San Marino residence after five years

Under Article 16(2) of Law 118/2010, the Council Commission for Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Immigration grants residence, after checking the requirements, to a foreigner who lives stably and effectively in San Marino and holds an ordinary stay permit under Article 13, once five continuous years have passed since the permit was issued. The ordinary permit is the one issued for family reunification with a resident. The Commission may refuse residence by a reasoned decision.

Other permits can lead to the same point. A person with a cohabitation permit can receive an ordinary stay permit after five continuous years. A holder of an extraordinary humanitarian permit can have it converted into an ordinary permit or residence after at least two continuous years, on a reasoned application. In exceptional cases not covered by the law, the Commission may grant an ordinary permit to someone who has lived in San Marino for more than fifteen years in total, by a two-thirds majority.

The Gendarmerie checklist for residence after five years of ordinary permit asks for two ICAO photos, citizenship, residence and family status certificates, and San Marino and home-country criminal record and pending charges certificates; the San Marino certificates are requested at the Foreigners Office with EUR 15 in stamps. A spouse adds the marriage certificate (EUR 3 in stamps if the marriage is registered in San Marino) and a court declaration that no separation, divorce or annulment proceedings are pending or concluded; a cohabiting partner adds a declaration of cohabitation signed before an official at the Foreigners Office. The application costs EUR 100 in revenue stamps bought before the appointment. Documents must be in Italian or come with a sworn Italian translation made before a San Marino authority, or be multilingual certificates. Certificates must be no older than six months, and foreign certificates other than Italian ones must be legalised or apostilled.

The Commission can extend residence to a minor child who already holds a stay permit and lives with the foreign parent, without the five-year wait, and to an adult child up to 25 who held a stay permit when the parent was granted residence, lives with and depends on that parent and is neither married nor cohabiting. A separate Gendarmerie checklist covers residence for minor children without the five years of ordinary permit.

Residence is revoked by the Registrar if the holder has stopped living habitually in San Marino for more than six months, or when the Commission orders it on the grounds that bar a stay permit, such as convictions for intentional offences with more than one year of imprisonment or serious public-order reasons. After a refusal or revocation, a new application can be filed only after 120 days. A revocation takes effect 120 days after it is notified, and it can be challenged before the courts under Title II of Law No. 68 of 28 June 1989.