Bill 1683: Italy Is Centralizing All Citizenship Applications in a Single Rome Office by 2029
The Italian Senate has approved legislation that will fundamentally restructure how citizenship by descent applications are processed. Starting January 1, 2029, all adult jure sanguinis applications from abroad will be handled by a single centralized office within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. Until then, consulates will continue to accept applications, but subject to new annual caps. The bill introduces 36-month processing timelines and email-only communication.
What the Bill Does
Bill 1683, approved by the Senate in January 2026, establishes a new administrative framework for citizenship by descent applications submitted from abroad. The key provisions:
Key Changes
Centralized processing from 2029. Starting January 1, 2029, all adult citizenship-by-descent applications from abroad must be submitted to a new dedicated office within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI) in Rome. Italian consulates will no longer accept new applications after December 31, 2028.
Annual quotas take effect immediately. From now through December 31, 2028, each consulate is limited to accepting no more applications per year than it processed in 2025. This cap is already in force.
36-month processing window. The official processing deadline has been extended from two years to three years. This applies to both consulates and the future centralized office.
Email-only communication after 2029. The centralized office will communicate with applicants exclusively by email, ending the in-person appointment model used by most consulates.
Post-2029 quotas. For the first two years after January 1, 2029, the centralized office will limit applications to the combined number of application fees collected by all consulates in 2025.
What Is Not Yet Clear
Several critical implementation details remain undefined. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to publish guidelines before the 2029 transition, but as of now:
How will consulates manage the annual caps in practice? Will there be a queue system, an online registration, or a first-come-first-served model?
What happens to consulate appointments already scheduled for 2029 and beyond? Will those appointments be honored, canceled, or converted to the centralized process?
How will the email-only system handle the complex document submissions required for citizenship cases, which often involve dozens of original documents requiring physical review?
Will the annual quota reset each January, or will unused capacity roll over?
Impact on the Judicial Route
Bill 1683 addresses only the administrative pathway. The judicial route, filing a case directly in an Italian tribunal, remains available and is not subject to the annual caps or the centralization requirement. Legal practitioners have noted that the combination of annual quotas, three-year processing timelines, and the centralization of a previously distributed system may drive even more applicants toward the courts.
This would be ironic: the reform was motivated in part by the desire to reduce the caseload on Italian tribunals, particularly the Venice court, which handles an estimated 70% of all judicial citizenship cases. If the administrative pathway becomes slower and more restrictive, the judicial route becomes more attractive, potentially increasing, not decreasing, the court burden.
What You Should Do
If you are planning to apply for Italian citizenship by descent through the administrative route, the annual caps are already in effect. Contact your local consulate now to understand their current appointment availability and whether they are approaching their 2026 quota. If you are considering the judicial route, the current legal landscape remains in flux with the Sezioni Unite hearing on April 14 and the Mantova constitutional hearing on June 9. Seek qualified legal guidance before making a decision.
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This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.