Italian citizenship by descent: impacts of Law Decree 36/2025 and future prospects

Just over two weeks have passed since March 28, 2025, the day on which the Italian Council of Ministers, in a move surprising to many, approved Law Decree No. 36/2025, introducing significant changes to the legislation on Italian citizenship with the expressly stated objective of strengthening the "effective bond" between citizens and the Italian Republic.

Limitations of ius sanguinis

The decree introduced restrictions on the principle of ius sanguinis, which until now allowed for the transmission of Italian citizenship without generational limits. According to the new provisions, Italian citizenship is no longer automatically recognized for those born abroad and for the descendants of Italian citizens, unless specific conditions are met:

• a parent or adoptive parent who is an Italian citizen born in Italy

• a parent or adoptive parent who is an Italian citizen born abroad and has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years prior to the birth or adoption of the child

• an Italian citizen in the first degree of ascendancy of the parents or adoptive parents born in Italy

These changes aim to limit the automatic transmission of Italian citizenship to persons born and residing abroad, making it conditional on the existence of effective ties with the Republic.

With the publication of the law decree in the Official Journal of March 28, 2025, these rules came into force for all those who had not yet submitted an application for recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis by March 27, 2025. The rights of those who, by that date, have already been recognized as Italian citizens through judicial or administrative means (through procedures before an Italian Consulate or a Municipality in Italy) will not be affected. The applications of those who have submitted a judicial appeal for recognition of citizenship to an Italian Court or an administrative request to a Consulate or Municipality by 11:59 p.m. on March 27, 2025, will be evaluated in accordance with the legislation in force prior to the entry into force of Law Decree 36/2025.

The reasons given by the Government for approving the amendments

The publication of the Law Decree was accompanied by an explanation of the reasons that, from the Government's point of view, justified the introduction of these changes, considered necessary to:

• prevent an uncontrolled increase in Italian citizens residing abroad without effective ties to Italy, which could constitute a risk to national security and to the other Member States of the European Union and the Schengen Area.

• align with the regulations of other European countries, which require an effective link with the State for the recognition of citizenship.

• avoid an exceptional and uncontrolled flow of applications for citizenship recognition, which could compromise the functionality of consular offices, municipalities, and judicial offices.

Although the reform of the legislation on Italian citizenship has been the subject of debate for some time, the government's decision to adopt these changes through an emergency decree-law has raised many doubts and several questions.

The decision not to follow the normal legislative procedure to introduce amendments to the law regulating Italian citizenship – the current Law No. 91/1992 – according to the government's own explanation, was dictated by a combination of factors, including the excessively high workload of Italian administrations called upon to evaluate an ever-increasing number of applications and the urgency caused by the pressure that such an exorbitant number of applications has created, especially in recent years, on the offices involved. Furthermore, the government has emphasized the need to drastically limit the submission of applications by individuals with little or no concrete ties to Italy, a phenomenon that has multiplied over the years. Reactions and Future Prospects

The changes have drawn criticism from associations and representatives of Italian descendants abroad, who consider them discriminatory and detrimental to acquired rights.

Despite this, we must consider the reality of the facts, that is, what may happen in the coming weeks, given that Law Decree36/2025 must become law within 60 days of its publication (i.e., before May 27, 2025), under penalty of losing all its effects.

The scenarios that then arise are the following:

- Law Decree36/2025 becomes law without modifications, therefore in the current text.

- Law Decree36/2025 becomes law with changes compared to the currently published text.

- Law Decree36/2025 does not become law, losing its effectiveness.

Although all three possibilities exist in theory, given the position taken by the Government to date, it is reasonable to expect that the Law Decree will effectively become law within 60 days; however, the possibility of amendments remains open and must be evaluated once the conversion law is enacted.

In parallel with the approval of Law Decree 36/2025, a bill was introduced introducing additional provisions, including the obligation to register the birth certificate of descendants of Italians under the age of 25 and the possibility of revoking citizenship for disuse or for not maintaining ties with Italy for 25 years. These proposals include a modification of the requirements for submitting applications for Italian citizenship through marriage. These applications may only be submitted by those residing in Italy (thus eliminating the possibility of submission by spouses of Italian citizens who reside abroad). The application processing time will be extended to 48 months, and the centralization of application evaluation functions in a Farnesina office, freeing Italian consulates around the world from such obligations.

Conclusions

The recent amendments to the Italian citizenship law represent an attempt by the government to strengthen the bond between citizens and the state, although they have certainly raised concerns, more or less justified, regarding the rights of italians abroad and their consistency with constitutional principles.

The coming weeks will be crucial in determining the future of these provisions, as new legislative measures could emerge. Currently, it is not possible to have a definitive view of the situation, as it is necessary to wait for the law decree to be formally converted into ordinary law or for the sixty day deadline for such conversion to expire. Consequently, any assessment of the feasibility of taking action, including judicial action, must be postponed until the situation is defined, either through the actual conversion of the law decree or after the corresponding deadline has expired.

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