You qualify for Italian citizenship by descent if you can trace an unbroken chain of Italian citizenship from a qualifying ancestor down to you, with no one in that direct line losing citizenship before the next generation was born. What counts as a qualifying ancestor changed sharply on March 28, 2025. If you file now, the ancestor must be a parent or grandparent, with additional conditions. If you filed before that date, the older rules still govern your case and let you reach further back.
Which Set of Rules Applies to You
Decree-Law No. 36/2025 took effect on March 28, 2025 and rewrote the eligibility criteria. Applications submitted to a consulate, a municipality, or an Italian court before midnight on March 27, 2025 are grandfathered and processed under the previous framework. Everything filed on or after March 28 falls under the new rules.
The distinction matters because the old framework was open-ended on generations: you could trace your line back to a great-great-grandparent or further, provided the chain held. The new framework is narrow. If your closest Italian ancestor is more than two generations removed and you did not file before the cutoff, the new law likely ends your claim on its face.
The Two-Generation Limit for New Applicants
Under the March 2025 rules, recognition is limited to descent from a parent or a grandparent. Even within those two generations, you must also meet one of the following conditions:
- Your parent resided in Italy for at least two years, or
- Your grandparent was born in Italy.
If neither condition applies, you do not qualify through the new administrative pathway, even if a great-grandparent was Italian and the bloodline is clear.
The Unbroken Chain
Every person standing between your Italian ancestor and you must have held Italian citizenship at the moment their child in your direct line was born. If any link lost Italian citizenship before that birth, the chain is broken and no one below that break can qualify.
The most common break is naturalization. If your Italian ancestor became a citizen of another country before the birth of the next child in your line, that child was not born to an Italian citizen and inherits nothing to pass down. If the naturalization happened after that child was born, the child already had Italian citizenship from birth, and the line continues.1Consolato Generale d’Italia a San Francisco. Citizenship by Descent “iure sanguinis” The dates on naturalization records decide many claims.
The Minor Child Trap
There is a second way naturalization breaks a chain, and it catches applicants who thought they were safe. Under Italy’s 1912 citizenship law and the earlier 1865 Civil Code, when an Italian citizen voluntarily naturalized in another country, their minor children living with them automatically lost Italian citizenship at the same time. And before March 9, 1975, the Italian age of majority was 21, not 18.2Consolato Generale d’Italia Miami. Italian Citizenship by Descent (jure sanguinis)
Consider a great-grandfather who emigrated from Italy and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1920, when his son (your grandfather) was 15. Your grandfather was born to an Italian citizen, so he held Italian citizenship at birth. But he lost it automatically when his father naturalized, because he was still a minor under Italian law. He then could not transmit citizenship to your parent, and your claim ends there.
The chain can be rescued only if the person who lost citizenship as a minor later reacquired it as an adult, and did so before their next descendant in your line was born.2Consolato Generale d’Italia Miami. Italian Citizenship by Descent (jure sanguinis) Very few people took that step. When you gather naturalization records, check the ages of the ancestor’s children on the date of naturalization, not just the naturalization itself.
The 1861 Boundary
Italian citizenship did not exist before March 17, 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. Your Italian-born ancestor must have been born after that date, or, if born earlier, must still have been alive after unification so that they became an Italian citizen by operation of law.3Consolato Generale d’Italia a Londra. Citizenship iure sanguinis – Previous Regulatory Framework Most applicants are tracing through emigrants of the late 1800s or early 1900s, so this rarely blocks a claim, but confirm it if your ancestor was born in the 1840s or 1850s.
Female Ancestors and the 1948 Rule
Italy’s Law No. 555/1912 did not allow Italian women to pass citizenship to children born before January 1, 1948, if the father was not Italian. Only the male line could transmit citizenship before that date. Italy’s Constitutional Court struck down this gender distinction in 1983, but consulates and municipalities still will not process these claims through the ordinary administrative route.4Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship by Descent
If your line runs through a woman who had a child before January 1, 1948, you can still qualify, but you must file a court case in Italy for judicial recognition. These cases are typically brought in Rome’s civil court, though some are filed where the ancestor lived. The 2025 generational limits apply to new 1948 cases as well, so a court claim filed today faces the same two-generation restriction as a consular application. A 1948 case filed before March 28, 2025 proceeds under the old rules.
What You’ll Have to Prove
Qualifying on paper is a documentary exercise. You need long-form vital records, not abstracts, for every person in the direct line from your Italian ancestor to you: birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates where applicable. Records issued outside Italy must be translated into Italian by a certified translator and legalized with an apostille.5Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. How to Apply for Citizenship by Descent (iure sanguinis)
You also have to document your Italian ancestor’s naturalization status in every country where they lived. If they never naturalized, you need a “no record” letter from the relevant government agency, bearing an original seal. In the United States, that means letters from both USCIS and the National Archives (NARA). If the ancestor did naturalize, you need certified proof of when. For federal court naturalizations, NARA can issue certified copies of the declaration of intention, petition for naturalization, and oath of allegiance, all bearing NARA’s red ribbon and gold seal. For ancestors who registered during the 1940–1944 alien registration period, NARA’s Electronic Records Division can issue certified copies of the AR-2 form.6Consolato d’Italia in Los Angeles. Table 1 – U.S. Naturalization and Nonexisting Records
USCIS releases certified naturalization copies only to the person who received citizenship. For deceased ancestors, USCIS typically provides a photocopy of the certificate or the alien registration card from its records.6Consolato d’Italia in Los Angeles. Table 1 – U.S. Naturalization and Nonexisting Records These records are what let a reviewer confirm the naturalization date sits after the birth of the next person in your line, and that no minor children were swept up in the loss of citizenship.
Where Qualification Gets Decided
Two administrative venues exist for eligible applicants, and one court venue for 1948 cases.
Consulate
If you live outside Italy, you apply at the Italian consulate with jurisdiction over your address.7Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship Appointments are booked through the Prenotami system, and demand far exceeds availability. Wait times at many U.S. consulates run two to three years just for the initial appointment, followed by another year to eighteen months of processing. The application fee is €600 per adult applicant as of January 1, 2025, doubled from the previous €300.8Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. Consular Fee Increase for Citizenship by Descent (iure sanguinis) Applications
Comune
If you move to Italy and register residency in a municipality, you can apply at the comune. Processing is often shorter than at a consulate, but registering as an Italian resident makes you an Italian tax resident, with Italian income tax applying to your worldwide income at rates from 23% to 43%. A U.S.-Italy tax treaty helps prevent double taxation, but the filing obligation is ongoing. This route makes sense only if you actually plan to live in Italy.
What Qualifying Does Not Cover: Spouses
If you qualify by descent, your spouse does not automatically receive citizenship along with you. A spouse applies separately through a marriage-based pathway: three years of marriage if the Italian spouse held citizenship from birth, or three years from the date of naturalization if citizenship was acquired later, cut to eighteen months if the couple has minor children. Marriage applicants must also demonstrate Italian language proficiency at the B1 level.9Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. Italian Citizenship by Marriage or Civil Union
A Short Self-Check
Before investing in records, run your line through these questions in order:
- Is your Italian ancestor a parent or grandparent, and does the parent-residency-or-Italian-born-grandparent condition apply? If not, and you did not file before March 28, 2025, the current rules do not recognize your claim.
- Did every person in your direct line hold Italian citizenship at the birth of the next? Any foreign naturalization before that birth breaks the chain.
- Was any child in your line a minor (under 21 before March 9, 1975; under 18 after) when their parent naturalized abroad? If yes, that child lost citizenship automatically, and the chain broke unless they later reacquired it as an adult before the next birth.
- Does your line pass through a woman whose child was born before January 1, 1948? If yes, your route is a court case in Italy, not a consular application.
- Can you obtain long-form, apostilled, translated vital records for every person in the line, plus complete naturalization documentation for your Italian ancestor?
A “no” at any of the first four items generally ends the claim under current rules. A “yes” through all of them, backed by the documents in the last item, is what qualification looks like on paper.