Italy Citizenship by Descent Law Require Stronger Ties to Country
The recent reform of the Italy Citizenship by Descent Law marks a significant shift in how individuals can claim Italian citizenship through ancestry. The Parliament of Italy, in May 2025, approved Decree Law No. 36 as a permanent law. According to the law, individuals can now claim Italian citizenship by descent only if they strongly demonstrate to the Italian government that they have Italian parents or grandparents who were born in Italy. The applicants for Italian citizenship now have to show a real connection with the country. The law has been effectively implemented since May 24, 2025 and is a major turning point for the country.
Italian Citizenship by Descent and Decree Law No. 36?
The Italian government issued Decree Law No. 36 on March 28, 2025, which introduced drastic changes in Italy citizenship by descent or jure sanguinis. The Italian citizenship by descent law made minor changes to law 91/1992 by adding Article 3-bis, which states that the applicants who live abroad but have Italian ancestors cannot automatically secure citizenship in Italy unless they meet a specific criterion. Later on, the law was reviewed properly and approved by the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, which is Italy’s Lower House, on 23 May 2025, and was named as Law No. 74/2025. The decision of approval also involved public opinion, as voting was done for this purpose. The results of the elections showed that 137 people voted in favor of the law while 83 were against it. This showed that the majority took an interest in the law.
How to Prove Italian Citizenship by Descent?
The Decree Law for Italy citizenship by descent has reshaped Italian citizenship in a very dramatic way. Now:
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People who have at least one Italian parent or grandparent can apply for Italian citizenship. This means the parents and grandparents of the applicant had Italian citizenship and did not hold citizenship of any other country.
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The changes further state that Italian citizenship is applicable for only two generations now, i.e, parents of applicants had citizenship of Italy for at least two consecutive years.
This has dramatically shifted the eligibility criteria for Italian citizenship by descent, as previously, anyone who had a relation with Italy, no matter real or not, could secure citizenship in Italy. But this is not possible for them anymore under Decree Law No. 36.
How have Changes Impacted Italian Citizenship Applicants with Ancestral Links?
The changes made in Italian citizenship by ancestry have a huge impact on applicants from many nations, especially Brazil and Argentina. According to the statistics of Italian citizenship by ancestry applications, over 61,000 people secured Italian citizenship in 2023. Among these people, 42,000 were Brazilians, which makes up a staggering 68.5% of the applicants, and around 16,000 belonged to Argentina, who secured the nationality of Italy. This shows that a large number of people had been attracted to Italian citizenship by descent or jus sanguinis outside Italy.
But the recent changes made in the law have disappointed these individuals a lot. Now, the applicants who cannot apply for Italian citizenship can benefit from either citizenship by investment or golden visa programs. St Kitts and Nevis citizenship by investment is the oldest program started in 1984 and one of the fastest ways to get a second passport. Saint Kitts passport offers visa free travel to over 155 countries including the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Schengen states.
European Golden Visa programs offer ROI and residency to investors with Schengen mobility. Investors also qualify for citizenship of their respective country by meeting the requirements. Latvia Golden Visa is the most affordable and fastest way to European residency, while Portugal offers more value to investors in terms of returns, livability and pathway to citizenship.
Who is Still Eligible for the Old Rules?
There is good news for the applicants who applied for Italian citizenship by descent before March 27, 2025. You can still secure citizenship under the old system of citizenship by descent if your application was recognized by the Italian government before the mentioned date.
