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 the United Kingdom, after the 2025 law
The Italian rule is the same in London 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 British is where the records come from, and one date in British law: from 1 January 1983 birth in the United Kingdom alone stopped conferring British citizenship. The London post publishes both of the surviving conditions in its own words, and this page follows what it says.
The rule itself is set out on the main page, and the exclusivity test on its own. This page is the British 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. The London post states the two that are still open to new applicants.
- The Italian parent lived continuously in Italy for at least two years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child's birth.
- A parent or grandparent holds only Italian citizenship, or held only Italian citizenship at the moment of death.
The other three gates are dated rather than open: an application complete with its documentation filed by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025, an appointment communicated by that moment, or a court claim filed by it. 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 London post adds the evidential rule in one line: a self-declaration that no other citizenship is held is not accepted.
Where the British records come from
Civil records
The London post requires British certificates in original and in long form, issued by the General Register Office, apostilled and legalised, and translated into Italian. The applicant's own birth certificate is required in the same long form.
The post names the General Register Office. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own registers, and the post's page does not say which office it wants for a Scottish or Northern Irish record. Ask before you order.
Whether the ancestor became British
This is the item that is specific to the United Kingdom, and it is two documents rather than one. The London post requires declarations of negative British naturalisation from The National Archives and from the Home Office, both submitted in original, both apostilled, and both translated into Italian. The apostille authenticates the signature of the officer who signed the declaration.
The Italian records at the other end
The ancestor's birth certificate is requested from the Italian comune of birth, in original. Where the ancestor was born before that comune's civil registry office existed, the post asks for the original baptism certificate signed by the church and by the diocesan curia. It also asks for a letter from the comune confirming the year its registry office was established.
Apostilles
British public documents are legalised by the Legalisation Office, which the London post names directly. Every foreign document in the file follows the same logic: an apostille where the issuing country is a party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, and legalisation by the competent Italian mission where it is not.
We publish no British fee or turnaround. Read them off the office's own page on the day you send the documents.
The British dates, as questions about your own family
The second question is the ordinary one, and the two negative declarations above are how it is answered. The third is the one peculiar to Britain. The British Nationality Act 1981 commenced on 1 January 1983. From that day a person born in the United Kingdom is a British citizen only if a parent was a British citizen or settled in the United Kingdom at the time of the birth. Before that date, birth in the United Kingdom was by itself enough.
Why it matters for the Italian test: article 3-bis is written for a person born abroad who holds another citizenship. A person born in the United Kingdom after 1982 to Italian parents who were neither British citizens nor settled may not have acquired British citizenship at birth. Whether that describes you is a question for the office deciding your file, and not one this page answers.
Filing in the United Kingdom, in practice
- Adults only, and in the district where you live. The London post states that this procedure is for adult applicants, and applications go to the consular office of the country where you are permanently resident.
- Residence status. A non-British applicant needs a British residence permit or visa with three years of validity remaining on the day of the appointment, per the London post's own condition.
- All documents in original, on the day. Duly legalised by apostille and translated into Italian. A file assembled to the minimum is a file assembled to fail.
- The fee. €600, paid in pounds and by British debit card only, on the day of the appointment, and not refunded whatever the outcome.
- The clock. During the transition each consulate may accept in a year at most the number of applications it completed the year before, with a floor of one hundred. From 1 January 2029 new adult applications from abroad go by post to a single office in Rome, with a 36-month decision deadline.
What we have not documented for the United Kingdom
- 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 British offices above. They come from the London consulate's own pages and from United Kingdom government sources, read on 9 September 2026. We have not ordered a document from any of them.
- Not published by us: any British fee, any British turnaround, and any statement about what nationality a particular person held at birth.
- Open: which register a post wants for Scottish and Northern Irish records, and what each post accepts as evidence on the exclusivity test. Ask your own post in writing and keep the answer.
Our step-by-step records material covers United States offices in detail and British offices only at the level of this page. That is a limit of what we have verified, not a judgement about British 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 London, citizenship iure sanguinis under the new regulatory framework: the two open conditions, adults only, all documents in original with apostille and translation, self-declarations of no other citizenship not accepted, the residence-permit condition for non-British applicants, and the €600 fee paid in pounds by British debit card and not refunded. Read 9 September 2026.
- Consulate General of Italy in London, document list for British citizens of Italian origin: General Register Office certificates in original and long form, apostilled and translated; the ancestor's Italian birth certificate and the baptism-certificate route with the comune's letter; declarations of negative British naturalisation from The National Archives and from the Home Office, in original, apostilled and translated. Read 9 September 2026.
- Consulate General of Italy in London, legalisation and translation of certificates: British certificates requested from the General Register Office and legalised by the Legalisation Office. Read 9 September 2026.
- British Nationality Act 1981, section 1, and Home Office guidance on automatic acquisition, version 8.0 published 14 November 2023: commencement on 1 January 1983, and birth in the United Kingdom from that date conferring citizenship only where a parent was a British citizen or settled. Read 9 September 2026.
- Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents, to which Italy and the United Kingdom are both parties.
- 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
A British 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.