Lega, tightening up on Italian citizenship: integration test needed

Foreigners born in Italy, in order to become Italian at the age of 18, must pass an integration exam and must not have convictions or criminal proceedings for non-culpable offences. It also introduces new grounds for revocation, including a final sentence of more than five years or more than three years for crimes of gender violence, rape, mistreatment of family members and cohabitants, stalking, revenge porn, as well as so-called 'culturally motivated' crimes, such as coercion or inducement to marry, female genital mutilation practices or human trafficking

The results of the referendum of 8 and 9 June on citizenship (with the rejection of the proposal to halve from 10 to 5 the years of residence required for adults to obtain Italian citizenship), 'together with the polls and the daily listening of citizens in the streets and squares, allow us to affirm that Italians consider the status of citizen as an important recognition, to be attributed only to foreigners residing in the national territory who prove that they deserve it,' say the signatories, group leader Riccardo Molinari and deputies Jacopo Morrone, Giorgia Andreuzza, Ingrid Bisa and Elena Maccanti, in their presentation of the text. 91 on citizenship.

The examination to obtain citizenship, according to the text, serves to verify effective integration as well as knowledge of the minimum social and legal rules: the content and methods of the test are established by the Minister of the Interior. The League also proposes to double, from 2 to 4 years, the minimum period of legal residence in Italy for minors, children or second-degree descendants of Italians, to apply for citizenship upon reaching the age of majority.

On the other hand, with regard to the administrative procedures for obtaining recognition, it is proposed to shorten the time limit from 24 to 12 months (extendable up to 24 instead of 36). In addition, the League calls for reducing the deadline for the adoption of the revocation of citizenship from 10 to 2 years, and eliminating the impossibility of revocation if the person concerned does not have or cannot acquire another citizenship, "an element that," the proposal explains, "currently makes revocation unfeasible in the majority of cases".

A tightening is also envisaged on family reunifications: excluded from this possibility are persons 'who in their active lives have made no contribution to the progress of the Italian national community and who, reasonably, may lead to an increase in the burden in terms of social benefits instead of representing support for the community'. The reference, the text states, is to dependent parents or those over 65. In addition, they call for raising the minimum annual income threshold to apply for reunification, from the current amount equal to the social allowance increased by half for each family member to be reunited, to three times the social allowance increased by the full amount for each family member to be reunited. Finally, the League aims to extend the obligation of health insurance to each family member to be reunited.