Registering a birth at the Italian consulate
A child born in the United Kingdom to an Italian parent is registered in Italy by the transcription of the British birth certificate in the civil status registers of the comune where the parent is registered. The transcription is what makes the child exist for the Italian State: it allows the AIRE registration, the passport, the identity card and, later, the transmission of the citizenship to the child’s own children. Since the reform of 2025 the consulate first establishes whether the child is Italian at birth, and the file depends on the answer.
The four cases of the London consulate
The Consulate General in London distinguishes four situations, and asks for a different set of documents for each.
- The child holds no other citizenship and is entitled to none. This is the case of a child born in Britain to two parents who are exclusively Italian and who do not hold indefinite leave to remain or settled status, because British law gives citizenship at birth only to the child of a British citizen or of a parent settled in the United Kingdom. The child is Italian from birth and is registered without further proof.
- An Italian parent lived in Italy for at least two continuous years before the birth, as an Italian citizen. The historical certificate of residence of the comune proves it, and the child is Italian from birth.
- A parent, or a grandparent, held exclusively Italian citizenship at the child’s birth, or at death. The consulate asks for proof of the exclusive citizenship, and the child is Italian from birth. This case is examined after the second, because it requires more documents.
- None of the above. The child is not Italian at birth, and the parents can make the declaration of article 4 of Law 91/1992, within three years of the birth, or until 31 May 2029 for a child who was a minor on 24 May 2025 and whose parent was recognised under the transitional rules. The declaration is explained in the page on citizenship by operation of law.
A daughter born in Croydon in 2026. The father was born in Bari, lives in London since 2015 with settled status and has never applied for British citizenship. The mother is British. The child is British by birth through her mother and Italian by birth through her father, who held exclusively Italian citizenship when she was born. The file is the third case: the long-form British certificate, the apostille, the translation, the father’s Italian birth certificate and the proof that he never naturalised, which the Home Office confirms. Had the father become British in 2024, the child would have fallen into the fourth case, and the parents would have three years to declare.
The file
The London consulate receives the registration of births by post only, by Royal Mail Special Delivery, at the Citizenship Office, Births Section, with a second prepaid Special Delivery envelope for the return of the documents. There is no appointment. The file contains the consulate’s form for the case which applies, the long-form birth certificate of the child issued by the General Register Office, the paper apostille of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, since the consulate does not accept electronic apostilles, the official translation into Italian, the copies of the parents’ passports and the documents of the case. Where the parents are not married the certificate must name both as informants, otherwise the father recognises the child through the consulate’s notary office first. Where they are married the marriage must already be transcribed in Italy, or its transcription is requested together with the birth. A divorce of either parent must also be recorded.
The Italian parent must be registered in the AIRE of the district at the current address. The address on the form must match the address on file, which can be checked and updated on FAST IT. A file sent to the wrong consulate, or from an address not updated, is returned.
After the transmission
The consulate examines the file in order of receipt and, when it is complete, transmits the act to the comune by certified email and sends the parents a notice of transmission. The comune transcribes the birth, enters the child in the AIRE with the parent and, where the child has none, attributes the codice fiscale. The first passport can be requested only after the notice of transmission. The outcome can be checked on the ANPR portal with a SPID or an electronic identity card, or by asking the comune. Where the file is incomplete, the consulate sends a notice of intended refusal under Law 241/1990 and gives ten days to reply.
The forenames of the child are transcribed as they appear on the British certificate. A child registered with two or three forenames carries them all in the Italian record, and the Italian passport shows them all. The surname is transcribed as it appears on the British certificate, and the comune asks the parents to confirm it where the British and the Italian rules on surnames would give a different result.
Births never registered
There is no time limit for the transcription of a birth. An adult born in Britain decades ago whose birth was never sent to Italy registers it with the same file, with the addition of the marriage certificate where married and of the proof of the parent’s citizenship at the time of the birth, examined under the law in force then. The page on refused passports explains why so many adults find themselves in this position and what it costs them to leave it unresolved.
If your child was born in Britain, send us the birth certificate, your Italian documents and your address. We tell you which of the four cases applies, what the file must contain and whether a declaration is needed.