Registering a Child's Birth With Italy From Australia

Registering an Australian-born child's birth with Italy is now a claim to Italian citizenship, and since 2025 it only succeeds if the family meets new conditions. If it does, you send the consulate the original birth certificate with a DFAT apostille, an Italian translation and passport copies. A notary is not usually needed.

Key takeaways

• The Italian Consulate General in Sydney says registering a minor's foreign birth is a request for recognition of Italian citizenship.
• Since Decree-Law 36/2025, converted by Law 74/2025, citizenship passes automatically to a child born abroad only if one of three conditions is met.
• If none is met, the child may still acquire citizenship through a declaration by both parents, in person, by appointment.
• The consulate wants the original registry birth certificate with a DFAT apostille and an exact Italian translation. The apostille itself is not translated.
• None of the listed documents needs a notary. The apostille goes straight onto the registry certificate.

Registration is now a citizenship question

The Sydney consulate's page on registering the birth of minor children, updated in March 2026, says the request to register in Italy the foreign birth of an Italian citizen's child under 18 is a request for recognition of the child's Italian citizenship. It says citizenship is passed from parent to child for up to two generations, provided the Italian parent has never renounced it.

Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted into Law 74 on 24 May 2025, added conditions. The consulate says an Italian citizen now automatically transmits citizenship to a minor child born abroad, and can register the birth, only if one of these is true:

1. A parent or grandparent holds only Italian citizenship, or held only Italian citizenship at death, when the child is born. That means they do not have, and cannot have, any other citizenship.
2. An Italian parent who held another citizenship at the birth had lived in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption.
3. The child does not have, and cannot acquire, any other citizenship.

For most children born in Australia, the third condition will not apply: a child born in Australia is generally an Australian citizen from birth if a parent was an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time. The Department of Home Affairs explains Australian citizenship. So the question for many families is whether the first or second condition fits.

When none of the conditions applies

The consulate describes two cases where a minor born abroad to an Italian citizen who does not automatically transmit citizenship may still acquire it:

Route	Who it is for	Deadline on the consulate's page
Declaration under the Citizenship Act	At least one parent is an Italian citizen by birth, even with another citizenship, and both parents declare their intent	Within three years of the child's birth
Transitional provision	Children who were minors on 24 May 2025, of an Italian citizen by birth whose recognition was applied for, or booked, by 11:59 pm Rome time on 27 March 2025	By 31 May 2029, extended from 31 May 2026 by Law 26 of 2026

The consulate stresses that a child who acquires citizenship this way is not an Italian citizen by birth, but becomes one from the day after the parents' declaration. Since 24 April 2026, the Sydney consulate takes these declarations only by appointment, and both parents must attend.

What the consulate asks for

For a child born in Australia who meets one of the automatic conditions, the Sydney consulate lists:

• The consulate's registration form.
• The original birth certificate issued by the state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, certified with an apostille issued by DFAT.
• An Italian translation of the birth certificate, by a NAATI translator or done independently.
• A photocopy of the parents' passports.
• Evidence of the condition you rely on, such as a certificate of non-naturalisation from the relevant foreign authority, a copy of a visa issued after the child's birth, or a renunciation statement; or, for the residence condition, a historical certificate of residence from the Italian municipality.

For the declaration route, the list is similar: the form, the apostilled certificate and translation, a copy of the Italian parent's Italian identity card or passport and the other parent's passport, and a copy of the child's own passport. If the parent's citizenship by descent was not recognised by the Sydney consulate itself, a declaration from the Italian municipality or consulate showing how the parent became Italian is also needed.

The translation, precisely

The consulate accepts a translation by a NAATI translator or one done independently, but warns that an independent translation must be fully accurate and match the English text. If it finds discrepancies or missing elements, it returns all the documentation for correction. Two details save a return trip: the apostille does not need translating, and the translation does not need its own apostille. Translate every field on the certificate, including the registration details and any notes. Our guide to NAATI and non-certified translation explains the difference, and our translation service can prepare it.

Do you need a notary?

Usually not. The consulate's lists do not include any document that an Australian notary prepares. DFAT apostilles an original registry-issued certificate directly, so there is no notarial step in the birth certificate chain. Passport copies are plain photocopies on the consulate's list.

A notary may come in elsewhere, for example if an Italian municipality or another authority separately asks for a certified copy or a signed statement, or for other paperwork around a move to Italy. If a document in your file does need a notary, the apostille would then be placed on the notary's certificate instead. Our guide to apostilles for Italy covers both chains, and our guide to notarising Italian documents covers what a notary does.

Proving the condition you rely on

The evidence is the part families most often underestimate, because it has to show a negative: that a parent or grandparent held no other citizenship when the child was born. The consulate accepts one of three kinds of document for that:

• A certificate of non-naturalisation from the relevant foreign authority. For a parent or grandparent who lived in Australia, that means evidence from the Australian citizenship authorities that they never became an Australian citizen. Ask the Department of Home Affairs how to request it.
• A copy of a visa issued to them after the child's date of birth, which shows they were still a visa holder, not a citizen, at that point.
• A renunciation statement from the foreign authority, if they gave up another citizenship.

For the residence condition, the proof comes from Italy instead: a historical certificate of residence from the Italian municipality, showing at least two consecutive years in Italy after the parent acquired Italian citizenship and before the birth. Order it early; it has to come from the municipality, not the consulate.

Register the marriage first

The consulate warns that the Italian municipality may refuse to register the birth of a child born within marriage if the parents' marriage has not yet been registered in Italy. It strongly encourages families to send the marriage documents together with the birth documents. If you married in Australia and never registered the marriage with Italy, include it in the same package. Adopted children follow a different procedure, and the consulate asks those families to contact it first.

Lodging with the consulate

For the automatic route, the Sydney consulate says the documents are posted, not emailed, or handed in at reception, and the original certificates are kept for its records. Declarations of acquisition need an appointment with both parents present. Italy has several consular offices in Australia, each covering its own area, so check which one covers you and read its current page, as lists can differ. We do not quote fees or processing times.

An illustration

This is an illustration, not a real case. A mother who holds only Italian citizenship lives in Melbourne on a temporary visa with her Australian husband. Their daughter is born there and is Australian through her father. Because the mother held only Italian citizenship at the birth, the first condition applies. She orders two copies of the birth certificate from the registry, sends one to DFAT for an apostille, and has it translated into Italian field by field. With a copy of her visa issued after the birth, both passports and their marriage documents, she sends the file to the consulate covering Victoria.

After the birth is registered

Once the municipality records the birth, the child is on Italy's civil records, and the consulate's other services open up, such as registration with AIRE, the register of Italians resident abroad, and an Italian passport. Each has its own requirements on the consulate's website; ask about them once registration is confirmed, not before.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming the old rules still apply. Since 2025, Italian descent alone may not be enough.
• Missing the three-year window for the parents' declaration.
• Sending a photocopy of the birth certificate instead of the apostilled original.
• A loose translation that leaves out fields, which sends the whole file back.
• Translating the apostille or apostilling the translation, neither of which is needed.
• Forgetting to register the marriage before, or with, the birth.

In short

Registering an Australian-born child with Italy now depends on the 2025 citizenship rules. If a parent or grandparent held only Italian citizenship, or an Italian parent lived in Italy for two years before the birth, the birth can be registered. If not, a parent who is Italian by birth may be able to make a declaration with the other parent within three years. Either way, the consulate wants the original registry certificate with a DFAT apostille and an exact Italian translation. A notary is not usually part of it. For adults, see our guide to Italian citizenship by descent, and for other countries, registering a birth overseas.

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