How long does it take to obtain Italian citizenship (if you are not Suarez)?

How long does it take for foreigners to get the Italian citizenship? And what are the criteria to acquire it? The issue has once again gained great relevance after the case of the Uruguayan soccer player Luis Suarez, who according to the reconstruction of the Perugia prosecutor would have obtained an Italian passport in an irregular manner, with what according to the accusation would have been “a sham interrogation in an ad hoc session”. Fiamme Gialle’s soldiers have acquired documentation at the University of the Umbrian capital and the FIGC federal prosecutor has also opened an investigation.

Italian citizenship, how long does it take for foreigners to obtain it?

The process to obtain Italian citizenship was extended from two to four years by the 2018 security decree (signed by the then Interior Minister Matteo Salvini), but with the bureaucratic time required to verify the necessary documents and requirements. The procedure can take even longer, up to five or six years. Italian citizenship, as well as through the the right of blood – from the Latin “blood right”: a child is Italian if at least one parent is Italian – it can be obtained by residence or by marriage. The procedure is governed by Law 91 of 1992, modified in some respects by security decree of October 2018 signed by Salvini.

The necessary requirements for Italian citizenship

Citizenship can be applied for by foreigners who have resided in Italy for at least ten years and are in possession of certain requirements. In particular, the applicant must prove that he has sufficient income to support himself (about 8,300 euros without spouses or dependent children, about 11,300 with dependent spouses plus 516 euros for each dependent child), that he has no criminal record, that he is not in possession of impediments to the security of the Republic.

You can also apply for citizenship marriage, provided that the applicant has legally resided for at least two years in Italy, or after three years from the date of marriage if residing abroad. The latter is the case of Luis Suárez: his wife, Uruguayan like him, also has an Italian passport obtained thanks to the family relationship with his grandfather, who is from Friuli. Finally, those born in Italy to foreign parents can apply for citizenship only after the age of 18 if the parents are not yet Italian citizens.

The time extended by the Salvini security decree

As mentioned at the beginning, this process was expanded by some regulations of the security decree of October 4, 2018. Until that date, the time required for the conclusion of the practice provided by law was two years. With the new rules, this period has been extended to four years. To obtain an Italian passport, therefore, there is a risk of up to five to six years, considering the bureaucratic time required to verify documents and requirements.

The security decree also added a new requirement: the granting of citizenship is now subject to having “an adequate knowledge of the Italian language, not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for the knowledge of languages.” The test carried out by footballer Luis Suárez in Perugia referred precisely to this requirement. The B1 level required to obtain citizenship includes the ability to understand the essentials of texts and have conversations on familiar topics that are normally covered at work, school, in leisure time, and to produce simple texts.

In Italy, this language certificate is issued by a limited number of institutes, called “certification bodies”, recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the Dante Alighieri Society, the University for Foreigners of Siena, the University of Roma Tre and finally the ‘University for Foreigners of Perugia, where Suárez took the contested exam.

Finally, another amendment to the security decree is the norm that allows the revocation of citizenship in the event of a definitive conviction for crimes related to terrorism. According to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, in 2018 there were 68,351 concessions of Italian citizenship (9.22% more than the previous year), in particular to Albanians (15,252) and Moroccans (9,294). On the other hand, in that same year 4,764 applications for citizenship were rejected. They are the latest data available.