, therefore, be done in the absence of any direct initiative on the part of the citizen concerned, who will, however, be notified of the fact by means of an administrative act of the municipality, which will be communicated, in turn, through the Italian Consulate where he/she resides.
Persons wishing to request registration with the AIRE of an Italian municipality should do so at the Italian Consulate in the place where they reside abroad, where they will have to show the following documents:
– valid Italian passport;
– proof of stable and legal residence abroad;
Changes in AIRE registration data
The Italian citizen is obliged to notify his/her municipality of origin of any and all changes in registration data (marital status, citizenship, address, family composition, residency). The Italian municipality automatically incorporates changes in data if these take place inside of Italy, but if the citizen resides abroad the Italian municipality can only be made aware of changes by that Italian citizen and through the Italian Consulate where he/she is living.
Italian citizens living outside of Italy are obliged, therefore, to notify their local Italian Consulate of any change regarding:
– address abroad;
– citizenship;
– marital status;
– composition of nuclear family;
– name change.
Notifying the Consulate of changes regarding registration data, in addition to being a citizen’s duty, allows the Italian Consulates to maintain updated records regarding their citizens residing abroad, thus facilitating both the distribution of all services requested in Italy and abroad, as well as communication between the Consulates and Italian citizens living within their jurisdiction.
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The Civil Registry of an Embassy or Consulate handles, just as an Italian municipality does, the registration, updating and maintenance of the Civil Registry. There are four Civil Registries: citizenship, births, marriages, and deaths. For each of these matters, the Civil Registry is authorised to issue certified copies of documents filed with it attesting to the civil status of each individual.
In particular, the consulates receive acts emitted by foreign authorities and transmit them to Italian municipalities for registration.
The Civil Status department of a Consulate, in addition to handling the four registries, helps citizens residing in its jurisdiction to complete the following procedures:
· transmission of requests addressed to the authorised Prefecture to change a name (considered ridiculous or embarrassing);
· reception and transmission of separation and divorce rulings for registration in the authorised municipalities.
PREREQUISITES FOR CLAIMING THE RIGHT TO REQUEST THE REGISTRATION OF CIVIL ACTS AND/OR OBTAIN RELATED CERTIFICATES FROM THE CIVIL REGRISTRY
In order for Italian citizens who have established their residence abroad to register births, marriages and/or deaths (and to obtain related certificates), they must first be registered in the Registry of Citizens Residing Abroad (AIRE)
CHANGES IN CIVIL STATUS
BIRTH
Registration of the birth of the child of an Italian citizen abroad:
children of parents of whom at least one is an Italian citizen, even if they are born abroad and have citizenship in another country, are Italian citizens and, consequently, their births must be registered in Italy. In order to register a birth it is necessary to bring the following documents to the Consulate:
MARRIAGE
Registration in Italy of the marriage abroad of Italian citizens:
In order to have legal value in Italy a marriage celebrated abroad must be transcribed in Italian at the authorised municipality.
An Italian citizen duly registered with AIRE will have to ask that the wedding bans be posted at the consulate and will then be able to be married either before the authorised foreign authorities or at the consulate, on the condition that there is no local law preventing this.
The Italian citizen residing in Italy will have to request that the marriage bans be posted in the municipality of residence and can then be married before foreign authorities.
The persons concerned are then required to bring the marriage certificate issued by the local authorities, with relative translation and eventual authentication, to the authorised consulate to be forwarded to the authorised Italian municipality for registration.
DIVORCE
Registration in Italy of a divorce ruling pronounced abroad: first and foremost, it is necessary to realise that a divorce ruling pronounced abroad is not automatically considered valid in Italy.
The documentation required for transcription are:
self-certifying affidavit
photocopies of all the documentation presented
These documents need to be in certified copy bearing the authentic stamp of the court.
If the documents are valid according to the law of the country of issue, the Consulate sends the documents to the Italian municipality for the registration of the court’s verdict.
DEATH
Registering the death of an Italian resident abroad in Italy:
the death of an Italian citizen abroad has to be registered in Italy.
Documents necessary for registering deaths are:
All certificates denoting civil status issued by the local authorities have to be presented in original and, where necessary, authenticated and translated into Italian in order for the consulates to send them to the competent municipality.