Residence card for foreign family members of an EU citizen

Any EU citizen who has legally resided in Italy for a continuous period of 5 years acquires the right to permanent residence. On request, the municipality of residence can issue the applicant with a certified statement that he/she meets the conditions.
Foreign family members of an EU citizen acquire the right to permanent residence if they have lawfully lived in Italy with the EU citizen for a continuous 5 year period. In this case, they may apply for a permanent residence card at the police headquarters for their place of residence, submitting:

• their passport,
• their residency certificate,
• their expired residence card.

Currently, applications cannot be made online. The right to permanent residence is lost if the holder is absent from Italy for more than 2 consecutive years.
EU citizens and their family members, who are self-employed or subordinate workers, are not required to wait 5 years to acquire permanent resident status in certain cases, such as:

• retirement,
• permanent incapacity to work,
• work in another EU Member State.

The application for a permanent residence card may be submitted directly to the police commissioner in the place of residence.

Alternatively:

• you may fill in the relevant form directly and send it by post;
• designated municipal offices and other authorised offices are available to help applicants fill in the application forms, which must then be sent through the Post Office.
   

EU citizens and their family members may be deported on grounds of national security; imperative grounds of public security; other grounds of public order or public security.

Deportation orders are issued by the Minister of the Interior or the competent Prefect, in compliance with the principle of proportionality, when the subject represents an actual, specific, sufficiently serious threat to public order or public security. The deportation order is notified to the interested party, and states how to appeal and the deadline by which they must leave the country voluntarily, which must not be less than 1 month from the date of notification but which, in cases of proven urgency, may be reduced to 10 days. The order also states the length of the ban on re entering the country. In some cases, where deportation is urgent because any further stay in the country is incompatible with safe and civil coexistence, an order will be issued for forcible accompaniment of the deportee to the border.

The order may also be issued by the Prefect, possibly at the proposal of the Mayor of the municipality of residence, owing to lapse of the conditions that gave entitlement to the right to residence, in a duly reasoned document notified to the interested party. The order is issued taking into account the length of time the person concerned has been in the country, and his/her age, health, level of social and cultural integration and links to the country of origin. It contains information on how to appeal, as well as the deadline for leaving the country, which must not be less than 1 month. Unlike deportation on grounds of security, this type of deportation cannot include a ban on re entering the country. Together with the order, a document certifying the obligation to comply with the deportation order is delivered which must be presented at an Italian Consulate after the actual return to the country of origin. If the order is not complied with, the Prefect may issue an order for forcible deportation on grounds of public order, immediately executed by the Police Commissioner.

Any appeal against the deportation order, if issued on grounds of national security or other grounds of public order, must be filed with the administrative judicial authority. If the order is issued on grounds of public security, imperative grounds of public security or owing to lapse of the conditions that gave entitlement to the right to residence, the appeal must be lodged with the ordinary judicial authority.

Deportation orders issued on grounds of security and public order (Article 20 of Legislative Decree No 30/2007) or owing to lapse of the conditions that gave entitlement to the right to residence (Article 21 of this legislative decree) are sent to the municipality of residence of the citizen concerned by the order, which arranges for deletion of the citizen from the register with immediate effect (Article 18(2) of the above legislative decree) following the same procedures as for Italian citizens.

In such cases, the municipality proceeds as follows:

• it notifies the interested party of the start of the procedure, pursuant to Articles 7 and 8 of Law No 241/1990;
• it issues the order for deletion from the resident population register;
• it notifies the deletion order to the interested party;
• it notifies the Prefecture/ Police Headquarters of the deletion from the register.

• Legislative decree No 30 of 6 February 2007 implementing Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States
• Legislative decree No 32 of 28 February 2008 amending and supplementing legislative decree No 30 of 6 February 2007 implementing Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside