US EditionItaly's Constitutional Court Upholds 2025 Law Restricting Citizenship by Descent
The court supports the government’s 2025 law limiting citizenship to descendants with a parent or grandparent born in Italy, affecting millions of diaspora applicants, court rulings ongoing.
- On Thursday, Italy's Constitutional Court said it would rule in favor of the government and uphold the controversial 2025 law restricting citizenship for those born abroad, calling constitutional challenges partially unfounded and inadmissible.
- The March 28 last year emergency decree limits recognition to descendants with a parent or grandparent born in Italy and requires that ancestor to have held solely Italian citizenship, effectively barring many dual-citizenship claims.
- Applicants face onerous burdens: documents cost up to 300 euros each and consular waiting lists stretch to 10 years, while Italy's citizens abroad grew from 4.6 million to 6.4 million between 2014 and 2024.
- Citizenship lawyer Marco Mellone plans an April 14 hearing at the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest legal authority, while advising pending applicants to seek referrals to Luxembourg or postpone filings.
- The ruling conflicts with a July 2025 judgment affirming descendants' right to citizenship at birth and unsettles a 160-year ius sanguinis principle, including descendants historically blocked by pre-1948 gender transmission rules.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Italian court clears way to end citizenship through ancestry — what it means
Italy's Constitutional Court has signaled its intent to uphold a new law restricting citizenship by descent, effectively ending the long-standing jus sanguinis principle for distant ancestors. This change, set to take effect in March 2025, will limit eligibility to those with parents or grandparents born in Italy, impacting millions worldwide.
By Julia Buckley, CNN. Since Italy became a country in 1861, there was a surefire way to tell who was an Italian citizen and who wasn't: look at their parents. The first page of the Civil Code, published in 1865 as the regulations for Europe's youngest nation, declared that a child born to an Italian citizen was an Italian citizen. This fundamental principle of the Bel Paese appears to be about to change, dashing the diaspora's dreams of returni…
Italy ruling tells millions with Italian roots they have lost the right to citizenship
Italy’s Constitutional Court has signaled support for a controversial law restricting citizenship by descent, a move that could block millions of people abroad from claiming Italian nationality.
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