Italian-born or ascendants — 3-year residence (Art 9 c.1 lit.a)

Article 9, paragraph 1, letter a) of Legge 5 febbraio 1992, n. 91 (Nuove norme sulla cittadinanza) provides a reduced legal-residence threshold for naturalisation as an Italian citizen. It covers two sub-categories of foreign nationals:

• Stranieri nati nel territorio della Repubblica — foreign nationals who were born in Italy but did not automatically acquire Italian citizenship at birth (typically because neither parent was an Italian citizen and the conditions for acquisition by birth were not met).
• Stranieri discendenti — foreign nationals whose father, mother, or one ascendant in the direct line of the second degree (parent or grandparent) was an Italian citizen by birth ("era cittadino per nascita"). The ascendant must have held Italian citizenship from birth (by descent or by birth in territory), not through naturalisation; a connection only through a naturalised Italian ascendant does not qualify under this letter, though it may support the ordinary 10-year track (IT-NAT-01).

Residence requirement. Foreign nationals born in Italy must show 3 continuous years of legal residence. For foreign descendants of an Italian-citizen-by-birth ascendant, Legge 74/2025 (the conversion statute, in force from 23 May 2025) reduced the requirement to 2 continuous years, down from the previous longer threshold.

This route serves as a naturalisation fallback for people who cannot establish citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis) through the descent (DSC) routes — for example, where the documentary chain is interrupted by gaps, where the Italian ascendant was a naturalised foreign national rather than a citizen by birth, or where the two-generation limit introduced by Legge 74/2025 blocks an automatic descent claim. Article 9 c.1 lit.a sits within the naturalisation framework and operates independently of the jus sanguinis transmission rules, so it remains available alongside them.

Applicants must additionally meet the standard naturalisation conditions: CEFR B1 Italian language proficiency (with a disability exemption recognised by Corte costituzionale 25/2025), a sufficient income, the absence of Article 6 disqualifications, payment of the €250 contributo, and the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the Republic within six months of the decree. Italy does not require renunciation of any prior nationality, so dual nationality is permitted. The competent authorities are the Ministero dell'Interno (Direzione Centrale per i Diritti Civili, la Cittadinanza e le Minoranze), the territorial Prefetture, and Italian consulates abroad.

• Art 9 c.1 lit.f Legge 91/1992 establishes the default 10-year legal-residence requirement for naturalisation of third-country nationals (stranieri extra-UE); the applicant must hold continuous residence (permesso di soggiorno + residenza anagrafica) for 10 years prior to application, and apply via the SicitWeb portal managed by DLCI.

• Art 9 c.1 lit.d Legge 91/1992 reduces the naturalisation residence requirement to 4 years for citizens of other EU Member States; this pathway operationalises Italy's transposition of Directive 2004/38/EC via Dlgs 30/2007.

• Art 9 c.1 lit.e Legge 91/1992 reduces the naturalisation residence requirement to 5 years for stateless persons and recognised refugees; this pathway operationalises Italy's duties under the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (Italy ratified 1962-12-03).

• Residence permit chain — the applicant's permesso di soggiorno / carta di soggiorno UE (or carta blu for the skilled-worker track), documenting continuous legal residence for the applicable period (3 years for those born in Italy; 2 years for foreign nationals with an Italian-citizen-by-birth ascendant, following Legge 74/2025).
• Residenza anagrafica evidence confirming continuous registered residence in Italy.
• Criminal-record certificates — certificato penale and certificato dei carichi pendenti (pending charges), consistent with the Art 6 disqualification checks.
• Income evidence — IRPEF income documentation showing sufficient means (reddito sufficiente per current DLCI administrative guidance).
• Language certificate — a CEFR B1 Italian proficiency certificate (CELI, CILS, PLIDA, or the certificate issued by Università per Stranieri di Siena/Perugia and Università Roma Tre), required since the Legge 132/2018 amendment. A severe language-learning disability exemption may apply in place of the B1 certificate.
• Fee and stamp — proof of payment of the €250 contributo plus the €16 marca da bollo, paid via the online portal (PagoPA).

Route-specific civil-status evidence

• Sub-category A (foreign national born in Italy): the applicant's own birth certificate showing birth in the territory of the Italian Republic.
• Sub-category B (foreign national with Italian-citizen-by-birth ascendant): the birth certificate of the parent or grandparent (ascendant in the direct line up to the second degree) showing that the ascendant was an Italian citizen by birth ("cittadino per nascita"), together with any subsequent naturalisation history. Italian civil-registry records (atti di stato civile) establishing the ascendant's Italian citizenship from birth must also be produced. An ascendant who acquired Italian citizenship only by naturalisation does not satisfy this criterion.

Documentary framework and legalisation

Civil-status acts are evaluated through the competent comune civil-status offices (Sezione Stato Civile), with the relevant registry handling acts for Italians resident abroad. Foreign public documents must carry an apostille under the Hague Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961, to which Italy is a party. Operational handling follows the guidance of the DLCI (Direzione Centrale per i Diritti Civili, la Cittadinanza e le Minoranze), including its Vademecum and operational circolari.

The governing statute is Legge 5 febbraio 1992, n. 91 (Nuove norme sulla cittadinanza), as amended by DL 113/2018 → Legge 132/2018 (introducing the B1 language requirement, the fee increase, and extended processing) and by DL 36/2025 → Legge 74/2025, which reduced the residence threshold for the Italian-ascendant sub-category to 2 years.

• Legge 132/2018 Art 14 amended Art 9-bis Legge 91/1992 raising the contributo for Art 9 naturalisation and Art 5 marriage applications from €200 to €250 — the €250 threshold remains operative as of 2026-04-23.

• Legge 132/2018 Art 14 also inserted Art 9-ter into Legge 91/1992, establishing 48-month maximum processing time for Art 9 naturalisation applications; subsequent Legge 50/2023 (Cutro conversion) adjusted this framework to 24 months standard + 12 months proroga = 36 months structured with operational efficiency measures.

• Art 10 Legge 91/1992 requires the applicant to swear a juramento di fedeltà (oath of fidelity to the Constitution + Republic) before an Italian officer within 6 months of decree notification; failure to take the oath renders the decree ineffective — this is a mandatory closing step for all Art 9 + Art 5 acquisitions.

Naturalisation applications under Art 9 c.1 lit.a of Legge 5 febbraio 1992, n. 91 are processed by the Ministero dell'Interno through the Direzione Centrale per i Diritti Civili, la Cittadinanza e le Minoranze (DLCI), with the Prefetture handling territorial intake and the Consolati italiani serving applicants abroad.

Statutory processing window. The decision framework sets a standard processing period of 24 months from submission of a complete application, with a permissible extension of up to a further 12 months — bringing the maximum statutory window to 48 months. This 48-month ceiling was introduced by DL 113/2018, converted into Legge 132/2018 (effective 5 December 2018).

Required residence before applying. Time also runs before the application stage, in the form of the qualifying legal-residence period. Following the entry into force of Legge 74/2025, the residence thresholds are:

• Stranieri discendenti (foreign nationals with an Italian-citizen-by-birth parent or grandparent): 2 continuous years of legal residence (reduced from the original 3 years by Legge 74/2025 Art 1, effective 23 May 2025).
• Stranieri nati in Italia (foreign nationals born in Italy): 3 continuous years of legal residence — unchanged by Legge 74/2025.

Real-world timing. In practice, processing times have run longer than the statutory minimum, with average decision periods reported in the range of roughly 36 to 48 months.

After the decision. Once the citizenship decree is granted, the applicant must take the oath of fidelity to the Constitution and the Republic (giuramento di fedeltà) before the competent Comune within 6 months of notification of the decree (Art 10 Legge 91/1992).

• Prefettura della Provincia (UTG) — territorial intake of the application, plus the integration interview (colloquio di integrazione).
• Ministero dell'Interno — DLCI — case processing and decree issuance, handled through the online citizenship portal at cittadinanza.dlci.interno.gov.it (SicitWeb).
• Comune di residenza — Sezione Stato Civile — where the applicant takes the oath of allegiance (giuramento di fedeltà alla Costituzione e alla Repubblica) under Art 10 of Legge 91/1992, and where the grant is registered in the civil-status records.

For applicants resident abroad, the Consolati italiani serve as the diaspora-facing intake point within the same DLCI chain.

The grant decree is published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, after which the applicant is notified (from 01/02/2024, via the Piattaforma Notifiche Digitali) and must complete the oath within six months.

Operational guidance

DLCI issues operational instructions through its circolari and its Vademecum (DLCI Vademecum 20475/2025, dated 2025-04-23), which front-line Prefetture follow when processing Art 9 c.1 lit.a applications.

Competent courts

Where an applicant resident abroad challenges a decision, the general civil venue for foreign nationals residing abroad is the Tribunale Ordinario di Roma, consistent with Legge 91/1992. At the apex level, citizenship questions are governed by the jurisprudence of the Corte di Cassazione, including its Sezioni Unite (notably Cass. SU 25317-25318/2022 and Cass. SU 4466/2009), and by the Corte Costituzionale, whose recent ruling on the subject is sentenza n. 142/2025, deposited 31 July 2025.

A naturalisation application under Art 9 c.1 lit.a Legge 91/1992 is a concessione — a discretionary administrative grant rather than a declaration of an existing status. As a result, the avenue for challenging a refusal is administrative-court review, not the civil-court route used for declarative jure sanguinis claims.

Administrative review (TAR Lazio). A refusal of an Art 9 application by the competent authority is challenged before the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale (TAR) del Lazio in Rome. The appeal must be filed within 60 days of notification of the refusal. An absolute five-year limitation period also applies.

Second-instance appeal (Consiglio di Stato). A TAR Lazio decision can be appealed to the Consiglio di Stato, which exercises second-instance (appellate) jurisdiction over administrative-law matters, including naturalisation refusals.

Scope of review. A refusal grounded on the applicant's conduct or record (for example under Art 6 c.1 lit.b–c) must be assessed on the applicant's overall personality and not reduced to the criminal record alone (Cons. Stato 3178/2024).

Constitutional and supranational avenues. A question of constitutionality may reach the Corte Costituzionale by way of ordinanza di rimessione (referral) from the deciding court. Where a refusal engages established family or private life in Italy — typically because the applicant was born in Italy or descends from an Italian-citizen-by-birth parent or grandparent — proportionality arguments under Art 8 (and, in cases of differential treatment based on the ascendant's mode of acquiring citizenship, Art 14) of the European Convention on Human Rights may be raised, alongside Art 3 of the Italian Constitution.

Distinction from the civil track. The Tribunale Ordinario civil venue (including the Tribunale Ordinario di Roma) is not available for the Art 9 naturalisation track, because that route is concessoria (discretionary) rather than dichiarativa (declarative). The civil-court venue and the apex jurisprudence of the Cassazione Sezioni Unite apply to declarative descent-recognition claims, not to discretionary naturalisation refusals under Art 9 c.1 lit.a.