How do you get Italian citizenship, how many years?

What counts is not the permesso but residenza: 10 years of continuous registration for naturalisation, and if the registration breaks the clock restarts. Members were told at the comune that the count starts from the date the residenza application was filed, not from the plastic card. Residenza elettiva, one member says, does not count.

Through marriage to an Italian citizen the term is shorter: 2 years of joint residenza in Italy or 3 abroad, halved once a child is born. But residenza is almost never granted before the permesso arrives, and the permesso itself can take up to a year and a half - plan for that.

Language: a B1 certificate is required. Members sat CELI (about 130 euro per exam, by one account) or went to the free evening school CPIA, where the lower-secondary diploma was accepted instead of the exam. Some heard that those who passed A2 for the long-term permit are exempt - the chats have no confirmation of that.

The documents people trip on: a birth certificate with apostille and sworn translation, a criminal-record certificate with apostille, and the place of birth spelled the same way in every paper (USSR versus the republic name has already cost people a refiled application). A proven income over three years is also mentioned. After filing, the decision and the oath take another 1.5 to 2 years.