Lawyers for foreigners Turin

The legal deadline for concluding the procedure is 24 months, extendable up to a maximum of 36. Very often, however, the wait goes on well beyond that, and this can cause real problems.

Filing a reminder with the assistance of a partner lawyer formally puts the administration on notice and breaks the administrative silence.

Your citizenship application may be refused, and the reasons change depending on whether it was an application BY MARRIAGE or BY RESIDENCE.

Reasons for refusal in the case of marriage

• Sham marriage: if the marriage was entered into solely to obtain citizenship, without a genuine shared life, it may be considered a “marriage of convenience” and lead to the refusal of citizenship;
• End of the marriage bond: legal separation, dissolution or termination of the civil effects of the marriage occurring before the decree interrupt the procedure.

Reasons for refusal in the case of residence

• Insufficient income: this is a fundamental requirement for obtaining citizenship;
• Gaps in residence: interruptions in the continuity of legal residence.

Reasons for refusal that apply to both types of application

• Problems with documents: the documentation submitted is one of the most frequent causes of rejection. Incorrect or missing documents, or documents submitted in an unsuitable form, lead to the application being rejected;
• Knowledge of the Italian language: a B1-level certificate is required;
• Disqualifying criminal convictions: Law no. 91 of 5 February 1992 sets out the convictions that prevent citizenship from being granted.

Pay attention to the competent court. If the refusal concerns citizenship by residence, the appeal is brought before the TAR Lazio (Regional Administrative Court of Lazio), in Rome, within 60 days: jurisdiction is national, whatever province you live in. If the application was by marriage, jurisdiction normally lies with the ordinary courts, unless the refusal is based on reasons of State security. Choosing the wrong court makes the appeal inadmissible.

In all these situations it is advisable to have the decision examined by a specialised partner lawyer, who will identify the reason for the refusal and the correct remedy.

Did you start your citizenship application but then go back to your country of birth for personal reasons, and now you want to return to Italy and pick up the application you left halfway?

Contact us: a partner lawyer will check what stage the procedure had reached and whether it can be resumed without starting from scratch.
Be careful, though: an interruption in legal residence can affect the continuity requirement, and this needs to be assessed before taking any other step.

This is one of the most frequent reasons for citizenship being refused: a gap in residence means that the foreign citizen has not lived continuously in Italy, or that there are periods in which they were removed from the population register.

The interruption is not always really the applicant’s fault, though: sometimes it is due to registry errors or to removals made by the office and never notified. A partner lawyer can reconstruct your registry history and, where the conditions are met, challenge the refusal.

Refusal, revocation and annulment of the residence permit are among the most common situations foreign citizens face.

A residence permit is refused when, for example, the application is not submitted correctly, the documents are incomplete or the foreign citizen does not attend the appointment at the Immigration Office of the competent Questura.

Revocation of the residence permit can occur when a valid permit already exists but was issued on the basis of incorrect grounds, for example falsified identity details or documents, or final criminal judgments.

[Please remember that losing your job DOES NOT automatically lead to the revocation of the permit: the worker can apply for a permit pending employment (attesa occupazione)].

Finally, annulment of the residence permit occurs when it is established that the permit was issued unlawfully, without the requirements being met.

How to challenge it: a refusal by the Questore is challenged by an appeal to the TAR (Regional Administrative Court) of the place where the Questura is located, within 60 days of notification. Permits for family reasons are an exception: these fall under the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts.

Under Article 5(9) of the TUI, the residence permit must be issued, renewed or converted within 90 days of the application being submitted. In practice, actual times are much longer because of the offices’ workload.

However, exceeding the legal deadline is not without consequences: it allows you to send a formal reminder to the office and, in cases of prolonged delay, to use the remedies available against administrative inaction.

If you go from being a foreign citizen in Italy for study purposes to being a foreign citizen in Italy for work, you need to convert the type of your residence permit. The same applies every time your situation changes. Each type of residence permit has its own maximum validity, issuing procedure and features.

Be careful: not all permits can be converted, and some conversions fall within the quotas of the flows decree (decreto flussi). If you run into difficulties, Avvocati per Stranieri will put you in touch with a partner lawyer who will check whether conversion is allowed in your case.

Renewing a residence permit should be a simple procedure, but it may be rejected for reasons that arose in the time since the first application.

The applicant may in fact have lost some key requirements for issuing the permit, or a criminal record may have emerged.

In this case too, the remedy is an appeal to the TAR within 60 days, except for permits for family reasons, which fall under the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. The deadlines are short: it is advisable to have the decision examined straight away.

Under Article 29(8) of the TUI, the Prefecture must issue the reunification clearance within a maximum of 150 days of the application.

When the application was submitted correctly and the documentation is complete, but you receive no reply beyond that deadline, the thing to do is send a formal reminder.

In these cases the reminder is prepared with the assistance of a partner lawyer, who can also formally require the office to act within a specific deadline.

A partner lawyer can file an appeal if your family reunification application is refused. The reasons for a rejection can vary:

• missing requirements: the most important include the income and accommodation requirements, without which reunification cannot be granted;
• problems with the documentation: everything submitted must be complete and correct and, for foreign documents, properly translated and legalised or apostilled;
• a negative opinion from the Questura on grounds preventing the family member’s entry.

Where to challenge it: in this area jurisdiction lies with the ordinary courts. The refusal of the clearance is challenged before the Tribunal, in the section specialised in immigration matters, and not before the administrative courts.

One of the most frequent situations concerns problems with documents.

Note an important distinction: the passport is issued by the authorities of your country of origin, i.e. the Embassy or Consulate, and not by Italian offices. A lawyer cannot issue it or speed up its issue.

A lawyer can, however, step in when an expired or missing document is blocking an Italian procedure: residence permit renewal, registration with the registry office, citizenship application. In those cases there are procedural solutions that a partner lawyer can assess with you.

Foreign citizens often receive a summons to the Questura without understanding why, and the application gets stuck right there. So if you too:

• 1) have been summoned to the Questura but don’t know why;
• 2) need legal assistance and don’t know who to turn to;
• 3) have applied for a residence permit or citizenship and received a summons without explanation;

write to us: a partner lawyer can file a request for access to records to find out what your file contains and prepare you for the interview.

Problems at work can be difficult to solve. A partner lawyer specialising in labour law for foreigners can assist you if:

• your employer does not pay you, or does not pay you regularly, and you want to recover unpaid wages;
• your employer has unfairly dismissed you, accusing you of negligence;
• you suffer mobbing at work from colleagues or from the employer;
• you are discriminated against because of your religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation;
• you are a victim of harassment or other forms of physical or verbal violence by your boss or colleagues.

A warning about deadlines. If you have been dismissed, Article 6 of Law 604/1966 requires you to challenge the dismissal in writing within 60 days of receiving the notice, and to file the claim or start conciliation within the following 180 days. Once these deadlines expire, the right to challenge is lost for good, even when the dismissal would be unlawful.

Violating the TUI (Consolidated Immigration Act) or committing serious offences can lead to expulsion orders and affect the renewal of your residence permit.

One point must be clear, however: expulsion is never automatic. The administration must assess the overall situation — time elapsed, subsequent conduct, family ties, integration — and the order can be challenged before the Justice of the Peace (Giudice di Pace) within 30 days of notification.

If you have received a notice of this kind, contact a partner lawyer immediately: the sooner you act, the more options remain.