Italian citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis, “by right of blood”) recognizes that a person born to an Italian citizen is an Italian citizen from birth. It is not a visa, a permit, or a special program: it is the formal recognition of a status, proven through documents.
For more than a century the rule had no generational limit. That changed on March 28, 2025, when Decree-Law 36/2025, later converted into Law 74/2025, restricted recognition for people born abroad who hold another citizenship. This guide explains the current rules, the family-line requirements that still apply, and how cases are filed. It is the core of what PortaleItaly helps clients navigate every day.
How Jure Sanguinis Works
Italian citizenship law operates on a fundamentally different principle than American law. The United States grants citizenship primarily based on where you are born (jus soli, right of the soil). Italy grants citizenship primarily based on who your parents are (jus sanguinis, right of blood). Under Italian law, if your parent was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth, you are an Italian citizen, period, even if you were born in another country and have never set foot in Italy.
Under the prior law this principle extended backward through generations, all the way to the ancestor who emigrated from Italy, as long as no one in the line lost or renounced Italian citizenship before the next generation was born. Since March 2025, Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992 limits that chain for people born abroad who hold another citizenship, as explained below.
The 2025 Reform: Who Qualifies Today
On March 28, 2025, Decree-Law 36/2025 (the “Tajani Decree“) changed citizenship by descent, and Parliament made the change permanent with Law 74/2025 on May 23, 2025. The law added Article 3-bis to Law 91/1992: a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is now considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship by descent, even if born before the reform, unless one of the following applies.
- Filed before the deadline. An application was filed with a consulate or comune by 11:59 p.m. Rome time on March 27, 2025, an appointment was communicated by that deadline, or a court case was filed by that deadline. These cases are decided under the prior law.
- A parent or grandparent with only Italian citizenship. A parent or grandparent holds, or held at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship. In practice this is usually an Italian-born parent or grandparent who never naturalized in another country.
- A parent who lived in Italy. A parent or adoptive parent resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the applicant’s birth or adoption. See our analysis of the two-year residency exception.
Law 74/2025 also created a declaration route for minor children of parents who are Italian citizens by birth, with time limits and, in some cases, a two-year Italian residency condition (see our minors analysis), and a reacquisition window from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027 for certain former citizens who were born in Italy or lived there for two years.
Where the Law Stands Now
- April 2026: the Constitutional Court (Sentenza 63/2026) upheld the reform against the challenge raised by the Tribunal of Turin.
- May 2026: the Court of Cassation (Sentenza 13818/2026) reaffirmed that citizenship by descent is a permanent right existing from birth, and held that consular booking barriers that prevented an application from being filed can give grounds for a court claim.
- July 23, 2026: the Constitutional Court (Ordinanza 147/2026) referred the reform’s retroactive exclusion to the Court of Justice of the European Union and suspended the referred cases while Luxembourg decides.
- July 26, 2026: the united sections of the Court of Cassation (Sentenza 24045/2026) confirmed that court claims filed before March 27, 2025 stay under the prior law, resolved the “minor issue” in applicants’ favor, and confirmed that maternal lines are fully equal.
The law is still moving. Follow our citizenship news for each development, and have your specific line assessed before spending money on documents.
The Family-Line Requirements
Whether a case runs under the prior law or fits a current exception, the line itself must be proven. You must establish all of the following:
An Italian-born ancestor. You need at least one ancestor who was born in Italy (or in a territory that was part of an Italian state) and who emigrated. This ancestor is your “qualifying ancestor” or avo (literally “ancestor” in Italian).
The ancestor was alive and an Italian citizen after March 17, 1861. This is the date of Italian unification. Before this date, “Italy” did not exist as a nation-state. Your ancestor must have been alive on or born after this date to have been an Italian citizen. If your ancestor was born in 1830 and died in 1855, there is no Italian citizenship to transmit. If they were born in 1830 and were alive in 1861, the chain can begin.
No break in the citizenship chain. Every person in the direct line from your qualifying ancestor to you must not have renounced or lost Italian citizenship before the birth of the next person in the line. The most common way the chain breaks is through naturalization in another country (such as becoming a U.S. citizen) before the next child was born.
The naturalization timing rule. This is the critical detail. If your Italian ancestor became a naturalized U.S. citizen before their child (the next person in your line) was born, the chain is broken at that point. If they naturalized after the child was born, the chain continues through that child. You need to prove the exact dates of both the naturalization and the subsequent child’s birth.
The 1948 rule (maternal line). Before January 1, 1948 (when the Italian Constitution took effect), Italian law only transmitted citizenship through the father. If your line passes through a woman who had a child before January 1, 1948, consulates and comuni will not recognize the line. You must pursue recognition through an Italian court, and the united sections of the Court of Cassation confirmed in July 2026 that maternal lines are fully equal. This is known as a “1948 case” and is covered in detail in our 1948 case guide.
Tracing Your Lineage
The first step in any jure sanguinis case is building your complete lineage from the Italian-born ancestor to yourself. You need to identify every person in the direct line: your Italian ancestor, their child, their child’s child, and so on down to you. For each person in the line, you will eventually need civil vital records (birth, marriage, death, and in some cases naturalization documents).
Start with what your family already knows. Talk to older relatives. Look for old documents, letters, photographs, passenger manifests, and naturalization papers. Italian families often have surprisingly detailed oral histories about which town or village the family came from (il paese).
U.S. records that help establish the line: census records (especially 1900 to 1940, which asked about birthplace, year of immigration, and naturalization status), ship passenger manifests (Ellis Island and other ports), naturalization records (petitions and certificates, available through USCIS, NARA, and county courts), birth, marriage, and death certificates from U.S. states, and Social Security applications (SS-5 forms, which often list parents’ birthplaces). These are available through FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, NARA, and state vital records offices. For full details on obtaining U.S. documents, see our US vital records guide.
For the Italian side, you will need vital records from the comune (municipality) where your ancestor was born, married, or died. This is covered in depth in our Italian vital records guide.
The Document Package
Once you have established your lineage, you need to assemble a complete document package. For every person in the chain from your Italian ancestor to you, you typically need:
Birth certificates for every person in the line. Italian-issued certificates from the comune for anyone born in Italy. U.S. long-form birth certificates (with parents’ names) for anyone born in the U.S.
Marriage certificates for every person in the line (to prove name changes and connect generations).
Death certificates for deceased persons in the line.
Your Italian ancestor’s birth certificate from the Italian comune, proving their Italian origin.
Naturalization records or proof of non-naturalization. For your Italian ancestor: either their Certificate of Naturalization (with the exact date) or a USCIS search letter confirming no record of naturalization exists. This is one of the most important documents in the entire case.
Apostilles on all U.S.-issued documents. Every American document submitted to Italy must carry a Hague Apostille from the relevant authority. See our apostille guide for details.
Certified translations of all non-Italian documents into Italian.
Paths to Recognition
Once your document package is complete, there are three venues for recognition. All of them now apply the 2025 rules to new applications.
The Judicial Path (Petition Through an Italian Court)
A judicial claim is filed in an Italian tribunal with the Ministry of the Interior as respondent. You are represented by an Italian attorney (avvocato) and do not need to appear in Italy. For applicants living abroad, the competent court has been, since June 22, 2022, the tribunal with jurisdiction over the birthplace of the Italian ancestor. This path is required for 1948 cases, and multiple family members descending from the same ancestor can usually join a single case.
The court filing fee (contributo unificato) is 600 euros per applicant. With a complete document file, cases typically take about 12 to 18 months; collecting missing documents usually adds 4 to 6 months. Cases filed before March 27, 2025 continue under the prior law, as the Court of Cassation’s united sections confirmed in July 2026. PortaleItaly handles citizenship cases exclusively through the Italian courts.
Italian Consulate in the US
You can apply through the Italian consulate with jurisdiction over your place of residence, booking through the Prenot@Mi system. Appointment availability has long been the bottleneck, with waits measured in years at many U.S. consulates, and consular applications filed after March 27, 2025 are decided under the 2025 rules.
Apply in Italy (Comune Path)
Applicants who establish legal residence in an Italian comune can apply through the local registry office (anagrafe). This requires actually living in Italy during processing, including registered housing and a police verification visit. Like the consular route, it applies the 2025 rules, so it is open only to applicants who fit one of the current exceptions.
After Recognition
Once your citizenship is recognized through any path, you are a full Italian (and EU) citizen. The immediate next steps include:
Registering with AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero), which is mandatory for Italian citizens living abroad. Applying for your Italian passport. Obtaining your Italian codice fiscale if you do not already have one (see our codice fiscale guide). Understanding your rights as an EU citizen, including the right to live and work in any of the 27 EU member states without a visa. Understanding your obligations, including potential Italian tax reporting requirements and the implications of dual citizenship.
Why People Use Professional Services
The complexity of the document gathering, the specificity of Italian bureaucratic requirements, the consulate appointment scarcity, and the consequences of errors (a single incorrect document can delay your case by months or years) lead many applicants to work with experienced professionals. Common challenges include: locating vital records from small Italian comuni that may not respond to email, obtaining USCIS searches for ancestors with common names or spelling variations, navigating the apostille process across multiple states, ensuring translations meet Italian legal standards, and managing the logistics of whichever recognition path you choose.
PortaleItaly handles citizenship cases through the Italian courts, from eligibility analysis under current law and lineage research through document procurement, filing with our legal team, and post-recognition steps. Contact us for a free consultation to evaluate your eligibility.