Italian citizenship, the door left ajar

For more than a century, obtaining Italian citizenship only required proving descent from an Italian who had never lost it, and it hardly mattered whether that was a grandparent, a great-grandparent or a great-great-grandparent. That is how hundreds of thousands of Argentines, Brazilians and Uruguayans, and many Americans, became citizens; as early as 2019 the federation of Italian associations in Argentina estimated around a million Italian passports in the country. Then, in 2025, the rules changed, and for many families across the ocean it was no technical detail.

The March 2025 decree, later converted into Law 74/2025, now provides that a person born abroad obtains citizenship by descent only if at least one parent or grandparent was born in Italy, with few exceptions. Those who had already applied by 27 March 2025 remain under the old rules. Those who missed the cut by a few days, or had been waiting months for a consular appointment that never came, found themselves on the wrong side of the line.

Many pinned their hopes on the Constitutional Court, which, however, in ruling 63 of 2026 found the challenges partly unfounded and partly inadmissible. The reasoning, in essence, is that until citizenship is recognised by an office or a judge, the position of a descendant born abroad is not yet settled, and so the legislature could change the rules retroactively too. Several jurists have criticised it, but for now that is the interpretation that stands.

Someone in Buenos Aires or São Paulo with a great-grandfather from Treviso is not simply an Argentine or a Brazilian: they are a grandchild of Italy.

The battle, however, has moved to Europe. On 23 July 2026, in order 147, the Constitutional Court suspended three cases from the courts of Mantua and Campobasso (a Brazilian minor, two Argentines and two Brazilian women) and asked the Court of Justice of the European Union whether the rules on EU citizenship allow Italy to exclude people born abroad before the reform. In Luxembourg an answer usually takes more than a year. In the meantime the association Natitaliani has written to the President of the Republic, filed a complaint with the European Commission and announced an application to Strasbourg.

There is one point, though, that almost always gets lost in this debate, and it is the most important. Italy is in the middle of a demographic crisis: it has little more than one child per woman, and every year deaths far outnumber births. Those who left, the expat now living in London or Dubai, were quite right to do so, and no one should blame them. But a country that is emptying needs a demographic reservoir, and the gaps left by an ageing population will be filled one way or another: by immigration from other continents, which is already happening and will continue, or also by the return of those who have Italy in their family history. The real question is how much room we want to give that second path. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of emigrants, third, fourth, perhaps even fifth generation, are its most natural pool: they have an Italian surname, often a family where someone still speaks the language, a culture that does not need to be built from scratch. Someone in Buenos Aires or São Paulo with a great-grandfather from Treviso is not simply an Argentine or a Brazilian: they are a grandchild of Italy, and should be protected as such. Keeping these channels open, indeed rolling out the red carpet for those who want to come back, is a matter of national interest even before it is a matter of law.

What it means in practice for readers in Buenos Aires, São Paulo or New Jersey:

• with a parent or grandparent born in Italy, the path of descent remains open;
• with an application filed by 27 March 2025, the old rules apply;
• with an appointment requested by that date but never granted, the question is still open and no judge has ruled;
• for everyone else, the wait is for Luxembourg, and beware of anyone selling paid shortcuts.

Naturally, none of this replaces the advice of a lawyer experienced in citizenship cases, which remains essential to assess each individual situation.