Italian Citizenship by Descent: 2026 Rules and Requirements

Article 1 of Law no. 91 of 5 February 1992 provides that a child of an Italian father or mother is an Italian citizen by birth. That, however, is only the starting rule: since 2025, Article 3-bis of the same law has limited its effects for people born abroad who hold another citizenship.

In a recognition procedure, however, transmission has to be proved link by link. The ancestor must have held Italian citizenship; the ancestor must not have lost it before the birth of the child through whom the line continues; every parent-child relationship must be supported by valid civil status records; no ascendant may have renounced citizenship and broken the chain; and foreign records must be legalised or apostilled where required, with a conforming translation.

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs treats these checks as essential steps of the procedure. The ancestor's foreign naturalisation matters most of all: its date has to be compared with the date of birth of the next descendant in the line.

Decree-Law no. 36 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments by Law no. 74 of 23 May 2025, inserted Article 3-bis into Law no. 91/1992. Under the coordinated text published in the Official Gazette, a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is generally treated as never having automatically acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of the exceptions set out in the provision applies.

For new applications the two main conditions are these. Either a parent or a grandparent holds, or held at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship. Or a parent or adopting parent resided in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption of the child.

It is therefore no longer enough that a parent or grandparent is or was Italian. In the first case the law requires exclusive possession of Italian citizenship. In the second, the residence, its duration and its position in time must all be documented precisely.

Yes. Under the text of Article 3-bis, the new conditions also concern people born abroad before the reform entered into force, where they hold another citizenship and do not fall within the exceptions.

The Constitutional Court, in judgment no. 63 of 2026, held the main questions raised about applying the new rules to earlier situations to be unfounded. That judgment has to be read together with the specific transitional exceptions, and it does not allow the outcome of any individual case to be assumed.

The framework applicable on 27 March 2025 continues to operate, in summary, where the administrative application, complete with the necessary documentation, was filed with the consulate or the municipality by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025; where the application was filed on the date of an appointment that the competent office had notified to the person concerned by that same deadline; where court proceedings were commenced by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025; or where citizenship status had already been recognised under the rules then applicable.

The date of a simple request, of a booking or of sending documents is not always the same as a valid filing. The office's communications and the documents actually lodged have to be reconstructed exactly.

Not necessarily. After the reform, the mere existence of an Italian great-grandparent or a more remote ancestor no longer satisfies Article 3-bis for new applications.

More distant descent can still matter for reconstructing the historical chain, but an applicant born abroad who holds another citizenship must also fall within one of the exceptions the law provides. It may be decisive, for instance, that a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship, or that a parent completed the qualifying period of residence in Italy.

Naturalisation in a foreign State has to be examined under the law in force at the time it occurred.

In general terms, if the ancestor lost Italian citizenship before the birth of the descendant through whom the line should continue, transmission may be interrupted. If instead the child was already born while the ancestor still held Italian citizenship, the analysis moves on to the next generation.

It is not prudent to apply this rule without checking the exact date of naturalisation, the date of birth of the descendant, the Italian legislation then in force, any effects on minor children, and any applicable international conventions.

Where the line passes through an Italian woman whose child was born before 1 January 1948, recognition does not normally follow the ordinary consular procedure. The claim is brought before a court, on the basis of the equality between men and women affirmed by the Constitution and developed in case law.

For these lines, judgment no. 63 of 2026 recalls the Court of Cassation's Joint Divisions judgment no. 4466 of 2009. Even a 1948 case, however, now has to be examined in the light of Article 3-bis and its transitional provisions.

The reform introduced an acquisition procedure by benefit of law for the minor child of an Italian citizen by birth. Under the text in force, the parents or the guardian must declare the intention to acquire citizenship, and one of the following conditions must apply: after the declaration, the minor resides legally in Italy for at least two continuous years; or the declaration is made within three years of birth, or of the later date on which parentage, including by adoption, from an Italian citizen is established.

The original one-year time limit was raised to three years by Article 1, paragraph 513, of Law no. 199 of 30 December 2025.

There is also a transitional regime for those who were minors on 24 May 2025 and are children of a citizen by birth falling within the transitional situations of Article 3-bis. The deadline for the declaration, initially set at 31 May 2026, was extended to 23:59 Rome time on 31 May 2029 by Law no. 26 of 27 February 2026.

The procedure for minors should not be confused with automatic recognition of citizenship by descent: the requirements, the declarations and the effective date all call for a separate assessment.

Before starting a procedure it helps to gather at least: an extract of the Italian ancestor's birth record; birth, marriage and death certificates for every person in the line; a naturalisation certificate or a certificate of no naturalisation for the ancestor; any deeds of renunciation of citizenship; documentation on other citizenships held by parents and grandparents; a historical certificate of residence in Italy for the parent, where the two-year requirement is relied on; proof of the application, appointment or court filing made by 27 March 2025, where the transitional rules are relied on; and any recognition, adoption or record-rectification orders.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions, by way of example, negative citizenship certificates, attestations of renunciation and certificates of non-registration on electoral rolls as ways of showing exclusive possession of Italian citizenship. Which document is actually suitable depends on the State issuing it and on the ancestor's personal history.

For the administrative procedure, competence normally follows residence: a person residing abroad applies to the Italian consular office with territorial jurisdiction, while a person legally resident in Italy applies to the municipality of residence.

Court proceedings follow their own rules on jurisdiction. The presence of a maternal line before 1948, a refusal, or a question about the transitional rules does not automatically mean that a court claim is admissible or worthwhile.

A first assessment should answer, in this order: who the Italian ancestor is and when they were born; whether they naturalised abroad and on what date; whether citizenship passed without interruption at every birth; whether the line includes a woman with a child born before 1 January 1948; whether the applicant was born abroad and holds another citizenship; whether a parent or grandparent holds, or held at death, only Italian citizenship; whether a parent resided in Italy for two continuous years in the period the law requires; whether an administrative or court application had already been filed by 27 March 2025; and whether minor children are involved for whom a declaration can still be made within a specific deadline.

Only once dates, citizenships and documents have been reconstructed is it possible to distinguish between a consular procedure, a municipal procedure, a possible court action, or the absence of the requirements.