The Italian Great-Great-Grandfather

How many times have I assisted American, Argentinean and Brazilian clients in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship? Recently, I received another request, which I responded to taking into account the latest developments. The acquisition of Italian citizenship is historically based on the principle of iure sanguinis, or descent from an Italian ancestor, as established by Law No. 91 of 1992.

This right, which allows for the recognition of citizenship status regardless of place of birth, has generated a large number of potential applicants among the descendants of the approximately 27 million Italian emigrants worldwide.

Case law has consistently reiterated that this is a subjective right, which can be ascertained in court if the administrative route is impracticable or excessively slow.

However, a recent reform, outlined between 2024 and 2025, has introduced more restrictive conditions for acquiring citizenship by descent.

The legislation set a deadline (27 March 2025) for the submission of applications under the previous, more favourable regime and introduced new requirements that limit the transmission of status beyond certain degrees of kinship, such as second degree, or link it to periods of residence in Italy by the parent.

This change triggered a predictable race against time to submit applications.

To cope with the resulting wave of requests, the law passed on 14 January 2026 centralised the management of applications at an office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The new provisions require applications to be submitted exclusively in paper format, with original documents, and set a deadline of 36 months for their processing.

In essence, to obtain Italian citizenship today, you must have an Italian grandfather or grandmother (and no longer more distant ancestors as was previously the case), arm yourself with original documents, send them by post and wait three years. At that point, rather than citizenship, the applicant would deserve an Olympic medal for bureaucratic patience.

last update January 2026