Italy Raises the Cost of Judicial Citizenship Cases to 600 Euros Per Applicant

Italy has tripled the court filing fee for citizenship recognition cases. The contributo unificato for judicial citizenship proceedings has been raised to 600 euros per applicant, up from the previous 200-euro threshold. The increase, introduced as part of broader court reform measures, adds a significant financial barrier to the judicial route that tens of thousands of descendants rely on.

What Changed

The contributo unificato is the mandatory court fee that must be paid when filing any civil case in Italy. For citizenship recognition cases handled through the simplified procedure (rito semplificato) before the immigration sections of Italian tribunals, the fee has been set at 600 euros per applicant.

This is a per-person charge. A family of four filing jointly pays 2,400 euros in court fees alone, before any attorney fees, document procurement, translations, or apostilles. For the large family cases common in Brazilian and Argentine applications, where 10 or more relatives file together, the filing fees alone can exceed 6,000 euros.

Why It Matters

The judicial route has become the primary pathway for citizenship recognition, particularly since consular wait times in many cities exceed a decade. In cities like Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and New York, booking a consular appointment through the Prenot@mi system can take 8 to 12 years. The court system offered a faster alternative, typically resolving cases within 12 to 18 months at the Venice tribunal.

The fee increase does not change the legal merits of any case. But it changes the economics. For families in Brazil and Argentina, where 600 euros represents a significant sum relative to local wages, the increase may discourage applications or force families to consolidate into fewer, larger group filings.

The government has framed the increase as part of a broader effort to manage the volume of citizenship cases overwhelming Italian courts. The Venice tribunal alone has an estimated 19,000 pending citizenship cases. The fee increase, combined with the PNRR-mandated 90% backlog reduction target by June 2026, reflects an institutional push to reduce the flow of new filings while clearing the existing queue.

The Broader Context

The fee increase should be understood alongside other measures aimed at tightening the citizenship process. The Tajani Decree (D.L. 36/2025), issued one year later, would impose substantive eligibility restrictions. Bill 1683, passed in January 2026, will centralize all adult citizenship applications in a single Rome office by 2029 with annual quotas. The 600-euro fee was the first in a series of steps that, taken together, represent the most significant tightening of Italy’s citizenship framework since the 1992 law.

This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.