Italian Permanent Residence and Citizenship in 2026: EU Long-Term Permit After 5 Years, Naturalisation After 10

Most of my Italian clients think in two steps: first a permit that lets them live there, then a status that cannot be lost. Here is how the second step works. Sources: Integrazione Migranti on the long-term permit, Law 91/1992, the Interior Ministry, the Prefecture of Bari and the BRIDGES articles on permanent residence and naturalisation. Checked on 2 November 2026.

The EU long-term permit

This is Italy’s permanent residence. The permit is indefinite, and the card is renewed every ten years as an identity document, five years for minors. Requirements:

• at least five years of legal, continuous residence with a valid permit;
• income at least equal to the annual social allowance (assegno sociale), which BRIDGES gives as €7,101.12 for 2026;
• Italian at level A2;
• for family members, enough income for the household and suitable housing.

Short-stay permits do not count toward the five years.

Absences

Absences do not break the five years if each is shorter than six months in a row and together they do not exceed ten months over five years. I always ask clients to keep a simple calendar of trips from the first day. It is boring, but it saves years.

Citizenship by residence

Under article 9 of Law 91/1992 the residence periods are:

Applicant	Legal residence
non-EU citizen	10 years
EU citizen	4 years
stateless person or refugee	5 years
descendant of an Italian citizen by birth, or born in Italy	3 years

You need sufficient income in recent years, no criminal record and Italian at level B1, required since 4 December 2018. Holders of the EU long-term permit and signatories of the integration agreement have already shown their Italian level.

The application

You apply online through the Interior Ministry’s ALI portal with a digital identity (SPID). The fee is €250 plus a €16 revenue stamp. The procedure lasts up to 24 months, extendable to 36. Citizenship by marriage follows a different procedure.

The passport

In the BRIDGES Passport Index of 4 October 2026 the Italian passport ranks 9th of 199, with 182 destinations without a prior visa. It also gives the right to live and work anywhere in the EU.

My view

Italian citizenship is a long project of about twelve years from the first permit, counting the procedure itself. It is worth it if you really plan to live in Italy. Choose a first permit that you can renew without gaps: for most of my clients that is elective residence or the investor visa.