NB. The application for a first passport can only be submitted to the Passport Office after the Civil Registry Office has sent the birth certificate to the relevant municipality. The certified email sent by the Civil Registry Office to the municipality, with the parents included in the copy, will be considered valid. Applications for birth registration and passport applications sent together will be returned to the sender.<\/p>\n
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SPECIAL CASE: Surrogate motherhood<\/strong><\/p>\n Surrogate motherhood is completely legal in some countries but it is prohibited in Italy by Law 40 of February 19, 2004.<\/p>\n This law was recently amended to include, in Article 12, paragraph 6, that the penalties provided for in the event of violation of the law apply to conduct by Italian citizens even if carried out abroad.<\/p>\n If this Consulate is asked to send the birth certificate of a child born through this practice to the municipality in Italy, it is required to proceed with the request for transcription to the municipality, communicating the particular conditions of the birth and, at the same time, it is obliged to report the alleged offense to the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office with jurisdiction over the territory.<\/p>\n The attention of those concerned is therefore drawn to the possible consequences of violating Italian law.<\/p>\n ________________________________________<\/p>\n NEW REGULATIONS ON THE REGISTRATION OF THE BIRTH OF MINORS WHO ARE CHILDREN OF ITALIAN PARENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, which converted Decree-Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025, with amendments, reformed Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992, introducing significant restrictions on the transmission of Italian citizenship and, consequently, on the procedure for registering the birth certificates of children born abroad.\u00a0A minor born abroad to an Italian parent is not automatically an Italian citizen.<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the new legislation, he is\u00a0recognized as an Italian citizen<\/strong>\u00a0iure sanguinis<\/em>\u00a0(by birth) only\u00a0if at least one of the following cases applies<\/strong>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CASE A)<\/strong><\/p>\n A1) The parent who was born an Italian citizen, even if they also hold another citizenship, has resided in Italy for at least 2 consecutive years at any time prior to the date of birth of their child;<\/strong><\/p>\n or<\/p>\n A2) The parent who is a citizen has acquired Italian citizenship (through naturalization, etc.) and has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring citizenship and before the date of birth of the child.<\/strong><\/p>\n Residence in Italy prior to acquiring Italian citizenship is irrelevant, as is the residence in Italy of the foreign parent.<\/p>\n Required documentation\u00a0case A<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n PLEASE NOTE:<\/strong>\u00a0If you fall under case A1) or A2), you will not need to comply with cases B) or C), which require additional documentation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CASE B)<\/strong><\/p>\n B1) On the date of birth of the child, one parent, who had not resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years prior to the birth of the child, possessed only Italian citizenship.<\/strong><\/p>\n Required documentation\u00a0case B1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n or<\/p>\n B2) At the date of birth of the child, one grandparent possessed only Italian citizenship.<\/strong><\/p>\n PLEASE NOTE:<\/strong>\u00a0In the case of a grandparent with ONLY Italian citizenship,\u00a0the child\u2019s parent must still have Italian citizenship, even if it is not the only one.<\/p>\n Required documentation\u00a0case B2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n CASO C)<\/strong><\/p>\n The minor does not possess nor can he obtain another citizenship<\/strong>\u00a0(e.g., iure sanguinis, iure soli, citizenship by option, etc.).<\/p>\n For example, a minor is considered to have another citizenship if:<\/p>\n Required documentation\u00a0case C<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ATTENTION!<\/strong><\/p>\n The applicant is solely responsible for providing such evidence.\u00a0No self-declaration regarding the lack of other citizenship will be considered valid.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________<\/p>\n Please submit your application for transcription of your birth certificate only if you have all\u00a0the necessary documentation to verify your right to Italian citizenship.<\/strong><\/p>\n This Consulate reserves the right to request additional documentation.<\/strong>\u00a0In such cases, requests deemed incomplete will be rejected with formal\u00a0pre-notice of refusal pursuant to Article 10 bis of Law 241\/1990<\/strong>, following which\u00a0the applicant will have 10 days to provide any comments or additional documentation.<\/p>\n _______________________________________________________________________________<\/u><\/p>\n IMPORTANT: if you do not fall into one of the above categories, we recommend that you read the information on the relevant \u201cCITIZENSHIP<\/a>\u201d page of our website and check whether you meet the requirements to apply for\u00a0citizenship by \u201cbenefit of law<\/a>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n ______________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS<\/p>\n In order to apply for birth registration, you must meet\u00a0ALL of the following requirements:<\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n HOW TO APPLY FOR REGISTRATION THROUGH THE CONSULATE<\/strong><\/p>\n Send via delivery service to the address:<\/p>\n CONSOLATO D\u2019ITALIA IN CAPE TOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n 2 Grey’s Pass, Gardens, 8001, Cape Town<\/strong><\/p>\n E-mail:\u00a0 consolato.capetown@esteri.it<\/p>\n ________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n TIMELINE AND PROGRESS OF THE CASE<\/strong><\/p>\n The birth registration application must be sent exclusively by post and involves the following steps:<\/p>\n 1 The applicant sends the documentation to the Consulate;<\/p>\n 2 The Consulate registers and transmits the birth to the Municipality;<\/p>\n 3 The Municipality transcribes the birth in its registers.<\/p>\n Requests are processed by the Consulate in the order in which they are received by the Civil Registry Office. At present, it is not possible to provide information on the time required to process applications\u00a0from the moment the documentation is received.<\/strong><\/p>\n To monitor the progress of the application, Italian citizens can:<\/p>\n Please do not contact the Consulate to inquire about the status of your application.<\/strong><\/p>\n ________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n RESULT AND CONFIRMATION OF THE TRANSCRIPTION<\/strong><\/p>\n The municipality will record the certificate in its registry according to its office schedule. In case of rejection, the municipality will communicate the reasons to the consulate via certified email, and the applicant will be informed of the negative outcome.<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you have received a copy of the notification from the Consulate that the certificate has been sent to the municipality, the Consulate will have completed the procedures under its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n For\u00a0updates on the transcript<\/strong>, you can:<\/p>\n\n
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