Italy will hold a landmark referendum on easing citizenship by residency rules on Sunday, June 8th and Monday, June 9th.
The referendum will ask Italians to vote on a proposal to create a quicker path to citizenship by cutting the current 10-year residency requirement in half, down to five years.
If passed, the reform would align Italy – which is often regarded as having one of the toughest naturalisation regimes in Europe – with countries such as the UK, France and Germany.
According to estimates from the +Europa party, if approved, the changes would make around 2.5 million residents eligible for Italian citizenship.
Any Italian national over the age of 18, including those with dual nationality, is eligible to vote in the referendum.
While Italian citizens living in Italy will be able to cast their vote by heading to their assigned polling station in their municipality (comune) of residence, Italians living abroad will have the opportunity to vote by post in line with the conditions and deadlines set by the foreign ministry.
So what are these conditions and deadlines?
First of all, in the case of Italian citizens permanently residing abroad, the option to vote by post is only granted to those registered with AIRE.
AIRE (acronym for Anagrafe Italiani Residenti all’Estero) is essentially a register holding the personal data, including the vital records and home address, of Italian citizens living outside of Italy.
Registering with AIRE is free of charge and must be done via the Italian Foreign Ministry’s FastIt portal. See more details about registering in our separate guide.
READ ALSO: What is Italy’s AIRE and who needs to register?
Italian citizens who normally live in Italy but expect to be abroad for at least three months (and no more than 12 months) for reasons related to work, study or medical treatment can also vote by post provided that the referendum dates fall within the period of time they spend abroad.
The same postal voting system is available to their family members.
Registration with AIRE is not required for Italian nationals who are temporarily abroad.
In this case, however, citizens must communicate that they wish to vote by post through the following form, which must be filled out and sent to the Italian comune of residence via post, email or proxy by Wednesday, May 7th.
Please note: the completed form must be accompanied by a copy of a valid passport or Italian identity card.
READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to get an Italian identity card
Whether you’re registered with AIRE or have applied for a postal vote as a citizen temporarily residing abroad, you should receive your ballot papers through the mail at your registered foreign address by Wednesday, May 21st.
The papers will come in an envelope (plico elettorale) including instructions on how to return them to the relevant Italian consulate.
If, come Sunday, May 25th, you have not received your plico yet, you’ll be able to ask for a duplicate by getting in touch with your Italian consulate.
It’s worth noting here that, besides the citizenship referendum, you will be asked to vote in four other referendums.
These concern labour law provisions on unlawful dismissals, severance compensation in small businesses, employment contract conditions and contractors’ liability over workplace injuries. You can find further details (in Italian) here.
All in all then, you will receive a total of five schede elettorali (ballot papers) posing a simple yes/no question, with one of the papers asking you whether or not you want to reduce the requirement for citizenship by residency applications from 10 to five years.
Once you have cast your vote, you’ll be responsible for ensuring that the completed ballots are received by the relevant Italian consulate by 4pm local time on Thursday, June 5th at the latest.
Ballot papers received after the above deadline will not be accepted as consulates will officially start sending the ballots to Italy for counting (scrutinio).
For all the latest news, information and practical advice about Italian citizenship, see our citizenship section.
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