How to Become a Citizen of Italy
One way you can become an Italian citizen is by going through the naturalization process, which requires finding employment in the country and filling out a permit of stay. In addition to the proper paperwork, you'll need to take 14 credits of Italian naturalization courses and live in the country for 2 to 3 years if you are from a country outside of the European Union. Another way you can claim Italian citizenship is by living in the country for 2 years after getting married to someone who is already an Italian citizen. Once you've been married long enough, complete the Italian citizenship application online, which must be filled out in Italian.
Get  a passport from your nation’s government. Before traveling abroad to Italy, you must have a passport from the country you're currently a citizen of. Fill out the required passport application paperwork and collect a legal ID (e.g., driver's license) and evidence of your legal citizenship. Bring these items with you to a recognized passport acceptance facility. If you're a citizen of the U.S., you can fill out the paperwork required for a passport at any U.S. Post Office. You can also have an official passport photo taken at the Post Office, or take one at home and bring 2 2 in × 2 in (5.1 cm × 5.1 cm) sized photos with you to attach to the paperwork. If this is your first time applying for a passport, fill out form DS-11. Find the form online at: https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds11.pdf. Receive an Italian work permit if you’ll be employed while in Italy. If you have a prospective job offer bringing you to Italy, you'll need a work permit in addition to a visa. However, there isn't much you need to do to get the work permit itself, since most of the work will be done by your Italian employer. Your employer will apply for the permit on your behalf and, once it's extended, they'll mail you the document. Once you have the document, bring it to the Italian consulate when you apply for your visa. To expedite the process, stay in touch with your Italian employer throughout this process and give them an up-to-date address. Obtain an entrance visa to enter and work in Italy. Since you'll most likely be in Italy for more than 90 days, apply for a type D visa. Begin the application online, then visit the nearest Italian consulate to submit the paperwork in person. At the consulate, show a valid passport, 2 passport photos, proof of residence, proof of travel plans, your work permit, and proof of adequate personal financial resources. Begin the visa application process online at: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/italy-visa/. The application process takes time, and it can take 6–8 weeks to receive your visa once you've filed the paperwork. So, file the application at least 1–2 months before you're planning to leave for Italy. If you happen to already be in Italy without a visa (e.g., if you initially planned to stay for less than 90 days), you'll need to return to your native country and apply for an entrance visa before returning to Italy. Get a permit of stay from a post office once you’ve moved to Italy. A permit of stay is a legally binding document that the Italian government requires of anyone hoping for permanent residence or citizenship in Italy. You can pick up a copy of the application paperwork at any of the over 14,000 national post offices located throughout Italy. These permit applications are sometimes referred to as a “kit” or a “yellow kit,” due to the color of the packet containing the application. Post offices are located throughout Italian cities and villages, so should be relatively easy to find. If you're unsure where a post office is, ask an Italian friend or acquaintance. A granted permit of stay is, in most cases, valid for 5 years. Fill out the permit of stay application and return it to a post office. The application will ask for your permanent Italian address, the length of your stay in Italy, and your reason for staying. When you turn in the application, you'll be asked to show personal ID, passport, visa, and 4 passport-sized photos. You'll receive a paper-copy receipt upon filing. Be sure to keep this receipt. The post office at which you picked up your yellow kit should also be able to receive and process the completed kit. Apply for legal residency at the Vital Statistics Bureau. Within 20 days of when you submitted the completed permit of stay application, plan to visit the nearest branch of the Italian Vital Statistics Bureau. Ask how to apply for legal residency in Italy, and be prepared to present your passport, visa, and the receipt you received when filing for a permit of stay. If the residency application is approved, you'll receive the certificate of residency in the mail within 1–2 months. If you delay and wait more than 20 days to after submitting the permit of stay paperwork, the local branch of the Vital Statistics Bureau may not allow to apply for residency. Live in Italy continuously for 10 years if you’re not an EU citizen. If you are a citizen of another country in the EU, you only need to live in the country for 3 continuous years. If your current citizenship is from a country outside of the EU, including the U.S., you must live in Italy for 10 consecutive years before you're legally able to apply for citizenship. The 2–3 years that you'll spend completing naturalization courses can count towards your 3 (or 10) years of continuous residence. Sign an “integration agreement” at the local police headquarters. If you'd like to apply for citizenship once you've received legal residency, you'll need to show your commitment to Italian political and civic life by signing an integration agreement. The agreement is a legally binding document that shows your commitment to learning the Italian Constitution, the Italian language, and to studying the Italian health care system along with other civic structures. You can also sign an integration agreement at a local prefecture office or other civic government office, if there isn't a police headquarters near where you're staying in Italy. Take at least 14 credits of Italian naturalization courses. Once you've signed the integration agreement, you'll be given information concerning how and where you can sign up for courses, including a mandatory civic education course. Naturalized Italian citizens must take courses in the history, politics, and culture of the nation of Italy over a 2–3 year period. You'll receive a certification of completion from each course, which shows the number of credits you've received. While Italy requires 30 credits total, you'll receive 16 credits simply by signing the integration agreement. So, taking 14 more credits will allow you to reach the requisite 30 credits. Receive your Italian citizenship upon completion of the credits. After you've completed the required 30 credits (including the 16 from signing the integration agreement), you'll be eligible for citizenship. Once the Italian government has reviewed your application documents, they'll contact you with the details of how and when you'll receive your citizenship paperwork. You and the other naturalized citizens will also need to attend an official naturalization ceremony. Live in Italy for 2 years following your marriage to an Italian citizen. After you're legally married to a citizen of Italy, the 2 of you need to maintain continuous residence in the country of Italy for 2 full calendar years. While you can travel and take vacations during this time, you cannot change your legal place of residence to a location outside Italy. Note that you'll need an authorized visa to live in Italy during this time. The wedding itself does not need to have taken place in Italy. As long as it's a legally binding union, the wedding can have taken place in any nation. The waiting period is reduced by half if you and your spouse have children. Wait 1 additional year if you’re living abroad. If you have married an Italian citizen but neither of you currently live in Italy, you're still eligible to apply for Italian citizenship. However, due to your international status, you're legally required to wait 3 full years after your wedding to apply for citizenship. The same rule applies if your spouse lives in Italy but you live abroad. Complete the Italian citizenship application online. Navigate to the web page given below and create an account using your full legal name. Proceed to fill out the application forms by providing your date of birth, date of marriage, criminal background, and other necessary information. Note that the form is offered only in Italian and must be filled out in Italian as well. Begin the application for citizenship through marriage online at: https://nullaostalavoro.dlci.interno.it/Ministero/Index2. Submit required documents to the Prefecture office. After your online application has been reviewed, the office of the Prefecture (an administrative official) in the province in which you and your spouse reside will contact you and set up an appointment. Bring the documents that they ask you to bring. If any of the documents are not already in Italian, they need to be translated into Italian prior to their submission to the Prefecture office. Required documents include: Your citizenship application Your birth certificate Your and your spouse's marriage license Your spouse's certificate of citizenship A copy of your passport A certified lack of a criminal record from your current country of residence or Your criminal record from your current country of residence Maintain the marriage throughout the citizenship application. The Italian government will not grant citizenship through marriage if the partners divorce while citizenship proceedings are still underway. If the marriage is ended through divorce at any point during the citizenship application, the application will be immediately rejected. If this happens, you'll need to apply for your citizenship through the naturalization process. Determine if your parents were Italian citizens when you were born. Regardless of where in the world you were born, if 1 (or both) of your parents was (or were) an Italian citizen when you were born, you're eligible for citizenship. Note that, if your parents surrendered their Italian citizenship at any point prior to your birth, you're not eligible for citizenship by descent. If your mother was an Italian citizen and your father was not and you were born prior to 1948, you are not eligible for citizenship through descent. In Italian, citizenship through descent is referred to as citizenship “jus sanguinis.” Find out if your grandparents were Italian citizens. If your father and mother were not Italian citizens when you were born, you may still be able to become an Italian citizen by descent. Examine legal records for your father's and mother's parents and grandparents to find out if they were Italian citizens at the time of your parents' births. You may be able to find out your grandfather's, great-grandfather's, or great-great grandfather's legal standing through consulting archives of citizenship in Italy. Or, consult the records at the U.S. or Italian office of Citizenship and Immigration Services to determine when your Italian ancestors gained or relinquished Italian citizenship. Consult an Italian lawyer to help you with the “jus sanguinis” paperwork. If you're not fluent in Italian, you'll find the “jus sanguinis” paperwork and the application process confusing. Working with a lawyer will enable you to fill out the paperwork quickly and correctly and will streamline your citizenship application. To find an Italian lawyer abroad, ask for a recommendation at the Italian embassy. Or, if you're already in Italy, go to your own country's embassy and ask for the ambassador's office to recommend a lawyer. While you can file the “jus sanguinis” paperwork on your own, it's legally complex and can be difficult if you don't have a legal background. Work with the lawyer to translate foreign paperwork into Italian. All of the documents that you show to the Italian government must be translated into Italian. This includes foreign citizenship documents, passports, etc. If you're working with an Italian lawyer, they may also help you translate the paperwork into your native language. If they cannot, they'll certainly be able to help you find a suitable Italian translator. Be sure to retain the original (e.g., English-language) documents too for your personal records. File Italian citizenship “jus sanguinis” paperwork at an Italian consulate. Italian consulates and other prefecture office are similar to a local civil government office in the U.S. With an Italian lawyer present, fill out the requisite paperwork. Include your name and birth information, as well as the date and place of birth of your parents and your maternal and paternal grandparents. Provide information regarding where your parents (or other Italian ancestors) lived during periods when they weren't in Italy, and clarify that your ancestors never renounced their Italian citizenship.  Find a copy of the paperwork online at: https://ambwashingtondc.esteri.it/ambasciata_washington/resource/doc/2015/08/richiesta_riconoscimento_citt_jure_sanguinis.pdf. Present your ancestors’ citizenship paperwork to the Italian magistrates. Along with the completed paperwork, submit your parents' (or grandparents') citizenship records at the Italian consulate or prefecture office. These documents will provide proof of your parents' (or other ancestors') Italian citizenship. Some government officials may prefer that the citizenship documents be attached to the “jus sanguinis” paperwork. Some Italian consulates or magistrate offices may have online portals through which you can book an appointment. For example, if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, book an appointment at the embassy at: https://prenotaonline.esteri.it/login.aspx?cidsede=500000&returnUrl=//. 
Get  a passport from your nation’s government. Receive an Italian work permit if you’ll be employed while in Italy. Obtain an entrance visa to enter and work in Italy. Get a permit of stay from a post office once you’ve moved to Italy. Fill out the permit of stay application and return it to a post office. Apply for legal residency at the Vital Statistics Bureau. Live in Italy continuously for 10 years if you’re not an EU citizen. Sign an “integration agreement” at the local police headquarters. Take at least 14 credits of Italian naturalization courses. Receive your Italian citizenship upon completion of the credits. Live in Italy for 2 years following your marriage to an Italian citizen. Wait 1 additional year if you’re living abroad. Complete the Italian citizenship application online. Submit required documents to the Prefecture office. Maintain the marriage throughout the citizenship application. Determine if your parents were Italian citizens when you were born. Find out if your grandparents were Italian citizens. Consult an Italian lawyer to help you with the “jus sanguinis” paperwork. Work with the lawyer to translate foreign paperwork into Italian. File Italian citizenship “jus sanguinis” paperwork at an Italian consulate. Present your ancestors’ citizenship paperwork to the Italian magistrates. 