Registration of a Minor’s Birth Certificate

Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025, which converted, with amendments, Decree-Law No. 36 of 28 March 2025, amended Law No. 91 of 5 February 1992, introducing significant restrictions on the transmission of Italian citizenship and, consequently, on the procedure for the registration of birth certificates of minors born abroad. A minor born abroad to an Italian citizen parent is not automatically an Italian citizen.Under the new legislation, the minor is recognized as an Italian citizen iure sanguinis (from birth) only if at least one of the following circumstances applies:

CASE A

A1) The parent who was born an Italian citizen, even if holding another citizenship, resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years at any time before the child’s date of birth;orA2) The parent acquired Italian citizenship by naturalization and resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child’s date of birth.Any period of residence in Italy prior to the acquisition of Italian citizenship is not relevant, nor is any period of residence in Italy by the foreign parent.In these cases, the following documents must be submitted in order to request the registration of the birth certificate in Italy:

1. Application for registration of the birth certificate, using the updated form;
2. The minor’s birth certificate, or an extract copy thereof, issued by the competent foreign Civil Registry Office. The certificate must be submitted to the Embassy already legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka or the Maldives (see also the Translations and Legalizations section of this website);
3. Photocopies of the passports or valid identity documents of the parents and the minor (if the minor already holds one);
4. Certificate of citizenship of the Italian parent, issued on plain paper for citizenship purposes (exempt from stamp duty), specifying the place, date and manner in which Italian citizenship was acquired, issued by the competent Italian Municipality;
5. Historical residence certificates, issued on plain paper for citizenship purposes (exempt from stamp duty), by all Italian Municipalities in which the Italian parent resided after acquiring Italian citizenship.

PLEASE NOTE: If the requirements under A1) or A2) are met, it is not necessary to comply with the requirements under Cases B) or C), which require additional documentation.

CASE B

B1) On the date of the minor’s birth, one parent held Italian citizenship exclusively.In this case, the following documents must be submitted in order to request the registration of the birth certificate in Italy:

1. Application for registration of the birth certificate, using the updated form;
2. The minor’s birth certificate, or an extract copy thereof, issued by the competent foreign Civil Registry Office. The certificate must be submitted to the Embassy already legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka or the Maldives (see also the Translations and Legalizations section of this website);
3. Photocopies of the passports or valid identity documents of the parents and the minor (if the minor already holds one);
4. Full birth certificate of the Italian parent, issued by the Italian Municipality where the parent was born;
5. Historical residence certificate issued by the Italian Municipalities where the parent resided;
6. Certificate issued by the competent authorities of the foreign country of emigration, duly legalized/apostilled and accompanied by an official translation into Italian (for this purpose, the competent Italian Consular Office for the place where the documents were issued should be contacted), certifying that the Italian parent did not acquire the citizenship of the foreign country of emigration prior to the birth of the minor.

or

B2) On the date of the minor’s birth, one grandparent held Italian citizenship exclusively. PLEASE NOTE: Where the grandparent held Italian citizenship exclusively, the minor’s parent must in any event hold Italian citizenship, even if not exclusively.In this case, the following documents must be submitted in order to request the registration of the birth certificate in Italy:

1. Application for registration of the birth certificate, using the updated form;
2. The minor’s birth certificate, or an extract copy thereof, issued by the competent foreign Civil Registry Office. The certificate must be submitted to the Embassy already legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka or the Maldives (see also the Translations and Legalizations section of this website);
3. Photocopies of the passports or valid identity documents of the parents and the minor (if the minor already holds one);
4. Full birth certificate of the parent, issued by the Italian Municipality where the parent was born;
5. Full birth certificate of the grandparent, issued by the Italian Municipality where the grandparent was born;
6. Historical residence certificate issued by the Italian Municipalities where the grandparent resided;
7. If the grandparent lived in a foreign country, a certificate issued by the competent authorities of the foreign country of emigration, apostilled or consularly legalized (for countries that are not parties to the 1961 Hague Convention) and accompanied by an official translation into Italian (for this purpose, the competent Italian Consular Office for the place where the documents were issued should be contacted), certifying that the Italian grandparent did not acquire the citizenship of the foreign country of emigration prior to the birth of the minor;
8. Any certificates or declarations of renunciation of citizenship, where applicable;
9. Any other documentation suitable to provide evidence that the grandparent did not hold citizenship of the foreign country.

CASE C

The minor does not hold, nor is eligible to acquire, any other citizenship (for example, iure sanguinis, iure soli, citizenship by option, etc.).For example, a minor is considered to hold another citizenship if he or she:

• acquires it iure sanguinis through either parent;
• acquires it iure soli (e.g. by being born in a country that applies this principle);
• may acquire it by means of a simple declaration, without the possibility of refusal by the foreign authorities (for example, through “citizenship by option” available to children born abroad). IMPORTANT: even if the parents decide not to submit the declaration of option, the minor is nevertheless considered to hold another citizenship.

In this case, the following documents must be submitted in order to request the registration of the birth certificate in Italy:

1. Application for registration of the birth certificate, using the updated form;
2. The minor’s birth certificate, or an extract copy thereof, issued by the competent foreign Civil Registry Office. The certificate must be submitted to the Embassy already legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka or the Maldives (see also the Translations and Legalizations section of this website);
3. Photocopies of the passports or valid identity documents of the parents and the minor (if the minor already holds one);
4. Historical residence certificate issued by the Italian Municipalities where the Italian parent resided (or for both parents, if both are Italian citizens);
5. Only if the Historical Residence Certificate indicates periods of residence abroad: Certificate of non-naturalization, apostilled or consularly legalized (for countries that are not parties to the 1961 Hague Convention) and accompanied by an official translation into Italian (for this purpose, the competent Italian Consular Office for the place where the documents were issued should be contacted), issued by the authorities of all countries in which the Italian parent(s) resided;
6. If either parent was born in a foreign country or holds one or more other citizenships, Certificate confirming that citizenship was not transmitted to the minor, in original form, legalized and translated into Italian (for this purpose, the competent Italian Consular Office for the place where the documents were issued should be contacted), issued by the authorities of the parent’s country of birth and/or by the authorities of the country or countries whose citizenship the parent holds;
7. Where applicable, Certificate of statelessness issued in original form by the competent foreign authorities of the minor’s country of birth, legalized and translated into Italian (for this purpose, the competent Italian Consular Office for the place where the documents were issued should be contacted).

Procedure for Requesting the Registration of a Minor’s Birth Certificate

The original documentation must be submitted directly to the Embassy after booking an appointment through the Prenot@mi portal.Legalization and certification of the Italian translation will be carried out directly by the Embassy. The certificate to be registered must therefore be submitted together with the certification issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka.As the authenticity of documents issued in Sri Lanka and submitted to the Embassy may be subject to verification by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as explained in the “Translations and Legalizations” section of this website, the documents will be forwarded to the competent Italian Municipality only once these verification procedures have been completed.