Correction of an incorrect surname on the birth certificate or in the Italian passport
You are an Italian citizen with dual nationality and you have presented all your certificates at an Italian consulate abroad and you have been given a passport with your personal data different from those of another passport or foreign document and you would like the different documents to match?
This problem often arises for citizens with Italian, Brazilian, Venezuelan or Argentinean nationality, for example.
The application of the rules on double surnames that apply in South American countries is often not well understood by Italian consulate officials and officials of Italian municipalities.
How does the double surname rule work in Spanish-speaking countries?
The "double surname" rule applies, according to which each person carries the first surname of both parents, in the order agreed between them. In case of disagreement, the child receives the first surname of the father together with the first surname of the mother.
However, what happens when children's birth certificates are transcribed at the Italian consulate or at the Italian commune?
Often, the birth certificate is transcribed with the father's full surname, which includes the parents' surnames and does not correspond to the surnames that the son or daughter should have.
Unfortunately, there may be some oversights or oversights that can be remedied by requesting a correction of the incorrectly certified data.
How to correct an incorrect birth certificate?
To find out how to correct an incorrect birth certificate, we refer you to art. 98 of Presidential Decree 3/11/2000, n° 396:
- The civil registry officer, ex officio or at the request of any interested person, corrects any material errors he may have made in the drafting of the birth certificate by means of an annotation. At the same time he must notify the Prefect, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the place where the deed was registered and the interested parties.
- The Registrar shall proceed in the same manner as in paragraph 1 in the event that he receives, for registration, a birth certificate relating to an Italian citizen born abroad of parents legitimately united in marriage, or relating to an Italian citizen recognized as a natural child by virtue of Article 262, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code, who has been given a surname other than the one to which he is entitled according to Italian law. The latter surname must be indicated in the note.
- The Public Prosecutor or any interested party may, within 30 days of receipt of the notification, lodge an appeal against the correction with the Court, which will decide in chambers by means of a reasoned decree with immediate effect.
These errors are considered administrative errors in the data on the birth certificate and the inconsistency must be communicated to the Office of Civil Status.
The application for rectification of the surname or personal data must be submitted by the person concerned or, in the case of minors, by the person exercising parental authority in the municipality concerned,
However, the procedure for requesting rectification may vary from one municipality to another.
Rectification of a civil registry record
Alternatively, if it is not possible to rectify the material error directly in the municipality, for example, in the case of errors of a different nature, it is necessary to go to the court in whose district the civil registry office that deposited the act to be rectified is located (Presidential Decree 3/11/2000, no. 396, art. 95).
In such a case, we speak of rectification of the act and our office in Tramite Italia lodges an appeal before the court of the jurisdiction of the municipality where the birth certificate is transcribed.
The public prosecutor may, at any time, initiate such proceedings.
The court may, without any particular formality, take information, acquire documents and order that the civil registry officer be heard. Before doing so, it must hear the public prosecutor and the parties concerned and, if necessary, request the opinion of the guardianship judge.
He then decides in chambers by means of a reasoned decree.
If the decree has a negative opinion, a complaint may be lodged with the Court of Appeal within the time limits laid down by law.
After the time limit for lodging the complaint has expired, the civil registrar sends a copy of the decree to the competent civil status office.
When to go to court
The same procedure as for rectification of the birth certificate must be followed in the case of:
- reconstitution of the destroyed or lost document
- the omitted document must be reconstituted
- annulment of the erroneously registered birth certificate;
- opposition to the civil registrar's refusal to receive a statement in whole or in part or to make a transcription, annotation or other performance.