What are the requirements and the documents needed to apply for Italian citizenship in South Africa?
Italian citizenship documents if you apply for citizenship by marriage
You will need these documents:
– your Italian marriage certificate, issued by the Italian Municipality or Comune where it was registered. This can generally be requested from the Comune by email, and emailed or faxed copies are generally accepted;
– your original unabridged birth certificate, with an Apostille;
– a criminal record certificate, not older than 6 months, with an Apostille. You need one criminal record certificate for each country of residence since the age of 14;
– a sworn translation with either and Apostille or a Consular legalisation of your birth certificate;
– a sworn translation with either and Apostille or a Consular legalisation of your criminal record certificate/s;
– a B1 language certificate which certifies you have a pre-intermediate knowledge of the Italian language. If you live in the EU this can be replaced by your EU long stay residence permit.
In South Africa you can get a B1 language certification from the Dante Alighieri Society in Johannesburg, Cape Town, or Durban.
You can prepare for the B1 exam privately, through online course such as Icon, or the easier thing would be take classes at the Dante Alighieri schools.
This is a recent requirement which was introduced in December 2018.
– a revenue stamp to be obtained from the Consulate
– a letter of exemption from the Department of Home Affairs (this is not strictly a requirement but it protects you from losing your South African citizenship, and will be required by the Consulate at the time of taking the oath).
An extra requirement is that you need to be married for 3 years (or 18 months if you have minor children).
Italian citizenship documents if you apply for citizenship by descent
The following documents are needed:
– the Italian unabridged birth certificate of the Italian ancestor who first emigrated from Italy, issued by the Italian Municipality or Comune where he/she was born;
– the original unabridged marriage certificate of the Italian ancestor and a sworn translation if applicable;
– the original unabridged birth and marriage certificates of all the descendants that link you to the Italian ancestor;
– a certificate of naturalisation issued by the Department of Home Affairs stating the exact date when your Italian ancestor naturalised or stating that he/she didn’t naturalise.
Services we offer
We offer a legalised sworn translations service, fast and competitively priced.
We offer help or assistance in submitting your online Italian citizenship application by marriage.
If you would like more information or a quote please contact us.