For non-EU nationals living in Italy or thinking of moving to the country, there’s good news about getting citizenship.

Campaigners have been pushing for a change in the law to make it easier for foreigners to gain citizenship by residency. 

Currently, non-EU nationals need to live in Italy for at least 10 years before they are eligible for citizenship by residency.

Opposition politicians and non-profit organisations like Oxfam Italia have been fighting to reduce this to five years. 

On Tuesday, they announced they had gathered enough signatures to qualify for a national referendum. 

Changes to citizenship laws would affect 2.5 million foreigners

“We did it! In very few days 500,000 citizens signed for the #CitizenshipReferendum,” opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi posted on social media.

This means a national referendum to reduce the required residency time from 10 years to five can now be requested. 

Halving the time non-EU nationals have to live in Italy before being eligible for citizenship would bring Italy in line with other European countries including Germany, France, Portugal, the Netherlands and the UK. 

Since 1999, several challenges to the law have been made but none have been successful. 

Magi said that campaigners and those who signed the petition are pushing for “something simple, almost banal: those who choose Italy to live, study, love and grow, those who imagine their future in our country, are Italian”.

“And it is only the first step towards a more just law that recognises each one of their daughters, each one of their sons, as Italian,” he added.

Even if they are born in Italy, children of non-EU nationals who are not Italian citizens cannot apply for citizenship until they turn 18. 

However, when parents become Italian citizens, minors are automatically awarded citizenship. 

The request for a referendum must be now approved by two of Italy’s highest courts with a 50 per cent voter turnout for the result to be valid.

If changes to the law are passed, around 2.5 million foreigners would become eligible for Italian citizenship, campaigners said.

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Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is not in favour of easing the current rules.

The right-wing party is seen to have a strict anti-immigration stance. Talking to the media on Tuesday, Meloni said she considered 10 years of residency “a reasonable period for citizenship” and saw “no need to change” the law.

How can foreigners obtain Italian citizenship by residency?

Once the required period of residency has passed, or two years after marriage to an Italian citizen, non-EU nationals can make an online application for citizenship via the Italian Ministry of the Interior. 

Applicants need multiple documents, including translations, for the process.

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These include an original copy of your birth certificate translated and authenticated, criminal records from the countries where you currently hold citizenship, proof of residency in Italy and a certificate of B1 language proficiency. 

The application costs €250.