Besides Planners, we have been legal consultants for the Italian foreign offices! This experience allowed us to gain deep expertise in foreign affairs.

If you’re a foreigner willing to get married in Italy, you’ll need to have a few documents on hand.

Firstly, you’ll need a valid passport or ID card, as well as an original birth certificate .

Additionally, and most important you’ll need a certification of no impediment, the so-called nulla osta, which must be obtained from an official authority of your country of origin: your Consulate in Italy.

This document should declare that you are free to get married and there are no impediments to the marriage according to the law of your country of origin and Italian law.

You can also get married in Italy without the Nulla Osta, but the only way is to get the refusal of the town hall where you get married and appeal it at the competent Italian Court.

We will attend the hearing on your behalf to obtain the sentence of the Judge the will oblige the town hall that refused the celebration of the wedding to proceed with the civil wedding ceremony.

Anyway there are some exceptions to the Nulla Osta. Indeed there are some countries that have adhered to agreements with Italy. In this cases the certificate of no impediment to the marriage is issued in the country of provenance.

The citizen of U.S. nationality must produce the following:

– affidavit before the Consul of the United States of America in Italy, the signature of which must be legalized in the Prefecture, provided with a € 16.00 revenue stamp.

– affidavit (must indicate that the citizen can contract the marriage according to the law of the State of their nationality) with two witnesses, drawn up before the competent Italian Authority: Italian Consul Abroad, competent Court, or Notary Public.

The citizen of Australian nationality must produce the following:

– affidavit before the Australian Consul in Italy, whose signature must be legalized in the Prefecture, provided with a € 16.00 revenue stamp

– affidavit (must indicate that the citizen can contract the marriage according to the law of the State of their nationality) with four witnesses, drawn up before the competent Italian Authority (abroad the Italian Consul, in Italy the Civil Status Officer).

The citizen of Austrian, Swiss, and German nationality must produce the certificate of matrimonial capacity issued by the Civil Status Office of the Municipality of residence (belonging) in the State of origin (exempt from legalization).

Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and Luxembourg nationals must produce the certificate of matrimonial capacity (inquire at the respective Consulate about the issuing Authority).

Norwegian citizens: must apply for the NULLA-OSTA directly to the Registry Office of the municipality of residence in Norway. The NULLA-OSTA will be issued, complete with Apostille, in Italian or Norwegian, with a translation made by a sworn translator in Norway (Circ. 65/2004).

Polish Citizens: (Circolare 33/2005) must apply for the nihil-osta to the Head of the Polish Civil Status Office or the Consul if the Polish citizen:

– has not had a residence in Poland

– is unable to trace their place of last residence in Poland

– left Poland before the age of 16 and permanently resides abroad

Brazilian citizens: submit a declaration for marriage in Italy, issued by their consular authorities following the model agreed upon by our Ministry AA.EE. and the Embassy of Brazil (Circ. 1/2009)

Swedish Citizens: resident in SWEDEN must apply for the nulla-osta at the Registry Office of the Municipality of residence in Sweden, which will issue it in Swedish with a translation made by a sworn translator who will certify conformity with the original;

If residents in ITALY, they must apply for the nulla-osta to the Swedish Diplomatic Authority (Circ. 2/2010)

Slovak Citizens: a CERTIFICATE certifying the absence of impediments to marriage issued by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in ROME replaces the nulla osta (art. 116 c.c.) (Circ. 29/2011).

British Citizens: (Circolare 6 and 13/2014) residing in the United Kingdom instead of the nulla osta under Art. 116 c.c. must submit:

a certificate of no impediment issued by the local Authority of the country of origin, apostilled (hague convention) and duly translated,

a bilingual, legalized affidavit made by those concerned at a British lawyer or notary public;

while BRITISH citizens residing in WALES and ENGLAND who intend to marry an Irish citizen in Italy or BRITISH citizens residing in a THIRD COUNTRY (Circ. 10/2015) may submit either the usual NULLA OSTA (Art. 116 c.c.) issued by the British Consular Authority or the certificate of no impediment and the bilingual affidavit made at a British lawyer or notary

Hungarian citizens: certification instead of marriage nulla osta is issued to Hungarian citizens who wish to contract marriage in Italy by the Embassy of Hungary (Circ. 11/2013)

Finnish Citizens: the Nulla osta for Finnish citizens wishing to contract marriage in Italy is issued by their local Authority and conforms to the model attached to Circular 1/2014

Lithuanian citizens: Lithuanian citizens residing in Italy who intend to contract marriage in Italy must apply for the NULLA OSTA to the Municipal Offices of their country (facsimile attached to Circular 2/2014)

Danish Citizens: The Nulla Osta, with Apostille, will be issued by the Registry Office of the Municipality of residence in Denmark in Danish, English, and German, with translation into Italian by a sworn translator in Denmark. The certificate is valid for 4 months. (facsimile attached to Circ. 18/2014)

Mexican Citizens: from 14.05.2015, the new certificate of “Constancia de inexistencia de Registro” is the appropriate document to celebrate the marriage of Mexican citizens in Italy (Circ. 11/2015).

Syrian citizens

There is no Syrian diplomatic authority in Italy. The reference is the Embassy of Syria in Vienna. This will be the diplomatic Authority responsible for issuing the marriage Nulla Osta for Syrian citizens who intend to marry in Italy (Circ. 3/2014)

Pay attention to the legalization of the document! The signature of the Syrian Embassy official will have to be legalized by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Italian Consulate will legalize this signature in Vienna.

Only in this way can the document be received in Italy.

Who will be your Counselors and Planners?

Due to our experience in law firms and the foreign offices of the Italian public administration, we gained significant expertise in Consular affairs, and we are trained to solve the most complicated procedure such as:

1) Nulla osta process, legalization procedure, Court hearings for the refusal of the town hall when there documents missing , legal translation, apostille procedure, emergency procedure for legalization.

2) Same-sex couples that want to celebrate a civil union in Italy as in their country the union is forbidden;

3) Couples that come from countries where divorce is not allowed;

4) Italians living abroad registered at AIRE that need to recover their document to start the marriage banns in the Italian Consulate;

5) Assistance with people that come from countries that do not release the nulla osta;

6) American and Australian couples who needs assistance with “atto notorio” in an Italian Court or the Italian Consulate in the USA or Australia.

7) People with refugee status who have requested asylum in Italy.