Florida Apostille for Italy.

Let's be straight with you: if your Italy plan is built on advice from before spring 2025, check it again before you order a stack of apostilles. Italy changed the rules on citizenship by descent.

• The Italian Consulate General in Miami, for citizenship by descent. Its citizenship page explains that Decree-Law 36 of March 28, 2025 was converted into Law 74 of May 23, 2025, in force from May 24, 2025. The new Article 3-bis treats people born abroad who hold another citizenship as never having acquired Italian citizenship, unless an exception applies. The exceptions include a parent or grandparent who held only Italian citizenship, and an Italian parent who lived in Italy for at least two consecutive years after becoming a citizen and before the child's birth. Applications filed before March 27, 2025 (11:59 p.m. Rome time), or covered by an appointment booked before then, follow the old rules. The consulate also asks for proof of that exclusive citizenship or residence, such as negative citizenship certificates or renunciation records.
• Who the Miami consulate serves. Applicants must be legally and stably resident in its district, which includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Puerto Rico, plus several Caribbean territories and the Bahamas.
• Your Italian comune, through the consulate. Italian citizens married in the U.S. register the marriage in Italy through a transcription request filed with the consulate, naming the comune where it should be recorded. Any earlier marriage or divorce of the Italian spouse must be registered in the comune first.

One more thing many applicants miss: the Miami consulate requires its citizenship application forms 1 to 4 to be signed before a Notary Public and apostilled. That's a Florida notarization followed by a Florida apostille, which is exactly what we file.

The Miami consulate's citizenship requirements say foreign-language records need an official Italian translation. A marriage certificate formed abroad, for example, must come with a traduzione ufficiale italiana. The consulate also says, plainly, that it does not provide translations and does not request certificates from Italian civil registry offices for you.

What that means in practice:

• Budget for translation separately. Nobody at the consulate will do it at your appointment.
• Translate after the apostille, and include the apostille page, so the Italian version matches the document you file.
• Ask the consulate, or the comune if you're filing in Italy, what form of "official" translation it accepts before you pay. The receiving office's answer is the only one that counts.
• Keep your translations and originals together. The consulate wants every document in original, in one complete submission. An application missing even one piece can't be started.

• Marriage certificates for transcription. The Miami consulate wants the original certificate with the apostille. Photocopies, or certificates without an apostille, are refused. It must be a long form or exemplified certificate. If the certificate doesn't show both spouses' dates and places of birth, it also asks for the marriage license, also apostilled. In Florida, the certificate must be signed by the State Registrar or a Clerk of the County Court. See marriage certificate for Italy.
• Birth and death certificates along the line of descent: must come from the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department, signed by the State Registrar. We don't accept vital records certified before 2014, because the signature on file must be the current State Registrar's. Order fresh copies through VitalChek. See birth certificate for Italy.
• Divorce judgments (any prior marriage in the line, or the Italian spouse's): certified by the Clerk of Court, with an original wet-ink certification or the clerk's official e-certification. See court records.
• Consulate application forms 1 to 4 and affidavits. They must be signed before a notary with a complete Florida notarial certificate, then apostilled. Our online notarization lets a family member sign by secure video from another state in the consular district. It costs $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional one. Ask the consulate first whether it accepts a remote online notarization for these forms. If it doesn't, sign in person before a Florida notary.

Descent files run to several documents, so bundle pricing matters: $220 for one, $380 for two, $160 each for three or more, all-inclusive. Shipping to Italy is a flat $100 per order.

Check every item. The consulate won't start an incomplete file.