BREAKING NEWS: the Italian government intervenes on iure sanguinis citizenship, imposing a generational limit

It is breaking news that the Council of Ministers, meeting today, March 28, for a marathon session lasting several hours, has approved a series of decrees, among which one specifically related to iure sanguinis citizenship stands out, and which will also radically change the current legislation.

Until now, almost a unique case in the world, Italy has applied the concept of "ius sanguinis" without limits, paying particular attention to its social history, especially regarding the period around the turn of the 20th century, which saw a massive number of Italians emigrate in search of better living and working conditions. The descendants of these Italians could thus trace their origins and obtain Italian citizenship, as long as they could prove that their Italian ancestor had never been naturalized as a foreigner (at least during the minor age of their descendant) and that, in any case, the ancestor had indeed been Italian (i.e., a citizen of the Kingdom of Italy).

From now on, this will no longer be the case: despite the issue still being pending before the Constitutional Court, following the postponement of the Bologna Court last October, the Government has today approved a decree under which the possibility of obtaining Italian citizenship iure sanguinis is limited to those who can prove that at least one grandparent was an Italian citizen.

This change, which will only be effective from the moment of the publication of the decree and will become permanent only after it is converted into law within 60 days of publication, has been designed, according to the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to curb what the Government considers abuses, namely requests from people whose ancestors left Italy even before the beginning of the 20th century.

It has been communicated that the new decree will also intervene in the management of applications submitted to the Italian Consulates, which should become just collection points, with the procedures managed centrally by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also increasing (again) processing times, from the current 24 months to 48 months (as it was during the Covid period).

Your Way to Italy reserves the right to provide more precise indications once the text of the decree, which is not yet available, is published.

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