The reform enacted in 2025 represents one of the most significant legislative changes to Italian citizenship law since the introduction of Law No. 91 of 1992. With the entry into force of Decree-Law No. 36 of 28 March 2025, later converted into Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025, the Italian legislature fundamentally reshaped the way in which citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) operates, introducing for the first time in Italian legal history a generational limit to the automatic transmission of citizenship through ancestry. For more than a century, the ius sanguinis system allowed citizenship to be transmitted indefinitely from one generation to the next, regardless of how distant the connection to Italy had become. As a result, even great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of Italian emigrants—often living abroad for several generations—could apply for recognition as Italian citizens, provided they could document an unbroken line of descent from an Italian-born ancestor who had never renounced citizenship. This rule led to a dramatic expansion of recognised citizenships worldwide and to administrative burdens for Italian consulates.
The 2025 reform sought to address this situation by reaffirming that citizenship must reflect a genuine link with the Italian Republic, in line with both constitutional principles and international standards. To this end, Article 3-bis was added to Law No. 91/1992. It provides, in its first paragraph:
“The acquisition of Italian citizenship by birth shall be deemed not to have occurred for those who, being born abroad, acquired at birth a citizenship other than Italian.” This new provision radically alters the former framework. From 24 May 2025, anyone born abroad who possessed another citizenship at birth—either because it was automatically granted under the ius soli law of the country of birth or transmitted by a foreign parent—is no longer automatically considered an Italian citizen by descent. In practice, this means that dual citizenship at birth now excludes the possibility of being recognised automatically as Italian iure sanguinis.
Crucially, the law also applies retroactively. Individuals born abroad before the reform came into force who had not yet obtained official recognition of citizenship are now subject to the new rules. There is no acquired right to citizenship if it had not been previously recognised. However, to avoid constitutional challenges, the legislature defined such persons not as individuals who “lost” Italian citizenship, but as individuals who “never acquired” it in the first place. This linguistic and legal wording ensures that the reform does not infringe Article 22 of the Italian Constitution, which forbids deprivation of citizenship for political or arbitrary reasons, and maintains compliance with Italy’s obligations under international law. The rationale behind this change is both practical and conceptual. On the one hand, it responds to the need to control an exponentially growing number of iure sanguinis applications, particularly from regions with large Italian diasporas such as Latin America, where entire communities—sometimes with only distant ancestral links—had sought recognition as Italian citizens. On the other hand, the reform redefines citizenship as a living legal relationship, not merely a hereditary title. The legislature’s intent was to ensure that citizenship reflects a real, ongoing bond with Italy—territorial, cultural, or familial—consistent with the notion of an effective link developed by the European Convention on Nationality (1997).
Nonetheless, the reform includes three specific exceptions that preserve the previous iure sanguinis regime for particular situations. These exceptions are strictly defined and ensure that legitimate or already-initiated claims are not prejudiced:
- Applications already submitted or scheduled by 27 March 2025.
Any application formally lodged by that date, or for which the applicant had received an official appointment with a Consulate or Municipality to submit the required documentation, continues to be examined under the former law. This means no generational limit applies, and citizenship recognition remains possible even through more distant ancestors. - Judicial applications for recognition filed before the Italian courts by 27 March 2025.
Claims already pending in court under the old regime are not affected by the new restrictions. Italian judges will continue to apply the previous interpretation of iure sanguinis, which allowed recognition through any proven ancestral line without limitation in generations. - Exclusive or substantial link with Italy within the second generation.
The new law preserves automatic transmission of citizenship where at least one of the applicant’s parents or grandparents held exclusively Italian citizenship (that is, without any foreign nationality) at the relevant time, or where the Italian parent (or adoptive parent) had legally resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring citizenship and before the applicant’s birth or adoption. This exception ensures that citizenship can still be transmitted when a tangible and recent connection with Italy is demonstrated.
Outside of these three narrowly defined cases, the generational chain of transmission is considered broken after the second generation born abroad. Thus, great-grandchildren or further descendants of Italian citizens no longer qualify automatically for recognition of citizenship by descent.
This reform signals a clear policy shift: citizenship is no longer treated as an indefinite hereditary right but as a legal status grounded in proximity to Italy. By introducing Article 3-bis, the Italian legislature has therefore replaced an unlimited ius sanguinis model with a selective and proximity-based system, ensuring that the recognition of citizenship aligns with Italy’s constitutional principles of equality, international cooperation, and the effective connection between citizen and State. The law seeks to balance respect for the historical Italian diaspora with the need to maintain the integrity of the modern Italian citizenry.