On 28 March, 2025, the Italian Council of Ministers approved a new regulation and introduced two draft bills significantly reforming the framework governing citizenship acquisition by descent (iure sanguinis).
Historically, Italian citizenship could be claimed without temporal limitation by any individual able to prove descent from an Italian ancestor. Under the new provisions (waiting for the conversion into law), this right is restricted: automatic transmission of citizenship will be limited to two generations abroad. Specifically, only individuals with at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy will be recognized as citizens ex lege at birth.
Further, children of Italian citizens will automatically acquire citizenship if born on Italian soil or if, before their birth, at least one parent holding Italian citizenship has legally and continuously resided in Italy for a minimum of two years.
A key component of the reform involves administrative restructuring: to address the significant backlog of applications that has inundated Italian consulates in recent years, the establishment of a centralized processing office has been proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is intended to streamline procedures and reallocate consular resources to serving existing citizens.
Importantly, individuals who have already been formally recognized as Italian citizens, whether through judicial decree, municipal registration or consular certification, will retain their citizenship status. Moreover, citizenship applications that are complete, properly documented, and submitted by 23:59 (Rome time) on 27 March 2025 will continue to be assessed under the prior legal framework.