How much does Italian citizenship cost in 2026: fees, translations, services

Main myth: "buy Italian citizenship"

Let's start with honesty: the request to "buy Italian citizenship" has no basis. In Italy there is no investment citizenship program - that is, you cannot contribute a sum to the budget or a fund and receive a passport for it, as is the case in a number of Caribbean countries. Anyone who promises "Italian citizenship for investments on a turnkey basis" is either misleading or means something completely different - a residence permit.

Money in Italy opens the door to residency, not directly to a passport. Investor visa, residenza elettiva for the financially independent, digital nomad visa - all of these are paths to a residence permit. Citizenship comes later and not for money, but through years of legal residence and meeting conditions. We covered investment routes in detail in a separate article on Italy's investor visa.

Therefore, the correct question sounds different: not "how much to buy," but how much the procedures costthrough which citizenship is legally obtained. Let's proceed with that.

What makes up the expenses for Italian citizenship

Expenses for Italian citizenship are not a single figure, but a set of items. The composition of the estimate depends on the path a person takes to the passport, but the general structure repeats. Here are the main categories of expenses:

• State fee for submitting the application - a fixed payment to the Italian budget.
• Consular fees - if documents are submitted through a consulate abroad (relevant for the ancestry path).
• Collection and legalization of documents - obtaining certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and criminal records from different countries.
• Apostille and certified translations - each foreign document must be legalized and officially translated into Italian.
• Italian language exam at B1 level - for naturalization and marriage.
• Ancestry archive search If it concerns citizenship by descent and grandfather's documents need to be sought in archives.
• Legal support Assistance from specialists without which many paths are practically impassable.

Further we will examine each block separately with estimated figures for 2026.

Three paths - three different budgets

The cost of Italian citizenship depends heavily on the route. There are three main ones, and the expenses differ fundamentally.

By descent (jure sanguinis) Based on Italian roots. Here the main expense is not the fee, but document collection for ancestors and their legalization. After the 2025 reform, blood-based citizenship is restricted - typically now it is required that a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent was born in Italy (up to two generations). Many old schemes like "great-grandfather left a hundred years ago" no longer work. This is important to consider before investing in archive searches.

By naturalization After long-term legal residence (as a rule, 10 years; less for EU citizens and persons of Italian descent). Here the budget for documents is more modest, but the road is long in time and requires living in the country.

By marriage To an Italian citizen - after two years of residence in Italy or three years abroad (half as much if there are common children). The fee is the same as for naturalization.

Whatever path you choose, the state fee is only part of it. Most money goes to documents and support.

State fee for application

This is the clearest item - a fixed payment to the Italian treasury. For the path of naturalization and by marriage the state fee is 250 € plus stamp duty 16 €Payment is made online through the PagoPA system when submitting an application on the Italian Interior Ministry portal. If a marriage application is rejected, this 250 € can be returned within one year from the payment date - a refund procedure is provided.

For the path by descent (jure sanguinis) the situation is different. If documents are submitted through a consulate abroad, a consular fee applies - in 2025 it increased and amounts to approximately 600 € for each adult applicantThis is a notable increase for families where multiple people apply for a passport at once.

We note separately good news for 2026: from January 1, the former 250 € fee for declaring citizenship of children born abroad is abolished, and the deadline for submitting such a declaration is extended from one year to three years. This reduces the burden on families with children.

The fee itself is not the main expense. Documents, translations, and support are far more significant.

Document collection, apostille, and certified translations

This is the heart of the budget, especially on the descent path. To prove citizenship rights, you need to collect a package of documents: birth, marriage, death certificates of ancestors, criminal record checks, sometimes excerpts from church and archive books. Each document issued outside Italy goes through two procedures.

Apostille International legalization of a document. It is affixed by the authorized body of the country that issued the document. Cost and timeline depend heavily on the country and region - sometimes it is symbolic, sometimes substantial.

Certified (sworn) translation into Italian Each foreign document must be officially translated. Based on estimated data, certified translation of a complete package of documents costs in the range of 200-600 €and higher with a large number of documents for several ancestors. Translators usually charge by the page.

If originals are lost or damaged, recovery costs are added - repeated requests to civil registries and archives in different countries, payment for certificates, sometimes courier delivery. It is this part that makes the descent budget unpredictable: as many ancestors, as many documents. We compiled a detailed list of documents in the article on documents for Italian citizenship.

Italian language exam B1

For citizenship by naturalization and by marriage you must confirm Italian language knowledge at level B1 (intermediate proficiency - can explain oneself in everyday situations, understand a text, maintain a conversation). This is a legal requirement, and without a certificate the application will not be accepted. For the descent path, the B1 exam is usually not required - there you prove blood relationship, not language.

Certificates are issued by recognized centers: universities for foreigners in Siena (CILS) and Perugia (CELI), as well as a number of accredited schools. Exam cost varies depending on the center and country where it is taken. Based on estimated data for 2026, the exam itself costs approximately 100 €and with administrative and postal fees the total can reach 150-160 €.

Direct exam costs are often supplemented by preparation expenses: courses, tutoring, textbooks. This is already a personal choice - some prepare on their own, others take lessons. Whether to include these expenses in the budget is up to each person depending on their language level. But the exam fee itself must be included.

Archive search of ancestors (for the descent path)

This item applies only to citizenship by descent, but it is precisely this that can significantly increase the budget. To prove the line of kinship, you need documents for each ancestor in the Italian line - parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents born in Italy (after the 2025 reform, depth is usually limited to two generations).

If you have the documents on hand - expenses are minimal. But often century-old documents must be searched for in Italian communes, church parishes, emigration archives. This creates expenses for requests, payment for certificates, services of genealogical researchers, sometimes trips. When records burned or were lost, church books and indirect evidence are used - and this is already separate work.

Before investing in an archive search, it is important to check whether your case falls under the new rules - the 2025 reform closed many old schemes. It is better to spend money on a proper preliminary assessment than on document collection that ultimately will not give you rights. We explained the logic of the reform and conditions in the article on Italian citizenship by descent.

If the goal is relocation, not a passport for money

Often behind the request to "buy Italian citizenship" lies a different desire—to legally live in Italy, conduct business, relocate the family. For this objective, money does work—but through residence permitrather than through direct passport purchase.

An investor visa opens a residence permit for investments in a startup (from €250,000), an innovative company (from €500,000), government bonds (from €2,000,000), or charity (from €1,000,000). Residenza elettiva suits the financially independent with passive income; a digital nomad visa is for remote specialists. After five years of legal residence, EU long-term resident status becomes available, and later—naturalization.

That is, investments grant residency as a first step, and citizenship comes with time and upon meeting conditions. This is a working and entirely lawful route for those whose true goal is life in the country, not an entry in a passport. Details of the investment pathway are in our article on Italy's investor visa and on the page for Italy's residence permit program for investments.

How to save reasonably on the application

You can save on Italian citizenship—but not on items where savings result in rejection. Here is what genuinely reduces expenses without risk.

• Verify your eligibility before collecting documents. Following the 2025 reform, many ancestry-based schemes closed. A qualified preliminary assessment costs little and saves spending on paperwork that will not yield results.
• Gather ready documents in advance. If birth certificates are on hand and in order, the expensive part with archive searches becomes unnecessary.
• Compare B1 exam test centers —costs vary by country and school.
• Order apostilles in "low-cost" jurisdictions. Legalization costs differ across countries and regions.
• Include children in a parent's application where permitted—sometimes without a separate fee.

But where saving is dangerous is on translation quality and verification of the bloodline. An error here costs more than any "discount": redoing work, lost time, rejection. Reasonable savings means correct procedure sequencing, not skipping mandatory steps.

Expert Comment from BRIDGES GLOBAL

In this section, we verify key figures and budget logic through a practitioner's lens—so readers rely on the real 2026 picture, not outdated promises of "passports for investments."

The key point to reinforce: Italian citizenship is a procedure budget, not a passport price tag. And this budget directly depends on the route available to you after the 2025 reform.

Figures in the article are approximate for 2026 and presented : state fee of €250 plus €16 stamp duty is confirmed by PagoPA payment procedure, consular fee for ancestry around €600 per adult reflects 2025 increases, B1 exam around €100–160, and translations and apostilles €200–600 per package. Disputed amounts are marked "approximate" because they depend on country, region, and number of applicants. We deliberately avoid naming a single "passport price": it does not exist, and anyone who names one oversimplifies at the cost of accuracy. Real calculation is always individual.

Summary: What Italian citizenship actually costs

Let us draw conclusions together. You cannot buy Italian citizenship—investment citizenship does not exist in the country, and any offer of "turnkey passport for money" is incorrect. Money opens a path to a residence permit, not directly to a passport.

The real cost of Italian citizenship is the sum of procedures. State fee (€250 plus €16 stamp duty for naturalization and marriage, or consular fee around €600 per adult for ancestry), apostille and certified translations (approximately €200–600 per package), B1 exam (around €100–160), and if necessary, archive search for ancestors and legal support. In a simple case, this is a modest sum of state payments and translations; in a complex case—thousands of euros.

An exact figure emerges only from reviewing your situation: which route is available after the 2025 reform, how many applicants, whether documents are on hand. Start with that— assessment, not a search for the nonexistent "passport price." Then the budget will be transparent and the process predictable.

Legal support

Formally, citizenship can be arranged independently. In practice, most choose support - and here is why. Procedures depend on precision: one error in an ancestor's name, incorrect translation, untimely certificate - and the application stalls for months, or even gets rejected. A lawyer or specialized company takes on verifying the line of kinship, collecting and legalizing documents, controlling deadlines, and communicating with authorities.

Representation costs represent the most "variable" line item in the budget. It depends on the pathway, the number of family members applying, case complexity, and the scope of archival work. Simple naturalization with ready-made documents will cost less than tracing ancestry lines across several countries. This is why an accurate figure can only be provided after studying the specific situation—there is no universal price list here and cannot be.

An important nuance for Russian Federation and CIS citizens: everything is strictly within EU legislation, with enhanced compliance and without circumventing sanctions. This does not increase the base cost but requires careful work with sources of funds and documentation.

Hidden and additional expenses

Beyond the main line items, there are costs that are forgotten at the start but accumulate. Accounting for them in the budget means avoiding unpleasant surprises.

• Obtaining certificates anew. Many documents have expiration dates—certificates of no criminal record, registry extracts often need to be reordered if the process is delayed.
• Courier delivery and mailing originals between countries—especially when documents are being collected from multiple states.
• Travel —visit to the consulate, exam sitting, sometimes a trip to Italy for filing or oath-taking.
• Stamp duties and fees on individual documents within Italy.
• Bank and currency expenses —consular fees are often paid in dollars at the exchange rate, and the amount in euros may differ.
• Exam preparation —courses and tutoring if language level is insufficient.

Individually, these sums are small, but together they add a notable portion to the budget. Setting aside a reasonable reserve for them is a rule of good planning.

Approximate budget: what Italian citizenship will cost

Let us consolidate all line items into one table. The figures are approximate for 2026and vary by country, number of applicants, and case complexity. This is neither an offer nor a fixed price list but a map of expenses to understand the order of sums.

The conclusion is logical: the question "what will Italian citizenship cost" does not have a single figure. Simple naturalization with ready-made documents fits within a modest sum of state fees and translations. The ancestry-based pathway with document restoration for ancestors across several countries is already thousands of euros. The real price becomes clear only after reviewing the specific situation.