Descendants of Italian ancestors have the right to apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship - let's find out how!
Italian citizenship is based on the principle of ius sanguinis i.e. the child of a father or mother who are Italian citizens, is Italian. In light of this, those who have Italian ancestors - without any limit of generation - can have the right to apply for the recognition of the Italian citizenship as long as nobody in the line of descendance has renounced to the Italian citizenship and the Italian ancestor has not naturalized as citizen of another State before the birth of his/her child.
The application can be filed at the Italian Consulate or Embassy in the foreign country of residence of the applicant or in Italy - as long as the applicant moves to Italy and becomes formally and substantially a resident of Italy - before an Italian Municipality.
In case of dealys or extended waiting times to get an appointment at the Italian Embassies or Consulates abroad, it is possible under certain conditions to start a judicial proceeding before the Italian Courts for the recognition of the Italian citizenship.
Before starting any application it is crucial to check the line of descendance and the supporting documents - first of all birth, marriage and death certificates - as well as the correspondence of names and dates among the documents because any discrepancy may imply delays or obstacles to the positive outcome of the application.
Contact us to receive assistance to apply for Italian citizenship by descent!
While law n. 555/1912 was effective, allowed only men - and therefore not women - to pass on the Italian citizesnhip to their descendants.
With the entry into force of the Italian Constitution on January 1st, 1948, the condition of men and women has been made equivalent but not with retroactive effects, therefore children born from Italian women before 1948 were not automatically Italian citizens at least until 2009 when the Italian Supreme Court - with judgement n. 4466/2009 - stated the incostitutionality of the discrimination between men and women and recognized that children born from Italian women before January 1st, 1948 and their descendants shall have the right to be recognized as Italian citizens.
This principle has not been trasposed into the administrative procedures that regulate the recognition of Italian citizenship therefore Italian Consulates and Embassies still continue to apply the law applicable at that time and reject applications for the recognition of Italian citizenship through maternal line before 1948 - but don't lose any hope: applicants can start judicial proceedings before the Court of the Italian city where the Italian ancestor was born and without the need to move their residence to Italy.
Contact us to receive assistance to start judicial proceedings before Italian Courts for the recognition of Italian citizenship through maternal line!
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