Documents for Italian citizenship

Every procedure on this site ends in a file of documents, and most delays come from the file rather than from the law. A certificate in the wrong form, an apostille missing or electronic, a translation the office does not accept, a name spelt two ways, a record the comune cannot find. This section explains how a document produced in one country is made acceptable in the other, in both directions, and how the Italian records which prove a family line are obtained.

Two systems which do not speak to each other

British public documents are accepted in Italy only with the apostille of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and a translation into Italian in the form the receiving office requires. Italian documents are accepted in Britain with a certified translation and, for some purposes, the apostille of the Prefecture or of the Procura. The European rules which removed these formalities between member States no longer apply to the United Kingdom. Each page below deals with one step.