New Rules for Citizenship Jure Sanguinis

Last Friday, March 28, 2025, a Decree Law was issued concerning new rules on citizenship Jure Sanguinis (by descent).

The new rules state that it is no longer possible to trace lineage beyond the grandparent to obtain Italian citizenship by descent. Specifically, individuals born abroad—even before this law comes into effect—who hold another citizenship will be considered as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless one of the following conditions applies:

a) Their status as a citizen is recognized following an application submitted to the competent consular office or mayor no later than March 27, 2025.

b) Their status as a citizen is judicially confirmed following a legal claim submitted no later than March 27, 2025.

c) A parent or adoptive parent who is a citizen was born in Italy.

d) A parent or adoptive parent who is a citizen resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years before the birth or adoption of the child.

e) A first-degree ascendant of the parent or adoptive parent who is a citizen was born in Italy.

As a result, all applications submitted by March 27, 2025, should be processed under the previous rules.

The decree-law must be converted into law within 60 days, or it will be retroactively invalid, effectively making it as if the old rules had always been in place and the decree-law had never been issued.
Therefore, if the decree-law is not converted in time, any claim lodged from March 28, 2025, onward—until a new citizenship law comes into force—will be subject to the previous rules.

If you have a judicial case and were about to file a claim, you may want to consider proceeding with it in the hope that the decree-law won’t be converted in time, especially if this is your last chance to acquire Italian citizenship.
When the decree-law is converted, amendments and new rules may be incorporated into the final version.

The Government also announced that all future citizenship applications will be submitted to and processed by a new office to be established at the Ministero degli Esteri. However, they acknowledged that setting up this office and making it operational will take some time.
At the moment many Consulates and Comuni are not receiving applications.

This article is not exhaustive and is a guidance only.

If you need an assessment to verify if you still qualify to claim Italian citizenship, please do get in touch.

In collaboration with avv. Andrea Balducelli, citizenship specialist

Barbara De Benedittis Relocation and Legal in Italy