The lower house of parliament voted in favour of the drastic changes to Italy’s rules on claiming citizenship by descent, officially converting them into law nearly two months after they were pushed through via an urgent decree on March 28th.
But the law, which the government said was intended to crack down on “abuse” of Italy’s citizenship laws, underwent major amendments right before its final approval.
The urgent decree enforced in late March stated that only people with an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy could qualify for citizenship by descent, also known as citizenship iure sanguinis.
KEY POINTS: Italy's new rules on claiming citizenship by descent
This drastically tightened previous rules, which allowed anyone who could prove they had an Italian ancestor who was alive on or after March 17th, 1861, and that no one in their line of descent had renounced Italian citizenship before the birth of their child, to claim citizenship.
The amendments approved by parliament on Tuesday removed the requirement for children born abroad to have an Italian parent or grandparent who was born in Italy in order to be eligible for citizenship.
This was replaced with a requirement to have a parent or grandparent who “holds, or held at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship”, according to the final version of the decree.
The amended rules mean that anyone with at least one parent or grandparent who holds only Italian citizenship, or held it at the time of death, will be eligible for Italian citizenship.
READ ALSO: Why has Italy clamped down on citizenship by descent claims?
Under the new rules, parents and grandparents who hold dual citizenship cannot pass Italian citizenship on to children or grandchildren born abroad, unless they renounce their other, non-Italian citizenship.
That said, the final version of the decree sets out some exceptions to the “exclusive” citizenship requirement.
A parent or adoptive parent who “has been a resident in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the date of the child’s birth or adoption" can pass citizenship to their foreign-born child, even when holding dual nationality, the decree stated.
A second exception is specifically aimed at people who gained citizenship by descent under the old, more lenient rules (i.e., the rules requiring applicants to have an Italian ancestor who was alive on or after March 17th, 1861).
Individuals who acquired Italian citizenship by descent under the previous rules, including dual nationals, will be able to pass on citizenship to foreign-born children under the age of 18 by submitting a request by May 31st, 2026, the decree noted.
The decree didn’t provide any further details as to how such a request should be submitted and to whom.
As a final point, the decree confirmed that the new rules will not apply to citizenship applications filed either through an Italian consulate or an Italian court by 11.59pm Italian time on March 27th, 2025.
Such applications won’t be affected by the latest decree.
Applications filed after 11.59pm Italian time on March 27th, 2025 will be subject to the new rules, the decree said.
Clare Speak, Editor, The Local Italy
Comments (2)