Italian citizenship by marriage in Italy: application, documents and residences to declare
Before you open the ALI portal: requirements vs form data vs attachments — with special care for the residence history.
October 12, 2026 · 4 min
If you are the spouse or civil partner of an Italian citizen and you live in Italy, the application for citizenship by marriage (art. 5 of Law 91/1992) is filed on the Italian Interior Ministry portal (ALI), using SPID. This guide is for preparing the pieces before you open the form: it is not legal advice and it does not replace the ministerial instructions.
Which procedure this page covers
This page covers art. 5 (marriage / civil partnership) for anyone filing in Italy. The requirements of art. 9 (residence), iure sanguinis and the consular route from the UK are separate procedures. London’s instructions do not apply automatically to a Prefettura application.
Three distinct layers
| Layer | What it is for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements | Legal conditions for being able to apply | Marriage/partnership still in force; legal residence in Italy for the stated period (2 years from registration of the marriage at the Comune, halved if the couple have children born to or adopted by them, according to the instructions) |
| Form data | Fields to complete on the portal, even if they do not “attach” a PDF | Residence history, dates, addresses, birth-record details, criminal-record details |
| Documents to upload | Files the portal asks you to scan | Birth, criminal record, identity, residence permit, language certificate, payments — according to the current list |
The art. 5 leaflet lists, among other items, identity, permit, passport, translated and legalised birth certificate, translated and legalised criminal-record certificate, Italian-language attestation (at the stated level), fee and marca da bollo. Prefetture may add detail: Rome, for example, publishes a list for marriage.
Residences: the piece people underplay
The completion instructions for Modello A (foreign nationals resident in Italy, art. 5) ask, among other things, for previous residences in Italy. The dates must come from the historical residence certificate issued by the Comuni. The current residence entered in the applicant’s details must not be repeated in that section.
Before you open the portal, it helps to have already, on paper:
- Country and city of each relevant period;
- full addresses;
- from / to dates;
- previous residences in Italy (from the historical certificate, not from memory);
- country of origin and any third countries;
- periods with no civil-register enrolment, if the form contemplates them.
That work is data for the form, not necessarily an attachment. Miss an address and the system may flag inconsistencies with other records. The historical certificate is requested from the Comune / ANPR: see civil-register certificates.
Foreign documents: birth, criminal records, marriage
The updated instructions (July 2025) ask, in outline, for the criminal-record certificate of the country of origin, duly translated and legalised/apostilled under international or EU conventions, with six months’ validity from the date of issue (not from legalisation or from the translation). Rome also specifies third countries of residence.
If you have lived in more than one country, today’s certificate is not enough: foreign criminal records. Frequent mistakes on records and translations: errors in the marriage file. Venezuelan pieces: Venezuelan documents for citizenship by marriage. For a Spanish certificate, antecedentes España. A marriage celebrated abroad must be transcribed in Italy: transcription. Birth and other foreign records, if not in Italian, go through Apostille/legalisation (where that applies) and a sworn translation.
What to prepare before the portal
- Residence history (Italy and abroad) with verifiable dates
- Italian historical residence certificate, if you have lived in more than one Comune
- Foreign birth record already legalised/apostilled
- Criminal-record certificates within the perimeter the Prefettura asks for, still in date
- Marriage already transcribed at an Italian Comune
- Identity, residence permit, language, payments according to the current list
If the foreign PDFs are ready and only the Italian is missing: request a quote for a sworn translation.
Frequently asked questions
Two years’ residence from when?
The ministerial instructions tie the period to registration of the marriage at an Italian Comune, not to a foreign celebration that has not been transcribed. Check the current wording and your Prefettura.
Do I have to attach the historical certificate?
Modello A uses that certificate as the source of the dates of previous Italian residences. Whether the attachment is required depends on the form and the office: keep the document to hand in any case.
