Italian citizenship by descent and ius sanguinis: what changes with the new decree
The new decree-law no. 36 issued on 28/3/2025 by the Italian government has radically changed the criteria for accessing Italian citizenship by descent for all Italian-descendants, considerably restricting, beyond all expectations, the possibility of claiming ius sanguinis descent only to the second generation or grandparents and no longer without the generation limits previously provided for by the law.
Ius sanguinis is the legal principle according to which citizenship is transmitted by filiation and descent, which is the one in force in Italy, while ius soli citizenship is that linked to the territory where one is born.
The legislation in force in Italy until 27 March 2025 recognised the right to apply for citizenship by descent from an Italian ancestor without limit of generations.
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A decree-law with immediate effect from 28 March changed the rules.
According to the Ministry’s press release, the decree states that ‘descendants of Italian citizens, born abroad, will only automatically be citizens for two generations, i.e. only those who have at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy will be citizens from birth.
Children of Italians will automatically acquire citizenship if they are born in Italy or if, prior to their birth, one of their citizen parents resided at least two continuous years in Italy.
The new limits only apply to those who have another citizenship (so as not to create stateless persons) and apply regardless of their date of birth (before or after the decree-law came into force).
Obviously, those who have previously been recognised as such (by a court, a municipality, a consulate) will remain citizens. Requests for the recognition of citizenship that are documented and submitted by 23.59 (Rome time) on 27 March 2025 will still be processed according to the previous rules.’
The right to Italian citizenship by descent or ius sanguinis is suddenly restricted to only those whose grandparents were born in Italy in order, according to the minister, to counter the phenomenon of abuse and commercialisation of Italian passports.
In fact, this leaves many who were in the process of applying for Italian citizenship by descent with a bitter taste in their mouths as they are no longer able to obtain a new passport, after perhaps having spent time and money gathering the elaborate and copious documentation required, and with shattered dreams!
The reform, again according to the Minister, comes after the significant growth in citizenship applications recorded in recent years and the pressure on the administrative system of Consulates and Embassies and on the judicial system with the pending of more than 60,000 procedures for ascertaining citizenship.
According to the Ministry’s data, Italian citizens living abroad have increased from 4.6 million in 2014 to 6.4 million in 2024, an increase of 40% in ten years and in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela there has been a very high growth in the recognition of citizenships (in Argentina from 20,000 in 2023 to 30,000 in 2024).
The Minister has therefore planned a first decree-law with immediate effect from 28 March 2025, to be converted into law, and a bill with a subsequent series of citizenship reforms, which will also provide that residents abroad will no longer submit citizenship applications to Consulates but to a special centralised office at the Farnesina, which is expected to be organised within 1 year and which will have 48 months and no longer 24 to respond
The decree-law is based on the considered extraordinary and urgent need to introduce limitations on the transmission of citizenship to persons born and resident abroad, to enforce the principle of the existence of effective ties with the State and, pending the issuance of an organic and comprehensive law, to limit the exceptional and uncontrolled influx of applications, and recognises as Italian citizens as of 28 March 2025 those who can claim one of the following conditions:
– a parent or adopting citizen was born in Italy;
– a parent or adopting citizen was resident in Italy for at least two continuous years prior to the date of birth or adoption of the child;
– a first-degree citizen ascendant of the parents or adopting citizens was born in Italy.
The reform approved by the March 2025 decree-law therefore limits the automatic recognition of Italian citizenship to the second generation, i.e. grandparents, while the bill should also add an obligation to maintain an effective link with Italy by exercising at least once every 25 years one of the rights or duties of a citizen such as renewing a passport, voting or paying taxes if due.
The decree also adds that in disputes concerning ascertaining the status of statelessness and Italian citizenship, oaths and testimonial evidence are not permitted.
Obviously, this is a decree-law and it will be necessary to see whether any changes will be made when it is converted within 60 days.
It will also be important to see what criteria and amendments to the proposed citizenship bill will be made and how they will be translated into the new citizenship law to be enacted in the future, to see if there will still be margins and spaces for the recognition of ius sanguinis citizenship, which was largely limited by the recent decree.
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