IMPORTANT CHANGES
IMPORTANT CHANGES
THIS IS A DEVELOPING SITUATION!
UPDATED OCTOBER 11, 2024
INFORMATION ADDED OCTOBER 11, 2024:
BEGINNING OCTOBER 3, 2024, FAMILY LINES FALLING INTO THE MINOR CATEGORY ARE NO LONGER ELIGIBLE FOR CITIZENSHIP THROUGH CONSULATES OR BY APPLYING IN ITALY.
Important Note: If you fall into the minor category with a male Italian ancestor, you might still qualify through their spouse as a 1948 Case or by standard administrative procedure (consular process).
The Italian Ministry of the Interior provided new guidelines for recognizing Italian citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis) based on recent court rulings.
Below is a brief summary:
LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP BY MINOR CHILDREN DUE TO PARENT’S NATURALIZATION
Previous Issue: Confusion existed regarding how Article 7 (dual citizenship) and Article 12 (loss of citizenship by minors) of Law No. 555/1912 interacted. Specifically, if a minor with dual citizenship lost Italian citizenship because their parent naturalized, did this interrupt the lineage for future citizenship claims?
New Guideline: The Italian Supreme Court clarified that such an event does interrupt the lineage. To claim citizenship, descendants must prove their ancestor who lost citizenship as a minor later reacquired it. This applies even if the ancestor had foreign citizenship at birth in a jus soli country like the US.
Required Documentation: Applicants must provide a "non-naturalization" document from the foreign country, showing the Italian ancestor didn't voluntarily acquire citizenship, or a certificate of citizenship detailing the date of naturalization to confirm it occurred once the descendant was no longer considered a minor. Depending on the year, “minor” could mean 21 years old. If citizenship was lost under Article 12, proof of reacquisition under Articles 3 or 9 of Law No. 555/1912 is needed in order for the line to remain eligible.
UNINTERRUPTED POSESSION OF THE STATUS OF CHILD
Previous Issue: A court ruling suggested that continuous possession of the status of child (Article 237 of the Civil Code) could be used to prove paternity and citizenship transmission even without a birth certificate.
New Guideline: The Ministry clarifies that this principle applies only in judicial proceedings, not administrative ones. Administrative authorities can only certify citizenship based on unequivocal documentary evidence, not determine a person's status.
Overall, these guidelines aim to align administrative practices with recent court decisions, providing clearer rules for recognizing Italian citizenship by descent. We do not yet know how this will impact consular or comune citizenship files which were already in progress prior to the decision.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION LEADING TO THE OCTOBER 2024 RULING
On June 15, 2023, the Cassation Court issued Decision 17161. This ruling had the potential to impact large numbers of people who are interested in Italian Citizenship via Jure Sanguinis.
THE RULING
The Court verdict states that an American-born child lost Italian citizenship if they were a minor, even if the Italian-born ancestor became a US citizen after 1912. This situation has been previously protected by Article 7 of the Law of 1912. The Court has determined that Article 7 does not protect the child’s Italian citizenship, as previously understood to be true for several decades.
When using the judicial process to claim Italian citizenship, many cases were rejected in the Court of Rome for similar reasons. Once appealed, higher courts almost always approved the petition for citizenship. This new ruling has been sent from an even higher court, the ramifications of which are yet to be determined.
NOTE: Italy defined a minor as anyone under the age of 21 until 1975. After 1975, Italy has defined a minor as anyone under the age of 18.
DO YOU HAVE OPTIONS?
If you fall into this new category through the line that you previously expected to use for citizenship, we highly recommend looking into other potential lines or loopholes. The most important to look for would be Italian-born ancestors who did not naturalize, or those who did not naturalize until after the American-born ancestor was 21+.
WHAT IF I HAVE ALREADY BEEN RECOGNISED, BUT WOULD HAVE FALLEN INTO THIS CATEGORY?
A provision in the ruling stated that those recognised as Italian citizens prior to October 3, 2024, would not be impacted by the change in regulation.