Italian Citizenship by Descent: Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions and answers address the most common points of uncertainty raised by applicants for Italian citizenship by descent. For detailed guidance on specific aspects of the process, each answer links to the dedicated article on our blog that covers that topic in full. For legal assistance with your specific case, see our page on Italian citizenship by descent and judicial proceedings.

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Eligibility

What is Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis)?

Italian citizenship by descent — cittadinanza iure sanguinis — is the recognition of Italian citizenship based on blood relationship with an Italian citizen ancestor. Under Italian law, citizenship is transmitted from parent to child at birth, regardless of where the child is born and without any generational limit. A person whose great-great-grandparent was Italian may be eligible for recognition of Italian citizenship, provided the chain of transmission from the Italian ancestor to the applicant has never been interrupted.

Is there a limit on how many generations back the Italian ancestor can be?

No. Italian citizenship law imposes no generational limit. Citizenship passes from generation to generation without any cut-off, provided it has never been interrupted. Cases involving Italian ancestors born in the 1800s are entirely common in practice.

What interrupts the chain of citizenship transmission?

The most common cause of interruption is naturalisation — the voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship — by one of the ancestors in the line before their child was born. If the ancestor naturalised after the birth of their child, the chain remains unbroken. If they naturalised before, the chain is broken for that generation and subsequent descendants cannot claim Italian citizenship through that line. A formal renunciation of Italian citizenship before the birth of the next child in the line also constitutes an interruption. For a full explanation, see our article on Italian citizenship by descent eligibility requirements.

Can I claim Italian citizenship through a female ancestor?

Yes. Since the Constitutional Court’s rulings of 1975 and 1983 and the enactment of Law No. 123 of 1983, Italian citizenship can be transmitted through both the paternal and maternal line without restriction. However, a specific rule applies to cases where the female ancestor gave birth before 1 January 1948 — in these cases, the standard consular administrative procedure is not available and recognition can only be obtained through judicial proceedings before an Italian court. For more detail, see our article on the Italian citizenship 1948 rule.

If the Italian ancestor naturalised before the birth of one of the children but after the birth of another, which children can claim citizenship?

Only the children born before the naturalisation can claim Italian citizenship through that ancestor. The child born after the naturalisation cannot, because at the time of their birth the ancestor was no longer an Italian citizen and therefore had no Italian citizenship to transmit. The citizenship chain is interrupted for that generation, but the line through children born before the naturalisation remains intact.

Does it matter which country the ancestors lived in?

No. Italian citizenship by descent is not affected by the country where the ancestors resided or where the children were born. What matters is the citizenship status of the parent at the time of the child’s birth, not geography.

Is it necessary to know the Italian language to apply?

No. Italian citizenship by descent is a recognition of a right — not an application for a concession. There is no language requirement for citizenship by descent applications, unlike citizenship by marriage or naturalisation.

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The Process and Routes Available

Where should I submit the application for Italian citizenship by descent?

There are three routes available, depending on your circumstances. If you reside outside Italy, the standard route is through the Italian consulate responsible for your place of residence. As an alternative, you can establish legal residence in an Italian municipality and apply directly to the municipal civil registry office — a significantly faster route in countries with long consular waiting times. For 1948 rule cases, judicial proceedings before an Italian court are mandatory regardless of where you reside. For a full explanation of each route, see our article on how the Italian citizenship recognition process works.

How long does it take to obtain recognition of Italian citizenship by descent?

Timelines vary significantly depending on the route chosen. Through the municipal route in Italy, the process typically takes between 6 and 18 months from the time residence is established. Through the consular route, waiting times vary enormously from country to country — in some high-demand consulates in South America, the process can take a decade or more. Through judicial proceedings, the process generally takes between 12 and 24 months from filing. See our article on the Italian citizenship administrative process through a municipality for more detail on the municipal route.

Can I book a consular appointment through the Prenot@mi platform?

The Prenot@mi platform is the booking system used by most Italian consulates for citizenship appointments. In many countries, particularly in South America, available slots are released infrequently and taken within minutes, making it effectively impossible for many applicants to secure a booking. If the consular route is blocked by the impossibility of obtaining an appointment, judicial proceedings may be available as an alternative — one of the four recognised grounds for the judicial route.

Is the judicial route available only for 1948 rule cases?

No. Judicial proceedings are mandatory for 1948 rule cases, but they are also available in three other situations: where the consulate has formally rejected the application, where the consulate has failed to conclude the procedure within the statutory 730-day deadline from submission, and where the impossibility of obtaining a consular appointment effectively prevents the application from being submitted. For a full explanation, see our article on Italian citizenship through judicial proceedings.

Do I need to travel to Italy for the proceedings?

No, for judicial proceedings. All stages of the judicial process — from filing to the post-decree registration — can be managed by an Italian lawyer on your behalf under a notarial power of attorney, without any requirement for you to be physically present in Italy. For the municipal route, physical presence in Italy is required to establish legal residence.

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Documents and Formal Requirements

What documents are required for a citizenship by descent application?

The core documentation consists of birth, marriage and death certificates for every person in the line of descent from the Italian ancestor to the applicant, plus a certificate of non-naturalisation for the ancestor. All foreign documents must be translated into Italian by a sworn translator and apostilled or legalised in accordance with the applicable conventions. For a complete breakdown, see our article on documents required for Italian citizenship by descent.

What format must foreign documents be in?

All civil registry documents — birth, marriage and death certificates — must be in full copy format (copia integrale or atto integrale), not in extract or summary form. Full form documents contain all the information recorded at the time of registration, including parents’ names and subsequent annotations. Requesting the wrong format is one of the most common errors that causes delays.

Do documents expire?

Documents apostilled under the Hague Convention of 1961 do not have a fixed expiry date and can be filed with the competent authority at any time after issuance. However, some states have specific requirements regarding the age of documents that can be apostilled — it is advisable to verify the current practice with the competent authority in the relevant country before collecting documents that have been held for several years.

What are the apostille requirements for documents from different countries?

For countries party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 — including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and most EU member states — foreign civil status documents must be apostilled by the competent authority in the issuing country. Some bilateral agreements modify these requirements:

• Italy-Argentina Agreement of 1987: documents exchanged between Italy and Argentina do not require apostille or legalisation — they only need a sworn Italian translation
• Brussels Convention of 1987: abolishes legalisation requirements for documents exchanged between Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and other signatories
• Athens Convention of 1977: birth and marriage certificates from Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, Greece and Portugal do not require legalisation when presented in Italy
• Bilateral agreements: Italy has bilateral agreements eliminating legalisation with Austria (1990), Germany (1969), Spain (1983), Switzerland (1966) and Hungary (1977)

For countries not party to any of the above, documents must be legalised through the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian consulate in the issuing country.

Who is qualified to translate documents into Italian?

Translations must be prepared by a certified sworn translator (traduttore giurato) — a standard professional translation is not sufficient for legal purposes. Most Italian consulates maintain lists of approved translators on their websites. The translation must be certified as accurate and complete by the translator, who takes legal responsibility for its correctness.

What should be done if there are discrepancies between documents?

Discrepancies — such as different spellings of a name, different dates of birth, or inconsistencies between Italian and foreign documents — must be resolved before the application is submitted. For significant discrepancies, the foreign authority that issued the incorrect document must issue a corrected version or a certificate confirming that both versions of the data refer to the same person. If discrepancies are not resolved, the application will be rejected.

What happens if the birth certificate of the Italian ancestor cannot be found?

If no civil birth certificate exists — most commonly because the ancestor was born before 1871, when Italian civil registry records begin — the primary alternative is the baptism certificate from the parish church where the ancestor was baptised. The baptism certificate must be authenticated by the diocesan chancellery and apostilled before it can be used in citizenship proceedings. Other alternative sources — such as military records, census records or notarial documents — may also be available depending on the specific case. For a full explanation, see our article on the Italian baptism certificate for citizenship by descent.

Is the death certificate of the Italian ancestor required?

The death certificate of the Italian ancestor is not strictly required by law as a mandatory document. However, it provides useful supporting evidence — it confirms when and where the ancestor died, which helps establish the timeline of the line of descent and may provide information about the ancestor’s residence at the time of death. If it cannot be obtained, the application can generally proceed without it, provided the other documents are complete.

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Particular Cases

If a family member has already obtained citizenship through the same Italian ancestor, do I need to duplicate all the documentation?

If the application is submitted through the same Italian consulate that processed the relative’s application, it may be possible to avoid duplicating documents already on file at that consulate. If a different consulate is involved — which has been the case for all applications since 2012, when document sharing between consulates was discontinued — new original documents must be obtained for the new application.

What if I changed my name before applying for citizenship?

If a legal name change occurred before the citizenship application, a certified copy of the name change decree must be submitted to the competent authority together with a modified copy of the birth certificate. If the name change occurs after the citizenship application has been submitted, the name change decree must be sent to the consulate, which will forward it to the municipality for annotation in the civil registry.

Can I apply for citizenship by descent if I was adopted?

Yes, but with important distinctions. Biological minor children of a person who obtains recognition of Italian citizenship by descent automatically acquire Italian citizenship at the same time as the parent. Adopted minor children do not acquire citizenship automatically — the parent must first obtain their own recognition of citizenship, after which a separate judicial procedure before the Juvenile Court (Tribunale per i Minorenni) is required to extend citizenship to the adopted child.

If I renounced Italian citizenship, can I reacquire it?

Yes. A person who previously held Italian citizenship and renounced it can reacquire it by establishing legal residence in Italy for a period of one year and making a formal declaration of intent to reacquire citizenship. The one-year period may be reduced to three years for descendants of Italian citizens who lost citizenship by renunciation. The specific procedure depends on the circumstances of the original renunciation and the current situation of the applicant.

Does recognition of Italian citizenship extend automatically to my children?

Recognition of Italian citizenship does not automatically extend to children born before the recognition. However, minor children residing with the parent at the time of recognition may be entitled to have their citizenship registered as part of the same procedure. Children born after the recognition acquire Italian citizenship automatically at birth. Children born before the recognition may have their own independent right to recognition, which must be assessed and pursued individually.

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Request an Initial Legal Assessment

If you have questions about your eligibility for Italian citizenship by descent or about the most appropriate procedural route for your specific case, contact our Italian citizenship lawyer to request an initial legal assessment. We will review your family tree and advise on the available options under Italian law.