Italian passport renewal in the UK
The Italian passport is issued and renewed abroad by the consulate of the district, under Law 1185/1967. It is valid for ten years for an adult, five years for a child between three and eighteen and three years for a child under three. The consulate issues it only to a person registered in its AIRE whose birth, or whose decree or judgment of citizenship, is recorded in an Italian comune. Everything else on this page follows from that rule.
Adults
At the Consulate General in London the application is made in person, by appointment booked through the Prenot@mi portal, because the passport carries fingerprints and the applicant must attend. The applicant brings the printed form for adults, one photograph taken within six months to the ICAO standard on a white background, the previous passport, which is cancelled and returned with the new one, and, for a first Italian passport, another original identity document, since a driving licence is not accepted as identification. The fee is paid at the counter with a British debit card, the only means of payment the consulate accepts at an appointment. Barring a technical failure the passport is issued on the day, at the end of the appointment, so that the applicant leaves with it.
A resident of the district who lives far from London applies through the honorary consulates in Bedford, Bristol, Cardiff, Peterborough and Watford, some of which are equipped to take fingerprints. They collect the application and the biometric data, but they issue nothing: the passport is produced by the consulate and reaches the applicant about twelve weeks after the file arrives in London. A proven urgency, of health, of family or of work, documented by an institution or an employer, allows an appointment outside the ordinary agenda, with an additional fee, and the passport is issued on the day.
A passport which expired more than ten years ago, or a photograph from which the person can no longer be identified, requires another valid passport or an Italian identity card. A passport lost or stolen is replaced with a British police report and the consulate’s declaration of loss.
Children
A child under twelve does not give fingerprints, and the London consulate issues the passport by post. The form for minors is signed by both parents, with the child’s height and eye colour. The photograph is certified by a person authorised to do so. Where one parent is not a citizen of the European Union, and a British parent is in that position, the signature of that parent is authenticated. The file contains the previous passport or another identity document of the child, copies of both parents’ passports or identity cards, the proof of payment of the fee and two prepaid Special Delivery envelopes. The processing time is about ten weeks, and a child who turns twelve while the file is pending must attend in person, because fingerprints become compulsory at that age.
From twelve the child attends with the parents by appointment. In every case both parents must consent to the issue of a passport to a minor. Where the other parent cannot or will not sign, the consulate’s social office is contacted, and where a parent has died the death certificate, legalised and translated, is produced unless the death is already recorded in Italy.
A couple in Reading, he Italian and registered in the AIRE, she British. Their daughter was born in 2022 and her birth was transcribed in his comune in 2023. Her first passport is requested by post: form signed by both, photograph certified, the mother’s signature authenticated because she is not an EU citizen, copies of both passports, payment, two envelopes. Ten weeks later the passport arrives, valid five years. Had the birth not been transcribed, the file would have been returned, and the registration of the birth would have come first.
When the consulate cannot issue
The refusal is not a discretion. The consulate cannot issue a passport to a person who is not registered in the AIRE of its district, whose birth is not transcribed in a comune, whose record in the ANPR differs from the identity document, or who appears in the register of another consulate or of a comune as resident there. A person who has moved from Manchester to London, or from Italy to Britain, without updating the registration is refused until the AIRE is corrected. The page on refused passports explains how each of these situations is resolved.
Article 3 of Law 1185/1967 lists the impediments to the issue of a passport, among them a pending criminal proceeding with a measure which limits the freedom of movement, and the consulate verifies them before issuing. Since 2023 a parent of minor children no longer needs the consent of the other parent to obtain his or her own passport, after the amendment of the same article.
Identity card and the Questura
The consulate also issues the electronic identity card, the CIE, to citizens registered in its AIRE, by appointment. It is a travel document within the European Union and in a number of other countries, and it gives access to the Italian online services through the CieID application. A citizen registered in the AIRE who is in Italy can request the passport at the Questura of the province of the comune of registration, with the same conditions, which is sometimes quicker than the consular appointment.
If you need a passport and are not sure that your record in Italy is in order, send us your previous passport, your address and the comune of your family. We check the registration before you book, so that the appointment is not wasted.