How to Obtain Italian Citizenship: 2025 Reform, Paths, and Requirements

You can obtain Italian citizenship through three main paths: descent from an Italian parent or grandparent (jure sanguinis), marriage to an Italian citizen, or naturalization after legal residency in Italy. Which one fits you depends on your family tree, your marital status, and where you live. A 2025 reform tightened the descent route sharply, capping eligibility at two generations from an Italian-born citizen, so ancestry claims that once reached great-grandparents or further generally no longer qualify. Italy permits dual citizenship, meaning an Italian passport does not require giving up your current nationality.

Citizenship by Descent After the 2025 Reform

For decades, Italy set no generational limit on descent claims. Legislative Decree No. 36 of March 28, 2025, later confirmed as Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, changed that. Citizenship now passes from parent to child for a maximum of two generations, so you need an Italian citizen parent or grandparent to qualify.¹ One exception extends the chain further: if your parent acquired Italian citizenship and then lived in Italy for at least two consecutive years before your birth or adoption.

Applications filed at a consulate, municipality, or court before 11:59 PM Rome time on March 27, 2025 are grandfathered under the old rules with no generational cap. Confirmed appointment notifications received before that deadline count as well. Everyone else falls under the two-generation limit.

The Unbroken Chain

Jure sanguinis is a recognition of citizenship you already hold from birth, not a new grant, so there are no residency, income, or language requirements. What matters is proving the line. No ancestor between you and the Italian-born citizen can have naturalized in another country before the birth of the next person in the chain.² If your grandfather became a U.S. citizen in 1955 and your mother was born in 1960, the chain broke because he had lost Italian citizenship before her birth.

The 1948 Maternal Lineage Case

Italian law before January 1, 1948 did not allow women to transmit citizenship to their children. If your line passes through a female ancestor who gave birth before that date, the standard consular route will not work.³ The workaround is a lawsuit in Italian civil court, known as a “1948 case,” arguing that the equal-rights provisions of the 1948 Constitution should apply retroactively. Italian courts have consistently ruled in favor of these claims. Since late 2021, cases can be filed in the civil court covering the municipality where your Italian ancestor lived, not only in Rome. Filing costs €600 per petitioner, the first hearing usually falls within three to nine months, and a 60-day waiting period follows a favorable ruling before it becomes final. You will need an Italian attorney, but you do not need to travel to Italy.

Citizenship by Marriage

If you are married to or in a civil partnership with an Italian citizen, you can apply after a waiting period tied to where you live. Couples in Italy apply after two years of legal residency following the marriage. Couples abroad wait three years from the marriage date.⁴ Both periods are cut in half when the couple has minor children, biological or adopted.⁵

If your Italian spouse naturalized after the marriage, the three-year clock starts from the naturalization date rather than the wedding. You must still be legally married when the citizenship decree is issued, and you must demonstrate B1-level Italian language proficiency.

Citizenship by Naturalization

Foreign nationals can naturalize after long-term legal residency. The years required depend on your status:

Non-EU citizens: 10 years of legal, continuous, and uninterrupted residency
EU citizens: 4 years of legal residency
Stateless persons and refugees: 5 years of legal residency
Adults adopted by Italian citizens: 5 years following the adoption⁶

“Legal, continuous, and uninterrupted” means a valid residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) covering the entire period, without extended gaps outside Italy.⁷ Naturalization applicants must also meet minimum income thresholds and demonstrate B1 Italian.

Documents Every Applicant Needs

Start gathering records at least a year before you plan to submit. Delays from vital-records offices, apostille processing, and translation stack up fast.

For jure sanguinis, collect birth, marriage, and death certificates for every person in the direct line from the Italian-born ancestor down to you, plus proof that the ancestor did not naturalize elsewhere before the next descendant was born. In the United States this usually means a Certificate of Non-Existence of Record from USCIS or a naturalization certificate showing the exact date.

For marriage and naturalization, you need your own birth certificate, a marriage certificate if applicable, and criminal background checks from every country where you have lived since age 14.⁶ Naturalization applicants add a valid residence permit. Background checks are only valid for six months from issue, so time your requests carefully.⁵

Apostille and Translation

Every document issued outside Italy needs an apostille, the authentication seal recognized under the Hague Convention.⁸ In the United States, apostilles come from the Secretary of State’s office in the state that issued the document. State fees generally run from $10 to $40 per document.

After apostille, each document must be translated into Italian. If you file through a consulate abroad, the consulate certifies the translation at no charge beyond the application fee.⁹ If you file at a comune in Italy, translations must be sworn before an Italian court through a procedure called asseverazione. You hire the translator either way; the consulate or court only certifies accuracy. Order multiple certified copies of everything, because Italian authorities often retain originals.

Proving B1 Italian

Marriage and naturalization applicants must prove B1-level proficiency on the Common European Framework, through a certificate from a recognized testing institution or, for naturalization applicants, an EU long-term residence permit as an alternative.⁷ In 2025, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that applicants with severe language-learning impairments caused by age, medical conditions, or disabilities must be exempted from B1 when a public health authority certifies the limitation. Jure sanguinis applicants take no language test.

Fees

As of January 1, 2025, adult applicants for citizenship by descent pay a non-refundable €600 fee, doubled from the previous €300 under the 2025 Budget Law.¹⁰¹¹ Court cases, including 1948 claims, also carry a €600 filing fee per petitioner. Minor children on a parent’s descent application pay no separate fee. Marriage and naturalization applications have their own fee schedule; check with your consulate or prefecture.

Where to Submit

Jure sanguinis applicants living outside Italy submit to the Italian consulate with jurisdiction over their residence. Applicants who establish legal residency in Italy can submit to their local comune, which often processes cases faster. Marriage and naturalization applications are filed online through the Ministry of Interior’s portal, then applicants in Italy present original documents to the local prefettura or comune.⁶

Consulate backlogs are the main choke point. High-demand posts routinely have appointment waits of two to five years for jure sanguinis cases, with some of the worst delays in New York, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and London. Applying through a comune in Italy requires establishing residency there but can shorten the wait significantly. Some applicants have sued consulates over unreasonable delays, which requires an Italian attorney.

Processing Times and the Oath

Marriage and naturalization applications go through the Ministry of the Interior in Rome, which has a legal deadline of 24 months from submission, extendable to a maximum of 36 months.¹² Jure sanguinis applications at a comune generally take six to twelve months; consular processing depends on the post’s capacity. If authorities request additional documents, respond quickly, since delays on your end can extend the timeline.

Applicants who obtain citizenship through marriage or naturalization must take an oath of allegiance to the Italian Republic within six months of receiving the decree.¹³ The ceremony takes place at your local comune in Italy or at the consulate abroad. Citizenship takes effect the day after the oath, so don’t book travel that depends on citizenship status until it is done. Jure sanguinis applicants take no oath because their citizenship is recognized as having existed from birth.

After You Are Recognized

AIRE Registration

Every Italian citizen living outside Italy for more than 12 months must register with AIRE, the Registry of Italians Residing Abroad, at the consulate covering their area within 90 days.¹⁴ Since 2024, Italy imposes fines of up to €1,000 per year of non-registration, up to five years.¹⁵ AIRE registration is also required for voting in Italian elections, renewing your passport abroad, and accessing consular services.

Passport

Once your citizenship is registered, apply for an Italian passport through your consulate. The consular fee runs about $135 USD by check or money order, or roughly $140 by debit card, with the exact amount adjusted quarterly based on exchange rates.¹⁶ Appointment availability varies by consulate, so apply early.

Taxes

Holding Italian citizenship does not by itself make you an Italian tax resident. Italian tax residency is triggered when you spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Italy and meet at least one statutory residence condition, such as primary domicile or center of economic interests. Once you cross that threshold, Italy taxes your worldwide income for the entire year. The days do not need to be consecutive. Dual citizens living permanently outside Italy generally owe no Italian income tax, though owning property triggers the IMU property tax regardless of where you live. If you plan to split time between countries, consult a tax professional familiar with both systems before setting a pattern of residency.

If Your Application Is Denied

A denial is not the end. You can petition the Regional Administrative Court in Lazio to reverse the consulate’s decision, but the deadline is 60 days from the formal rejection. Alternatively, you can file in the Italian civil court covering the municipality of your Italian ancestor, which has no strict filing deadline and results in a judicial determination of your citizenship rights. Either route requires an Italian attorney. If the denial rested on missing or flawed documentation rather than a fundamental eligibility problem, fixing the documents and reapplying is sometimes faster than litigation.

Keeping Your Italian Citizenship

Under current law, in effect since August 15, 1992, Italy does not strip citizenship because you naturalize elsewhere. You can hold Italian and American citizenship simultaneously. You can voluntarily renounce Italian citizenship at any time, provided you hold at least one other nationality.¹⁷

The rules before 1992 were different. Italian citizens who voluntarily acquired a foreign nationality before August 15, 1992 may have automatically lost Italian citizenship under the older law, which is a common reason jure sanguinis chains break.¹⁸ If your ancestor naturalized in the United States before that date, compare the exact naturalization date to the birth dates of their descendants. Timing decides whether the chain survived.

1
Consolato d’Italia Brisbane. Citizenship by Descent – New Rules
2
Italian Government. Italian Citizenship by Descent – Jure Sanguinis
3
Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship by Descent
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Ministero dell’Interno. Naturalisation of Citizens of Another EU Country Through Residence and Marriage
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Consolato Generale d’Italia a Los Angeles. Citizenship by Marriage
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Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale. Citizenship
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Italian Ministry of the Interior. Citizenship by Residence
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U.S. Department of State. Preparing a Document for an Apostille Certificate
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Consolato Generale d’Italia a San Francisco. Translation Certifications
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Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. Consular Fee Increase for Citizenship by Descent – Jure Sanguinis – Applications
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Consolato Generale d’Italia Chicago. Citizenship by Descent
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Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York. Italian Citizenship by Marriage or Civil Union
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Municipality of Milan. Deadlines for the Citizenship Oath
14
Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale. Register of Italians Living Abroad – AIRE
15
Consolato Generale d’Italia Boston. New Penalties for Failure to Register with AIRE
16
Ambasciata d’Italia a Washington. Consular Fee for Issuing an Italian Passport
17
Ambasciata d’Italia a Washington. Acquisition of Citizenship by Operation of the Law
18
Consolato Generale d’Italia Chicago. Lost and Reacquisition of Italian Citizenship