Does this apply to your family? Answer a few questions and see where your line stands.
Who in your family was born in Italy, and what happened after: that is all the check asks. No email, no account. It runs in your browser and your answers never leave it. It can end with a plain no.
The written answer below explains the rule this page is about. The check above covers your whole line.
Italian citizenship by descent from Australia, after the 2025 law
The Italian rule is the same in Sydney as it is anywhere else: article 3-bis of Law 91/1992 asks whether a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship at the moment the rule measures. What is Australian is where the records come from, and two dates in Australian law: Australian citizenship itself begins on 26 January 1949, and from 20 August 1986 birth in Australia alone stopped conferring it. The posts in Australia publish the new conditions in plain English, and this page follows what they say.
The rule itself is set out on the main page, and the exclusivity test on its own. This page is the Australian half.
The part that is identical everywhere
Article 3-bis treats a person born abroad who holds another citizenship as never having acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of five things is true.
- An application complete with the necessary documentation was filed with the competent consular office or with the mayor by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025.
- An appointment communicated by that office by the same moment, with the filing made on the appointed day.
- A judicial claim filed by the same moment.
- A parent or grandparent holds, or held at the moment of death, exclusively Italian citizenship.
- A parent lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth.
The Interior Ministry circular of 28 May 2025 fixes when exclusivity is measured: at the applicant's birth, or at the ascendant's death if that came first. The Sydney post states the same test in its own words, and adds the rule that has always applied in Australia as everywhere: a woman transmits citizenship to her descendants only from 1 January 1948.
Where the Australian records come from
Civil records: the states and territories
Births, deaths and marriages in Australia are registered by the state or territory. The certificate comes from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages of the place where the event happened. The Melbourne post requires Australian civil status certificates with an apostille and an Italian translation.
Whether the ancestor became Australian
The Melbourne post asks for a declaration of non-acquisition or acquisition of Australian citizenship, apostilled and translated. In its general form the requirement is a certificate from the competent authority of the country of emigration. It states whether the Italian ancestor acquired that country's citizenship before the birth of the next person in the line.
For a person who has died, the Department of Home Affairs has a request for confirmation of Australian citizenship status of a deceased person, Form 1391. It is open to a child or grandchild of the deceased, or to the executor named in the will. For records about a living person or about yourself, the department's access channels are the personal access and freedom of information routes, with Form 424A for access to documents or information.
Apostilles
Australian public documents are apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through the Australian Passport Office in each capital city. The department checks the signature, stamp or seal against a specimen it holds, then attaches the certificate.
Fees for these notarial services sit under the Consular Fees Act 1955 and are revised on 1 January each year. We publish no figure. Read the current one on the department's own page before you post anything.
The Australian dates, as questions about your own family
The third question is the one peculiar to Australia, and it is worth reading twice. Australian citizenship did not exist before 26 January 1949. On that day the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 commenced, and people who were British subjects became Australian citizens.
From 20 August 1986 birth in Australia by itself no longer confers citizenship. At least one parent has to be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident at the birth. A separate rule covers a child ordinarily resident in Australia through the first ten years of life.
Why that matters for the Italian test: article 3-bis is written for a person born abroad who holds another citizenship. The Sydney post lists being entitled exclusively to Italian citizenship as one of its conditions. A person born in Australia after August 1986 to Italian parents who were neither citizens nor permanent residents may not have acquired Australian citizenship at birth. Whether that describes you is a question for the office deciding your file, and not one this page answers.
Filing in Australia, in practice
- Only adults, and only in your own district. The Sydney post accepts applications from Australian citizens living in New South Wales and from other nationals living there who hold an Australian permanent residence visa. The Brisbane post covers Queensland and the Northern Territory on the same pattern.
- The application is individual and made in person, on an appointment booked in advance through Prenot@Mi. Where several relatives apply from the same ancestor, the Brisbane post states that one set of the ancestor's documents serves them all, provided the applicants live in Queensland.
- The fee. €600 per adult application, paid in Australian dollars. Both posts state that it is a mandatory contribution, that it implies no particular outcome, and that it is not refundable.
- The clock. The Sydney post publishes 730 days as the processing time for the assessment. That is that post's figure for the assessment itself, not an estimate of the queue in front of it, and we publish no waiting-time numbers of our own.
- The 2029 change. The Sydney post states that from 1 January 2029 adult applicants apply to the dedicated office in Rome, and that until 31 December 2028 it accepts a limited number of applications.
What we have not documented for Australia
- Documented and sourced: the Italian rule, its dates, the gates, the timing of the exclusivity test, the fee, the transition cap and the 2029 change. That half is the same for every country and it is complete.
- Named but not tested: the Australian offices above. They come from the Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne consular pages and from Australian government pages, read on 9 September 2026. We have not ordered a document from any of them.
- Not published by us: any Australian fee, any Australian turnaround, and any statement about what citizenship a particular person held at birth.
- Open: which evidence each post accepts on the exclusivity test. No national standard is published, and posts differ. Ask your own post in writing and keep the answer.
Our step-by-step records material covers United States offices in detail and Australian offices only at the level of this page. That is a limit of what we have verified, not a judgement about Australian files.
- Article 3-bis of Law 91 of 5 February 1992, inserted by Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments by Law 74 of 23 May 2025, in force 24 May 2025. Cutoff: 23:59 Rome time, 27 March 2025. Read the converted text in the Official Gazette, checked 10 September 2026.
- Interior Ministry circular prot. 26185 of 28 May 2025, first operating instructions: timing of the exclusivity test and the burden of proof.
- Consulate General of Italy in Sydney, citizenship by descent under the new regulation: the conditions, residence in New South Wales, the €600 in Australian dollars and its non-refundable character, the 730-day processing time, the limited intake to 31 December 2028 and the move to Rome from 1 January 2029. Read 9 September 2026.
- Consulate of Italy in Brisbane, citizenship by descent under the new rules: adults only, jurisdiction over Queensland and the Northern Territory, the individual in-person application through Prenot@Mi, one set of ancestor documents for several applicants, transmission by a woman only from 1 January 1948, and the €600 fee from 1 January 2025. Read 9 September 2026.
- Consulate General of Italy in Melbourne, recognition of Italian citizenship by descent: Australian civil status certificates with apostille and translation, and declarations of non-acquisition or acquisition of Australian citizenship. Read 9 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs: request for confirmation of Australian citizenship status of a deceased person, Form 1391, and request for access to documents or information, Form 424A. Read 9 September 2026.
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: apostilles and authentications issued through the Australian Passport Office in capital cities, with notarial fees set under the Consular Fees Act 1955 and revised on 1 January each year. Read 9 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs guidance on Australian citizenship: commencement of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 on 26 January 1949, and the change from 20 August 1986 to birth in Australia with a parent who is a citizen or permanent resident, with the ten-year ordinary residence rule. Read 9 September 2026.
- Law 11 of 19 January 2026, in force 19 February 2026: transitional intake caps with a floor of one hundred, the 36-month decision deadline, and centralisation in Rome from 1 January 2029.
One next step
An Australian file turns on the same two facts as any other: who in your family was born in Italy, and what citizenship the person above you held on the day you were born. The check asks for those in family words and names the rule your answers reach.
Run the free check, about two minutesIt runs in your browser, asks for no email, and can end with a plain no.