Italy
Applying for Italian citizenship by descent from the US
Enter the year you expect to file: the tool says where the file goes, how, and the legal time limit.
Where and how fast, depending on when you file
Filed with
Your US consulate
| How | Prenot@mi appointment, within the yearly cap |
| Time limit | 36 months (Law 11/2026) |
| Fee per adult | €600 ($691 in New York, Q4 2026) |
Minors' declarations stay with the consulates after 2028.
An application for Italian citizenship by descent from the United States goes, until the end of 2028, to the Italian consulate whose district covers your home address: New York for New York, Connecticut and part of New Jersey, San Francisco for northern California and several western states, and so on. You book through the Foreign Ministry's Prenot@mi system, then on the appointment day mail the complete file with the fee of €600 per adult, paid by money order at the quarterly dollar rate. Law 11/2026 changed the outlook: each consulate takes a capped number of adult files each year until 2028, the legal time limit becomes 36 months, and from January 1, 2029 adults living abroad file by post with a central office of the Foreign Ministry in Rome. Minors' declarations stay with the consulates. New York's waiting list is closed to new registrations.
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Step by step
- Check the line against article 3-bis with the family tree checker: since March 28, 2025 a great-grandparent no longer qualifies.
- Order the records listed on the requirements page: Italian birth extract, US long-form records, naturalization or non-existence proof.
- Apostille and translate every US record; check names and dates match across the chain.
- Book on Prenot@mi with the consulate for your address, or join its list if one is open.
- Send the complete file by mail on your appointment day, with the money order for the fee.
- Wait for the decision; once recognized, the consulate asks your ancestor's comune to transcribe your records, and you can apply for a passport.
Expected endno end date can be estimated
1. Coming · milestone
File mailed on the appointment day
Nov 2, 2026
Complete file with the fee by money order (New York, San Francisco).
Consulate of New York2. Coming · 24 months
Decision within the legal limit
Nov 1, 2028
730 days for a consular recognition (36 months for adult files under Law 11/2026).
Consulate of Sydney, legal limit3. Coming · no published time
Records sent to the comune
no published time
The consulate asks the Italian town to transcribe your birth; no time is published.
The consulate for your state
Italy has consulates general in several US cities, each covering a list of states or counties. The New York consulate covers New York, Connecticut and thirteen New Jersey counties; San Francisco covers northern and central California, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Each publishes its own document list and booking rules, and they differ on details such as divorce records or the form of the money order, so follow the page of yours.
Caps until 2028, Rome from 2029
Law 11/2026, in force since February 19, 2026, rewrote article 10 of the decree on consular functions (D.Lgs. 71/2011, art. 10). Until 2028, each consulate accepts adult files up to the number it concluded the year before the law, with a floor of 100 a year. Some consulates abroad have stopped giving new adult appointments; New York's list is closed to new names. From January 1, 2029, adults living abroad send their file by post to a central office of the Foreign Ministry, and the legal time limit is 36 months.
Fee and payment
The fee is set in euros and converted every quarter. At New York it is $691 from October 1 to December 31, 2026 (consular fee table). It is charged per adult and not refunded if the application is refused. The cost calculator adds it to the price of records, apostilles and translations.
After recognition
Recognition is followed by the transcription of your birth, and marriage if any, in the civil registers of the comune your ancestor came from, and by registration in the register of Italians abroad at your consulate. You can then apply for an Italian passport. If you later move to Italy, the page on life in Italy covers the residence routes.