The costs of Italian citizenship
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs closes its page on citizenship with two practical matters: what an applicant can self-certify instead of producing, and what the State charges for each procedure. Both are set out here as the Ministry sets them out, with the figures in force and with the other costs which a file from the United Kingdom carries and which no office mentions in advance.
Self-certification
Under articles 43, 46 and 47 of Presidential Decree 445/2000 an Italian public administration must obtain by itself the information which another Italian administration already holds. An applicant who is an Italian citizen, a citizen of the European Union, or a non-EU citizen legally resident in Italy does not produce certificates for facts recorded in Italian registers, and states instead the details which allow the office to find them: the comune and the date of a birth or a marriage, the number of a record. The consulate, for instance, obtains the birth record of an ancestor from the comune, if the applicant gives the comune and the date.
The rule has a limit which matters abroad. It covers facts held by Italian administrations. A British birth, marriage or death, a British naturalisation, a British criminal record, are proved with the British document, legalised and translated, and no self-certification replaces them. The same applies to facts which are not in the civil registers at all, as for births before the registers were opened, in 1866 in most of Italy and in 1809 in the south, which are proved with parish records.
The contributions fixed by the State
Two amounts apply, and they are not fees for a service but contributions payable to the Italian State.
Under article 9-bis of Law 91/1992 the applications and declarations concerning the election, the acquisition, the reacquisition, the renunciation and the grant of citizenship are subject to a contribution of 250 euro. It covers the declaration of election after a late recognition of parentage, the applications by marriage and by residence, the reacquisition under article 13 and under the window open until 31 December 2027, and the renunciation. Since 1 January 2026 the declarations for minor children under article 4, paragraph 1-bis, are exempt, under the Budget Law for 2026.
Under the table of consular fees annexed to Legislative Decree 71/2011 the application for the recognition of citizenship by descent by an adult is subject to a consular fee of 600 euro. The amount was fixed by the Budget Law for 2025 and applies to applications lodged from 1 January 2025. It is paid at the consulate in sterling, at the exchange rate the consulate fixes each quarter, and it is not refunded if the application is refused. The recognition of a minor is not subject to the fee.
The declaration of uninterrupted possession for a woman married after 1948, the registration of a birth and the transcription of a marriage carry no contribution. Consular certificates, the certification of copies and signatures and the legalisation of translations are charged under the consular tariff at the rates in force, which the consulates publish.
The other costs of a file from the United Kingdom
The contributions above are the smallest part of what a file costs. The rest is made of documents, and the number of documents depends on the length of the line.
- British certificates. Each long-form birth, marriage or death certificate is issued by the General Register Office for England and Wales, by National Records of Scotland or by the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, at the fee each of them charges per certificate.
- Apostille. Every British certificate and every British judgment or naturalisation document is legalised by the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, at a fee per document, on paper, since the consulates do not accept electronic apostilles.
- Home Office letters and National Archives searches. The confirmation of a naturalisation, or of its absence, is requested from the Home Office, and older certificates are obtained from The National Archives in Kew, each with its own fee.
- Italian certificates. The extracts of birth and marriage issued by the comune are free or carry a small stamp duty, and the time to obtain them, not the cost, is the difficulty.
- Translations. Every British document is translated into Italian by a translator whose signature the consulate accepts, or sworn in Italy, and the cost depends on the number of pages.
- Our own work, which is quoted in writing after the assessment, for the whole file, and does not vary with the outcome.
A file for the recognition of a grandchild of an Italian emigrant, with three generations of British certificates, typically contains between eight and twelve British documents, each certified, legalised and translated, and three or four Italian extracts. We set the full list and the total in the written assessment, so that the family knows the cost before any certificate is ordered.
If you want to know what your file will cost before you start, send us the family line. The assessment lists every document, who issues it, and what it costs.