- Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments into Law 74 of 23 May 2025, introduced art. 3-bis into Law 91/1992 and ended unlimited transmission by descent.
- The new rule is not "two generations": a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship, subject to a closed list of exceptions. The most common one requires a parent or grandparent who held exclusively Italian citizenship.
- The Constitutional Court, in ruling 63/2026 filed on 30 April 2026, held the challenges to retroactivity partly inadmissible and partly unfounded. The debate is far from over: the Court of Cassation takes a different line and the Joint Divisions have yet to rule.
- If you no longer qualify, other routes into Italy remain — including one designed specifically for people of Italian descent, introduced by the reform itself (art. 1-bis).
Every month I get requests from people who want to know whether they qualify for Italian citizenship through their great-grandparents. Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, the United States, Canada: a whole world of descendants of Italian emigrants. Until March 2025 the jure sanguinis route was one of the most generous in the world.
It no longer is. And what matters is understanding exactly where the line now sits, because a great deal of imprecise information is circulating — starting with the idea that the reform "caps it at two generations", which is not what the statute says.
Here is what the legal text actually says, who still qualifies, what the courts have decided, and what concrete options remain if your case falls outside.
Index
What Is Jure Sanguinis and Why It Matters
Jure Sanguinis (Latin: "by right of blood") is the legal principle by which a child acquires the citizenship of their parents regardless of the place of birth. Italy has one of the most ancient traditions of this principle: it was formalized in the Italian Civil Code of 1865 and confirmed in all subsequent reforms (1912, 1992, 2000).
Why it matters so much
- It opens the door to an EU passport: you can live, work and study anywhere in the EU
- It eases access to the Impatriati regime (art. 5, Legislative Decree 209/2023): only 50% of employment and self-employment income is taxable, up to €600,000 per year, for 5 tax periods — 40% if you have minor children
- It eases access to the new-residents regime (art. 24-bis of the Income Tax Code), the flat substitute tax on foreign-source income, if your wealth sits outside Italy
- For over a century it was the most far-reaching EU citizenship by transmission: no generational limit, as long as the chain was unbroken
Until March 2025, tens of millions of people worldwide were estimated to be potentially eligible through this route. The reform sharply reduced that universe — which is exactly why it matters to understand precisely where the new boundary lies.
The Fundamental Principle
The rule, before the 2025 reform, was simple:
An Italian citizen who emigrates abroad transmits citizenship to all their descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.) provided that at the moment of birth of each generation, the Italian ancestor was still an Italian citizen and had not acquired another citizenship.
This is the principle of "no interruption". A single link broken (for example: an ancestor who naturalised as American before the birth of the next generation) interrupted the chain.
Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025 (the "Tajani decree") was converted with amendments into Law 74 of 23 May 2025 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 118 of 23/05/2025). It inserted art. 3-bis into Law 91/1992.
The new rule, in one sentence
A person born abroad who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship — including in respect of facts predating the provision's entry into force — unless one of the closed list of exceptions in art. 3-bis applies.
Note the legal construction: the statute does not say you lose citizenship. It says you never acquired it. That distinction, seemingly formal, proved decisive in the constitutional review, as we will see.
The exceptions: who is spared
| Art. 3-bis letter | Situation |
|---|
| a) | Citizenship already recognised following a complete application filed with a consulate or Comune before 23:59 (Rome time) on 27 March 2025 |
| a-bis) | Application filed on the date of an appointment booked and communicated by the competent office before 23:59 on 27/03/2025 |
| b) | Citizenship recognised by a court, on a claim filed before 23:59 on 27/03/2025 |
| c) | A parent or grandparent holds — or held at the time of death — exclusively Italian citizenship |
| d) | A parent or adoptive parent was resident in Italy for at least 2 continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child's birth or adoption |
Also outside the new regime (pre-reform rules continue to apply):
- anyone born on Italian territory, even if holding another citizenship;
- anyone who holds no other citizenship besides Italian.
The most widespread error: reading the reform as a "two-generation limit". It is not. Letter c) does not ask for an Italian grandparent: it asks for an exclusively Italian grandparent — one with no other nationality at all. An Italian grandparent who naturalised as Argentine, Brazilian or American does not trigger this exception, even though they are your direct grandparent. The requirement was clarified by Ministry of the Interior circular no. 26185/2025.
Cost of the procedure
Since 1 January 2025, every application for recognition by descent filed with a consulate carries a consular fee of €600 (art. 7B of the consular tariff), payable in local currency. It is a mandatory contribution for processing the file and does not guarantee a favourable outcome.
Who Qualifies Today (2026)
Forget counting generations for a moment and answer these questions in order. This is how a file is assessed today.
Step 1 — Were you born in Italy, or do you hold no other citizenship?
✅ Yes → art. 3-bis does not affect you. Pre-reform rules apply. Proceed with the classic chain-of-transmission analysis.
Step 2 — Did you file an application (or hold a confirmed appointment, or file a court claim) before 27 March 2025?
✅ Yes → you are covered by letters a), a-bis) or b). Your file is judged under the old rules, with no generational limit. This is precisely the part the Constitutional Court upheld in 2026.
Step 3 — Do you have a parent or grandparent with exclusively Italian citizenship?
That is: someone who never naturalised elsewhere and held no other nationality — not even by ius soli of their country of birth.
✅ Yes → you qualify under letter c).
❌ No → continue.
Watch out — a very common pattern in Argentina and Brazil: a grandparent born in Argentina to Italian parents was Argentine by ius soli from birth, in addition to Italian. That is not "exclusively Italian". Letter c) does not apply.
Step 4 — Did either of your parents live in Italy for at least 2 consecutive years, after obtaining Italian citizenship and before you were born?
✅ Yes → you qualify under letter d).
❌ No → you do not qualify administratively under the new regime.
Visual summary
| Your situation | Status in 2026 |
|---|
| Parent who is exclusively Italian | ✅ Qualify (letter c) |
| Grandparent who is exclusively Italian | ✅ Qualify (letter c) |
| Dual-national parent who lived 2 years in Italy before your birth | ✅ Qualify (letter d) |
| Application or court claim filed before 27/03/2025 | ✅ Old regime (letters a, a-bis, b) |
| Italian parent or grandparent with dual nationality, without the 2-year residence | ❌ Not administratively → assess the judicial route |
| Italian great-grandparents, rest of the chain dual-national | ❌ Not administratively → assess the judicial route |
| You were born in Italy | ✅ Old regime, unchanged |
Minor Children: Deadlines Extended to 2029
This is the chapter where the situation has most changed in families' favour, and where outdated information is everywhere.
Minor children born abroad to an Italian citizen who does not transmit citizenship automatically may acquire it by "benefit of law", through a formal declaration by the parents before a consulate or Comune.
| Birth / filiation | Regime | Deadline for the declaration | Cost |
|---|
| Before 25 May 2025 (and a minor on 24/05/2025, child of a citizen by birth falling under letters a, a-bis, b) | Transitional | 31 May 2029 | Free since 01/01/2026 |
| From 25 May 2025 | Ordinary | 3 years from birth or from establishment of filiation/adoption | Free since 01/01/2026 |
| Minor who is already a citizen by automatic transmission | — | No deadline: only transcription of the birth record | — |
Two developments worth knowing:
- Extension to 31 May 2029: Law 26 of 28 February 2026, converting Decree-Law 200 of 31 December 2025 (the "Milleproroghe"), moved the transitional deadline from 31 May 2026 to 31 May 2029. If you read somewhere that the deadline expired in May 2026, that information is out of date.
- Free of charge, and a 3-year ordinary deadline: Law 199 of 30 December 2025 (2026 Budget Law), art. 1, paragraph 513, extended the ordinary deadline from 1 to 3 years and abolished the €250 fee. Declarations filed from 1 January 2026 are free. Ministry of the Interior circular prot. 889/2026 confirmed this.
Important: acquisition by "benefit of law" is not citizenship by birth or jure sanguinis. Under art. 15 of Law 91/1992, the minor is not a citizen from the day of birth but from the day after the declaration. This has practical consequences for transmission to the next generation.
If the person concerned, a minor on 24 May 2025, reaches 18 in the meantime, they must file the declaration themselves within the same deadline.
What the Courts Have Decided: Ruling 63/2026 and After
In ruling no. 63/2026, filed on 30 April 2026 (ECLI:IT:COST:2026:63), on a referral from the Ordinary Court of Turin (immigration division), the Italian Constitutional Court disposed of the constitutional challenges to art. 3-bis — limited to the words «anche prima della data di entrata in vigore del presente articolo» and to letters a), a-bis) and b) — holding them partly inadmissible and partly unfounded. Those raised under arts. 2 and 3 of the Constitution were dismissed as unfounded; those under art. 117 in relation to EU law and Protocol no. 4 ECHR were inadmissible.
This is the Court's second engagement with the subject: in ruling no. 142/2025 it had already held partly inadmissible and partly unfounded the challenges to the absence of generational limits, without then reaching D.L. 36/2025 because the disputes predated 27 March 2025.
The core reasoning is this: the provision is not a loss or a revocation of citizenship but an original preclusion of acquisition. By characterising it that way, the Court moved the case outside the proportionality tests applicable to deprivation of nationality — those derived from the EU case law in Tjebbes and Commission v Malta (C-181/23, 29 April 2025) — and into the domain of the legislature's broad discretion over acquisition.
The Court added that the retroactivity was not "wholly unforeseeable", given the notably favourable regime being repealed, and weighed the fact that the reform preserved those who had already applied.
But the debate is not closed
Three elements keep the matter open, and are worth knowing before writing off a case:
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The Court of Cassation holds a different line. Order (ordinanza) no. 13818/2026 of the First Civil Division, decided on 4 March and filed on 12 May 2026 — twelve days after the Constitutional Court's ruling — states at paragraph 2.7 that «il diritto di cittadinanza è un diritto soggettivo assoluto di elevato rango costituzionale, che nasce insieme al titolare e ha carattere permanente (oltre che imprescrittibile)»: the right to citizenship is an absolute subjective right of high constitutional rank, which comes into being together with its holder and is permanent as well as imprescriptible. That is the line of the 2022 Joint Divisions (judgments 25317 and 25318) and sits awkwardly with the "no original acquisition" thesis.
Two qualifications matter here, because this order circulates widely and is often explained badly:
- The case began in 2022, well before the reform: the applicants were not subject to art. 3-bis. The order is not, on its own, a workaround for files that do fall under Law 74/2025.
- Its operative holding is procedural, not substantive: it concerns standing to sue. The case involved descendants of an Italian emigrant to Colombia who could not obtain an appointment at the Embassy in Bogotá. The Cassation held that where the administration itself creates «impedimenti, difficoltà o lungaggini che non consentono neppure la presentazione della relativa richiesta», that alone is enough to go to court without having first filed an administrative application. It is a valuable tool against consular backlogs — and the statement of principle at paragraph 2.7 remains available as an argument in litigation.
-
The Joint Divisions of the Cassation have not yet ruled. On 14 April 2026 they heard argument on two substantive questions: automatic loss of citizenship by minor children on a parent's naturalisation (art. 12 of Law 555/1912) and the temporal scope of D.L. 36/2025. As of this update the decision has not been filed. Joint Divisions rulings set principles of law that bind Italian judges in practice: this will be the most consequential decision of the year in this field.
-
Further constitutional challenges remain pending, raised among others by the Courts of Mantua and Campobasso — a measure of how much litigation the reform generated.
What this means in practice: the Constitutional Court did not close the judicial route. It confirmed the legitimacy of the 27 March 2025 cut-off. The questions concerning loss of citizenship through a parent's naturalisation during a child's minority — which affect a very large share of files, especially American and South American — remain unresolved at the highest level.
The 1948 Case: The Controversy
The "1948 case" concerns descendants of Italian women who were Italian citizens before 1948 but could not transmit citizenship to their children due to the patriarchal rule of the time.
Who is involved
- Children of Italian women who were Italian citizens at the time of the child's birth, but the child did not acquire Italian citizenship because the law of the time did not allow women to transmit it
- Example: an Italian woman who emigrated to Argentina in 1920, had a child in 1925, but could not transmit citizenship to that child (the father had to be Italian for the child to acquire it)
The legal basis, in three steps
Under Law 555 of 1912, only the father transmitted citizenship (art. 1), and an Italian woman who married a foreigner lost Italian citizenship if she acquired her husband's (art. 10). Equality arrived with the Constitution, in force on 1 January 1948, but without retroactive effect. The correction came through case law:
- Constitutional Court, ruling no. 87/1975 — struck down art. 10, paragraph 3, of Law 555/1912: automatic loss of citizenship on marriage to a foreigner.
- Constitutional Court, ruling no. 30/1983 — struck down art. 1, nos. 1 and 2, of Law 555/1912 in so far as it did not provide that the child of a citizen mother is also a citizen by birth.
- Court of Cassation, Joint Divisions, judgment no. 4466 of 25 February 2009 — departing from the earlier no. 3331/2004, it recognised the right to the status of Italian citizen for a person born abroad to the child of an Italian woman married to a foreigner under Law 555/1912, holding that the right to citizenship, as a permanent and imprescriptible status, is justiciable at any time, even where the ancestor has died.
Beware of a widespread online confusion: the key 2009 decision is from the Cassation (Joint Divisions 4466/2009), not the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court rulings are from 1975 and 1983. You will often see cited a non-existent "Constitutional Court ruling 30/2009", which conflates the two.
In practice, since 2009: descendants of an Italian woman born after 1 January 1948 obtain recognition administratively (consulate or Comune). Those born before 1 January 1948 still receive administrative refusals — the administration relies on Council of State opinion no. 105 of 15 April 1983 — and must go to an Italian court.
Current status in 2026
| Aspect | Status |
|---|
| Right to claim citizenship | ✅ Recognised through case law |
| Automatic procedure at consulates | ❌ Not available: always requires a court claim |
| Judicial procedure (in Italy) | ✅ Available |
| Does it escape art. 3-bis? | ⚠️ Not automatically |
The critical point many miss: the "1948 case" solves a different problem from the one the 2025 reform creates. It solves gender discrimination in transmission. Art. 3-bis then operates downstream, on the exclusive-citizenship requirement and on the filing date. Winning the 1948 argument is not enough if your file falls within the scope of art. 3-bis and fits none of its exceptions. The two analyses are cumulative, not alternative.
Verdict: the 1948 case is still alive, but since March 2025 there are two filters to clear instead of one. Every file needs individual assessment by a specialist lawyer.
Via Consulate vs Via Court: Which to Choose
There are two main routes to obtain Italian citizenship by descent:
Route 1: Consular (Administrative)
- You apply at the Italian consulate competent for your jurisdiction
- Consulate verifies the documents and decides
- Times: variable, often 2-5 years
- Costs: lower (no lawyer usually needed)
- Availability of appeals: if rejected, you can appeal to the courts
Route 2: Judicial (via Court)
- You file a claim before the competent Italian court: the specialised division for the ancestor's municipality of birth if you live abroad, or for your place of residence if you live in Italy. Historically many 1948 cases were handled by the Civil Court of Rome
- The court rules on your right to citizenship
- Times: 1-3 years
- Costs: €3,000-€8,000 for the lawyer, plus court fees
- The only route for the 1948 case, and for files where you consider the consulate's application of art. 3-bis contestable
Beware of an expensive misunderstanding: filing a court claim today does not reopen the old regime. The 27 March 2025 date applies to the judicial route as well — letter b) of art. 3-bis expressly refers to claims filed before that moment, and the Constitutional Court confirmed the cut-off in ruling 63/2026. The judicial route still makes sense, but for other reasons: interpretive questions still open (above all loss of a minor's citizenship on a parent's naturalisation, pending before the Joint Divisions), errors of assessment by the consulate, or the 1948 case.
| Route | Pros | Cons |
|---|
| Consular | Lower cost, no lawyer needed | Long waits, strict application of art. 3-bis, non-refundable €600 fee |
| Judicial | Allows the interpretation to be argued, only route for the 1948 case, timelines sometimes more predictable than the consular queue | High cost, requires a lawyer, does not avoid the 27/03/2025 cut-off |
Recommendation: if you clearly fall under letter c) or d) of art. 3-bis and your documentation is complete, consular route. If your case turns on the 1948 rule, on a parent's naturalisation during your minority, or on a contested interpretation, judicial route — and it is worth following, or waiting for, the Joint Divisions decision before settling on a strategy.
Required Documents
Regardless of the route chosen, you will need:
From your ancestor
- Birth certificate of the Italian ancestor (from the Italian Comune)
- Marriage certificate of the ancestor
- Death certificate (if applicable)
- Certificate of Italian citizenship (from the Comune or consulate)
- Certificate of non-naturalisation (issued by the foreign country where the ancestor emigrated)
From each generation in between
- Birth certificate of each intermediate generation
- Marriage certificate of each intermediate generation
- Death certificate (if applicable)
- For intermediate generations who emigrated: certificate of non-naturalisation before the birth of the next generation
From you
- Birth certificate (with apostille and translation if necessary)
- Valid passport
- Proof of residence
- Tax code (codice fiscale) (you can request one from the consulate)
- Fingerprint collection (at the consulate or in Italy)
Critical note: each foreign document must be apostilled (or legalised through the Italian consulate) and translated into Italian by a sworn translator. The Italian consulate of your jurisdiction can provide a list of approved translators.
The Process Step-by-Step
Via Consulate
- Gather all documents (the hardest part, especially for older generations)
- Request the appointment at the Italian consulate of your jurisdiction (often online, wait times of 1-3 years)
- Submit the application with all the documents
- Wait for the verification (variable times, up to 24 months per the new law)
- Receive the recognition and register in the AIRE (Registry of Italians Abroad)
- Receive your passport at the consulate
Via Court
- Hire an Italian immigration lawyer
- The lawyer gathers the documents (can be more flexible on some requirements)
- File the lawsuit in the competent Italian court
- Court hearing (often without your physical presence, via lawyer)
- Court ruling (1-3 years)
- Registration at the Comune
- Passport issued by the Italian consulate
Major Country Cases: USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia, UK
United States
- Most common generation: 3rd (great-grandparents who emigrated 1880-1920)
- Major challenge: US naturalisation certificates are often hard to find
- Consulate route: increasingly restrictive since 2025
- Court route: necessary for many cases
Argentina
- Most common generation: 2nd-3rd (parents/grandparents who emigrated 1880-1950)
- Special advantage: the 1948 case is particularly relevant
- Community of Italian origin in Argentina: estimated in the millions; one of the largest Italian diasporas in the world alongside Brazil's
- Consulate route: very long times (5+ years in Buenos Aires)
- Court route: common, often via Rome courts
Brazil
- Most common generation: 2nd-3rd (similar to Argentina)
- Special advantage: Brazilian documents are well-organised
- Consulate route: long times, especially in São Paulo
- Court route: viable
Canada
- Most common generation: 2nd-3rd
- Consulate route: more accessible than in South America
- Court route: less common
Australia
- Most common generation: 3rd (great-grandparents who emigrated 1880-1920)
- Italian community in Australia: ~1 million descendants
- Consulate route: similar to US
- Court route: necessary for 3rd generation cases
UK
- Most common generation: 2nd-3rd
- Post-Brexit advantage: more interest in Italian passport
- Consulate route: long times in London
- Court route: viable
If You No Longer Qualify: The Routes Still Open
This is the part almost nobody covers, and it matters most if you have just discovered your file falls outside.
Losing the right to recognition does not mean losing Italy. It means the path changes: instead of a declaratory recognition of something you already were, you build a residence. And for descendants of Italians there is a preferential lane.
1. The oriundi route under art. 1-bis (the least known)
Art. 1-bis of D.L. 36/2025, added during the conversion into law, is headed «Provisions to encourage the recovery of the Italian roots of oriundi». It eases:
- entry into Italy for employed work by a foreigner of Italian descent, with no generational limit;
- and subsequent naturalisation.
In other words: the same legislature that closed the door on automatic recognition opened a specific one for descendants who genuinely want to come. If your great-grandfather was Italian and you no longer qualify under art. 3-bis, this route still recognises your status as oriundo.
2. Self-employment visa (lavoro autonomo)
For those who want to open their own business or work as an independent professional. Requires a nulla osta and is subject to decreto flussi quotas. It is the natural route for someone who planned to use an Italian passport to work for themselves.
3. Investor visa
No quotas, no lottery, defined investment thresholds, and compatible with the substitute tax regime for new residents. The fastest and most predictable route for profiles with capital. Requirements and thresholds are in our investor visa guide.
4. Startup / innovative self-employment visa
For business projects with an innovation component, with its own procedure and capital requirements more accessible than the investor visa.
5. Elective residence
For those with stable passive income who do not need to work in Italy. It excludes employment but grants legal residence — and, over time, opens the door to naturalisation by residence.
Quick comparison
| Route | Capital required | Allows work | Advantage for descendants |
|---|
| Oriundi (art. 1-bis) | No | Yes (employment) | Designed for you, no generational limit |
| Self-employment | Low | Yes | — |
| Investor | High | Yes | Combines with the new-residents tax regime |
| Startup | Medium | Yes | — |
| Elective residence | Stable income | No | — |
The fact that changes the calculation: after a period of legal residence in Italy, a descendant of Italians can access naturalisation. The end result — an Italian and therefore European passport — is the same. What changes is the path and the timeline. Many files written off as lost are in fact files that need reframing.
If your ultimate goal was to live and work or do business in Italy, and not simply to hold the passport, the right question is not "do I qualify for jure sanguinis?" but "what is the most efficient route to residence given my profile?". Those are different questions and they lead to different decisions.
Common Mistakes That Block Applications
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Ancestor naturalised before child's birth. If your Italian ancestor became American (or Argentine, etc.) BEFORE your parent/grandparent was born, the chain is broken. This is the #1 reason for rejection.
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Missing documents. Italian consulates are increasingly strict on documentation. If you can't find a birth certificate, you can ask the Comune directly, but it takes time.
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Untranslated or non-apostilled documents. Each foreign document must be apostilled and translated by a sworn translator. No exceptions.
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Wrong ancestor generation. Many people think they qualify through a great-grandparent when in fact the chain is broken.
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Not checking the spouse. If the Italian ancestor naturalised after marriage, the spouse's situation must also be verified.
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Confusing "Italian grandparent" with "exclusively Italian grandparent". This is now the most expensive mistake: the full file is assembled, the €600 fee is paid, and the application is refused because the grandparent also held the nationality of the host country. Check this point first, before spending on apostilles and translations.
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Believing that suing today reopens the old regime. The 27 March 2025 date applies to the judicial route too. A court claim serves other purposes, not dodging the cut-off.
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Using information from before May 2026. Between the conversion into law (May 2025), the 2026 Budget Law, the Milleproroghe (February 2026) and ruling 63/2026, the field changed four times in a year. Deadlines for minor children in particular were extended from 2026 to 2029.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I still get Italian citizenship through my great-grandparents in 2026?
Administratively, almost certainly not, unless you filed before 27 March 2025. Art. 3-bis requires a parent or grandparent with exclusively Italian citizenship, or two years of Italian residence by a parent before your birth. A great-grandparent triggers neither exception. What remains is assessment via the judicial route, especially where the chain includes a naturalisation during a descendant's minority: that point is pending before the Joint Divisions of the Cassation.
No, and this is the most widespread misunderstanding. The reform does not count generations: it provides that a person born abroad holding another citizenship never acquired Italian citizenship, subject to exceptions. The most common exception requires a parent or grandparent who is exclusively Italian. An Italian grandparent who also held Argentine or American nationality does not meet the requirement, even as your direct grandparent.
My grandfather was born in Argentina to Italian parents. Does that work?
Probably not under letter c). Being born in Argentina, your grandfather acquired Argentine nationality by ius soli alongside Italian: he was not "exclusively Italian". You would need to check letter d) — whether either parent lived in Italy for two years before your birth — and, failing that, assess the judicial route or the residence alternatives.
Is there any point in filing a court claim now?
It depends why. It does not work to escape the 27 March 2025 cut-off: letter b) of art. 3-bis refers to claims filed before that date, and the Constitutional Court confirmed that limit in ruling 63/2026. It can make sense to argue interpretive questions still open, for the 1948 case, or against a consular refusal you consider wrong.
Did the 31 May 2026 deadline for minor children expire?
No: it was extended to 31 May 2029 by Law 26 of 28 February 2026, converting D.L. 200/2025 (Milleproroghe). In addition, since 1 January 2026 the declaration is free (the €250 fee was abolished) and the ordinary deadline for children born from 25 May 2025 went from 1 to 3 years from birth.
How long does the process take?
- Consular route: 2-5 years (sometimes more in South America). The maximum duration of the verification procedure is 730 days under D.P.C.M. no. 33 of 17/01/2014
- Court route: 1-3 years
How much does it cost?
- Consular route: a €600 consular fee per application (since 01/01/2025, non-refundable) + document, apostille and sworn translation costs
- Court route: €3,000-€8,000 (lawyer + court fees + document costs)
- Declaration for minor children: free since 01/01/2026
Do I need to speak Italian?
Not for a jure sanguinis application, where citizenship is recognised as pre-existing. A B1 Italian language test is required for naturalisation by residence or by marriage — different routes.
Can I get Italian citizenship through my mother?
Yes, if your mother was an Italian citizen when you were born and, since the reform, if your file also clears art. 3-bis. If you were born before 1 January 1948 to an Italian woman, see the 1948 case above: the route is judicial.
What if my ancestor lost Italian citizenship by naturalising in another country?
This is the most common "interruption" of the chain. If your Italian ancestor became a citizen of another country BEFORE the birth of the next generation, transmission is broken. Whether the same applies where the descendant was a minor at the time of naturalisation is precisely the question before the Joint Divisions of the Cassation.
Is it worth applying now or waiting?
If you fall within one of the art. 3-bis exceptions, apply as soon as possible: the policy direction of recent years has been restrictive and consular queues are long. If your case turns on the interpretation pending before the Joint Divisions, it makes sense to assemble the documentation now and settle the strategy once the decision is filed.
Can I have dual citizenship?
Yes. Italy allows dual citizenship. The US, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia and the UK also allow it. Note the reform's paradox: it is precisely holding another citizenship that triggers art. 3-bis. Italy does not require you to renounce anything, but your ancestors' dual nationality is what can block your file.
If I don't qualify, can I still move to Italy?
Yes. There is a route designed for people of Italian descent — art. 1-bis of D.L. 36/2025, easing entry for employment for oriundi with no generational limit — alongside the self-employment, investor, startup and elective residence visas. After a period of legal residence, naturalisation opens up. See If You No Longer Qualify.
Want to Evaluate Your Case?
Italian citizenship by descent is one of the most complex and fast-moving areas of Italian law, and since March 2025 a correct analysis has two layers: the classic chain of transmission and the art. 3-bis filter.
If you want a personalised assessment — verification of your documents, identification of chain interruptions, and, where recognition is not viable, the most efficient residence route for your profile — book a consultation.
Book a consultation →
And if your goal is to start a business in Italy, begin here:
Official Sources
- Law no. 91 of 5 February 1992, art. 3-bis, introduced by art. 1(1) of Decree-Law no. 36 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments by Law no. 74 of 23 May 2025 (G.U. no. 118 of 23/05/2025)
- Constitutional Court, ruling no. 63/2026 (ECLI:IT:COST:2026:63), filed 30 April 2026 — cortecostituzionale.it
- Constitutional Court, ruling no. 142/2025 — challenges to the absence of generational limits
- Court of Cassation, First Civil Division, order no. 13818/2026, decided 4 March and filed 12 May 2026 (R.G. no. 1944/2025)
- Court of Cassation, Joint Civil Divisions, judgments nos. 25317 and 25318 of 2022
- Court of Cassation, Joint Civil Divisions, judgment no. 4466 of 25 February 2009 — 1948 case
- Constitutional Court, rulings nos. 87/1975 and 30/1983 — unconstitutionality of arts. 10 and 1 of Law no. 555/1912
- Law no. 555 of 13 June 1912 and the 1865 Civil Code — historic rules on the chain of transmission
- Ministry of the Interior circular no. 26185/2025 — the exclusively-Italian citizenship requirement
- Ministry of the Interior circular prot. 889/2026 — application of art. 4(1-bis) of Law 91/1992
- Law no. 199 of 30 December 2025 (2026 Budget Law), art. 1, paragraph 513
- Law no. 26 of 28 February 2026, converting Decree-Law no. 200 of 31 December 2025 ("Milleproroghe")
- D.P.C.M. no. 33 of 17 January 2014 — 730-day procedural deadline
- Consular notices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI): Consulates General of Buenos Aires, Chicago, Marseille, San Francisco and the Embassy in Brasilia
Last updated: 27 July 2026. A developing area: the Joint Divisions of the Cassation decision on the temporal scope of the reform, argued on 14 April 2026, had not been filed as at this date. This article is general information and does not replace individual legal advice.
Giovanni Emmi|June 20, 2026
