Italy does not grant citizenship by investment and any such program advertised on the web is misleading. Recently, there have been some articles posted on the web, mostly targeted to South African citizens, publicizing the possibility of obtaining citizenship by investing in Umbria, a region in the centre of the country. The Italian Embassy in South Africa has already dismissed the news as a “scam”. As a general rule, for non-EU foreigners, citizenship by residence can be applied for after 10 years of legal residence. There are some cases for which the period of residence required is lower: three years of legal residence for the foreigners whose father, mother or any of the ascendants in a direct line of second degree were Italians by birth or for the foreigners born in Italy and residing there; 4 years for the citizen of an EU member state; 5 years of legal residence following adoption for the foreigners of legal age, or following the recognition of status for stateless people or political refugees.
