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Marital status

FORMS (CIVIL STATUS)

The Civil Status Office of an Embassy or Consulate is the institution that deals, like an Italian municipality, with the registrations, annotations and keeping of the Civil Status Registers. There are four Civil Status Registers: citizenship, birth, marriage and death. For each of these matters, the Office also has the competence to issue certificates of the documents deposited in the office’s records which certify the “civil status” of each individual.

In particular, consular offices receive documents issued by foreign authorities and send them to Italian municipalities for transcription.

The Civil Status sector of the consular offices, in addition to the management of the four Civil Status registers, assists citizens resident in the district in carrying out the following procedures:

  • Drafting of the report of marriage banns and posting on the consular register;
  • Celebration of a consular marriage, provided that local laws do not prevent this;
  • Transmission of requests for the change of name or surname, because it is ridiculous or shameful, to the competent prefectures;
  • Reception and transmission of separation and divorce sentences to the competent Municipalities for transcription.

Necessary requirements to be entitled to register civil status documents and/or obtain the relevant certificates in civil registry offices

The Italian citizen who has established his residence abroad, in order to be able to register births, marriages and/or deaths (and obtain the relevant certificates), must first register with the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad (A.I.R.E.).

VARIATIONS IN MARITAL STATUS

Birth: Registration and Transcription

General info

If the new born has already been registered in the civil status of another country, or is already in possession of another citizenship, the birth certificates drawn up in the place where the child and ‘ born. When transcribing, parents can ask to add the maternal or paternal surname, if missing.

The release of the tax code and passport, in the case of dual citizens, are subject to the acceptance of the documentation by the municipality, therefore to the receipt of the transcription confirmation.

Documents necessary for the transcription/registration of the birth

For the registration/transcription of the birth, the presence of both parents is required and the following documents must be produced:

– notarial deed of the medical birth certificate (出生医学证明公证书)

– birth certificate issued by the Authorities of which he is already a citizen (出生公证书)

– original hukou where the minor and the Chinese parent are registered (only if the minor is a Chinese citizen)

– passport or other identity document of the minor

– passport or other identity document of both parents

 

Only if the parents are both Italian and therefore the newborn has no other citizenship than Italian, the birth declarations must be made at the Consular Offices within 10 days of the birth, any late declaration is accepted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office attaching the reason for the delay.

For newborns with Italian citizenship only, the Consulate will issue a birth certificate of which a certified copy will be delivered.

The documents to be produced will be:

– original medical birth certificate, which will be kept in official records;

– passport or other identity document of both parents.

 

MARRIAGE

Registration in Italy of the marriage abroad of Italian citizens:

To be valid in Italy, a marriage celebrated abroad must be registered in Italy at the competent municipality.

The Italian citizen regularly registered with AIRE must contact the consular office to request marriage banns and can then contract marriage before the competent foreign authorities or at the consulate, in the latter case provided that local laws do not prevent this.

The Italian citizen residing in Italy will instead have to contact the municipality of residence to request marriage banns and will then be able to contract marriage before the foreign authorities.

It will then be the interested party’s responsibility to present the marriage certificate issued by the local authorities to the competent Consulate, with the relevant translation and possible legalisation, for subsequent forwarding to the competent Italian municipality for transcription.

 

CIVIL UNIONS

The request for the establishment of a civil union can be presented by two adults of the same sex at the competent consular office. At least one of the two people must have Italian citizenship.

The request must be submitted jointly by both applicants to the competent civil registrar, and in it each party must declare:

  1. a) The name and surname; the date and place of birth; citizenship; the place of residence (applicants are reminded to bring a valid identity document);
  2. b) The absence of impediments to the establishment of the union, as established by the art. 1, paragraph 4 of law no. 76 of 20 May 2016.

Upon submission of the request, a date will be set for the parties, following checks on the accuracy of the data required by law, to jointly make the declaration establishing the union, in front of the civil registrar and in the presence of two witnesses. When making the declaration, the parties can also make the declaration of choice of the property separation regime (art. 1, paragraph 13 of law 76/2016).

The registration of the civil union is transmitted by the consular office to the relevant municipality in Italy.

To submit a request, please contact the email address chongqing.consolare@esteri.it in order to make an appointment at the consular office of the Consulate.

Civil unions abroad are established at the competent consular office based on the residence of one of the two parties (art. 8, paragraph 1 of Prime Ministerial Decree 144/2016). Requests for the establishment of a civil union can therefore be presented exclusively at the consular office in whose district one of the two parties resides.

The expression of desire to dissolve an already registered civil union must be addressed directly to the Municipality where the declaration establishing the union is registered or transcribed (art. 6 of Prime Ministerial Decree 144/2016). Consular offices are not competent to receive declarations of dissolution of civil unions.

 

DIVORCE

Registration in Italy of a divorce decree pronounced abroad:

first of all, it must be considered that a divorce sentence pronounced abroad is not automatically considered valid in Italy.

The documents needed for transcription are:

  • the final judgment (original or certified copy);
  • the official translation of the sentence;
  • the declaration in lieu of an affidavit;
  • a photocopy of all the documentation submitted.

These documents must be certified copies with authentic stamp of the Court.

If the documents are valid according to the legislation of the place of issue, the consular office will send the documents to the Italian municipality for registration of the sentence.

 

DEATH

Registration in Italy of the death of an Italian resident abroad:

the death of an Italian citizen occurring abroad must be registered in Italy.

The documents needed to register the death are:

  • death certificate issued by the competent Civil Registry Office of the country of residence, duly translated and possibly legalized (in the cases provided);
  • documentation relating to the citizenship of the deceased: identity card, Italian passport or certificate of Italian citizenship.

All civil status certificates issued by the local authorities must be presented in original and, where applicable, legalized and translated into Italian, in order to be sent by the consulates to the competent municipalities.

 

CONSULAR PERCEPTION:

Translation of civil status documents for transcription use: free

Translation of civil status documents: 13 euros per page

Legalization: 24 euros