Italian citizenship by descent after the 2025 law change

Italy sharply limited citizenship by descent in March 2025. Who the law still recognises, who it now leaves out, the court cases still open, and what to check before you pay for documents.

Until March 2025, Italy passed citizenship down through any number of generations. Many Americans, Canadians and Britons with an Italian great-grandparent could have it recognised. That changed on 28 March 2025. Most people born abroad who hold another citizenship are now treated as never having been Italian, unless one of a short list of exceptions applies.

Many websites still describe the old rules, and some sell services built on them. This guide sets out the current law as Italian consulates apply it, and what to check first.

What changed in 2025

Decree-Law 36/2025 took effect on 28 March 2025. Parliament converted it into law with amendments as Law 74/2025 in May 2025. It added a new article 3-bis to Italy’s citizenship law, Law 91/1992.

Article 3-bis says a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship. This applies even to people born before the law took effect. It overrides the old rule that a child of an Italian citizen is Italian from birth, wherever they are born.

Who the law still recognises

The Consulate General in New York lists three exceptions. If at least one applies, a person born abroad with another citizenship can still be recognised as Italian from birth.

1. You applied by the deadline. You filed for recognition, at a consulate, a town hall or in court, by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025. An appointment offered by that time and then confirmed by you also counts. The old rules apply to these applications.
2. A parent or grandparent holds only Italian citizenship. The parent or grandparent must hold only Italian citizenship now, or have held only Italian citizenship at the time of their death.
3. Your Italian parent lived in Italy for two years. Your Italian parent, birth or adoptive, lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after becoming Italian and before you were born or adopted.

The test in the second exception is about holding only Italian citizenship. A grandparent who emigrated and later naturalised as a US, Canadian or British citizen would not meet it. Neither would a parent who holds Italian citizenship alongside another one.

Who the law now leaves out

If none of the three exceptions applies to you, the consulates treat you as not Italian. In practice, that covers many families who would have qualified before 2025:

• Great-grandchildren and further. The second and third exceptions look only at your parent or grandparent. A link further back counts only if you filed by 27 March 2025.
• Lines where the emigrant naturalised abroad. If your Italian-born parent or grandparent took another citizenship, the second exception fails.
• Dual citizens in the parent and grandparent generations. If your Italian parent and grandparents all hold or held another citizenship as well, the second exception fails. That leaves only the deadline and two-year residence exceptions.

The rules turn on dates, naturalisation records and residence history. Consulates do not review documents before your appointment, so you carry the risk of applying.

Court cases still open

The new rule has been challenged in Italian courts.

• The Constitutional Court upheld it once. In judgment 63 of 2026, the Court rejected a challenge that the rule breaks EU law.
• It then asked the EU Court of Justice. On 23 July 2026, in Ordinanza 147/2026, the Court referred a question to the EU Court of Justice. It asked whether the EU treaties’ rules on Union citizenship rule out a bar like article 3-bis. The constitutional case is suspended until the EU Court answers.

The Constitutional Court’s press release restates its earlier view that the rule is lawful. We found no EU Court ruling as of 2 November 2026. Consulates apply the new rule in the meantime. Do not plan around a ruling that has not been made.

Other ways in for descendants

Some people the new rule leaves out may have another route.

Children of an Italian citizen by birth. A minor born abroad to a parent who is Italian by birth can become Italian if both parents file a declaration within three years of the child’s birth. A child who was a minor on 24 May 2025 has a separate window if the parent’s recognition rests on an application or appointment made by 27 March 2025. Both parents must file by 31 May 2029. In both cases, citizenship starts the day after the declaration, not from birth.

Reacquisition for former citizens. People born in Italy, or who lived there for two consecutive years, can reacquire citizenship if they lost it before 16 August 1992. The declaration window runs from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2027. The New York consulate lists a EUR 250 fee.

A work visa outside the quotas. Descendants of Italian citizens who hold citizenship of Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Australia, Canada, Venezuela or Uruguay can enter Italy for paid work outside the annual quotas. You still need a job with an Italian employer. The UK is not on the list. See the Italian-descendant work visa in our routes table.

If an exception applies: how to apply

You apply to the Italian consulate for the place where you live. People living in Italy apply to their town hall instead.

1. Book through Prenot@mi. Choose “Cittadinanza per Discendenza”. The New York consulate has closed its waiting list and takes applications by certified mail on the appointment date.
2. Collect the civil records. You need your Italian ancestor’s birth certificate from the Italian town, issued within the last six months. You also need long-form birth, marriage and death certificates for every generation down to you. Records from outside Italy need an apostille and an Italian translation.
3. Prove the exception. For the second exception, show your parent or grandparent never took another citizenship. US consulates accept evidence such as naturalisation records from USCIS or the National Archives. For the third, a historical residence certificate from the Italian town can show your parent’s two years there.
4. Pay the fee. New York charges EUR 600 per adult, paid in US dollars. The fee covers review only. It is not refunded if the application is refused.

The New York page says it decides applications within the time limits set by law. It also keeps the documents you send, whatever the outcome.

What to check before you pay for documents

• Your Italian ancestor’s citizenship history. Find out whether your parent or grandparent ever took another citizenship, and when. This decides the second exception.
• Any filing before 27 March 2025. Check whether you applied or had an appointment confirmed by then. If your parent did and you were a minor on 24 May 2025, look at the children’s declaration rules above.
• The date on anything you read. Pages written before March 2025 describe unlimited generations. That is no longer the rule for new applicants.
• What a paid service is promising. No one can promise recognition. The consulate’s fee itself does not guarantee a result.

Tax

Italian citizenship does not by itself make you an Italian tax resident. US citizens stay subject to US tax on worldwide income wherever they live, whatever other citizenship they hold.

For the wider picture of living in Italy, see every Italian route in our table, including the citizenship by descent entry.

This is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Confirm your situation with the Italian consulate for where you live before you apply or pay for documents.