Living between two countries

Italian citizenship by descent: what changed and who can still apply

Since Law 74/2025, Italian citizenship by descent requires meeting an Article 3-bis condition if you were born abroad and hold another citizenship. Who still qualifies, where to apply, documents, fees and where the courts stand in November 2026.

By BNKA Team, Product team8 min read
Ilustración 3D: árbol genealógico, acta antigua con sello de lacre y un pasaporte

Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) still exists, but proving an Italian ancestor, however many generations back, is no longer enough. If you were born outside Italy and hold another citizenship, you are only recognized if you meet one of the conditions in Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, added by Decree-Law 36/2025 and Law 74/2025. You apply at the Italian consulate covering your area, at a town hall in Italy if you live there, or before an Italian court.

What changed in Italian citizenship by descent with Law 74/2025

Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025 was converted, with amendments, into Law 74 of 23 May 2025, in force since 24 May 2025. It inserted a new Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992 with a short rule: a person born abroad, including before the reform, who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship. Exceptions follow, and the whole procedure now revolves around them.

The old route was to rebuild the line back to the emigrant, even a great-great-grandparent. The line is still checked first, generation by generation, but on top of that you now need to fit one of the 3-bis conditions. If you were born in Italy, or hold Italian citizenship only, the new rule does not touch you.

Who can still apply for Italian citizenship by descent

These are the conditions in the current text of Article 3-bis. Meeting one is enough.

ConditionWhat it means in practice
a) Application filed with a consulate or mayor by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025Your case is decided under the rules in force on that date
a-bis) Appointment notified by the competent office before that same cut-offYou file on the appointment date you were given
b) Court claim filed before that cut-offThe judge applies the previous rules
c) A parent or grandparent holds, or held at death, Italian citizenship onlyYou must show that ancestor never had another citizenship
d) A parent or adoptive parent lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after becoming a citizen and before your birth or adoptionProven with a historical residence certificate from Italy

For the typical Argentine family with an Italian great-grandparent or great-great-grandparent, the maths is blunt: with no application, appointment or court claim before 27 March 2025, and no parent or grandparent meeting condition c) or d), current law rules out recognition. Check your grandparents' papers before you pay for a single translation.

Italian citizenship: where the courts stand in November 2026

Constitutional Court, ruling 63/2026. Decided on 11 March and filed on 30 April 2026, it held unfounded the challenges to Article 3-bis based on equality, reasonableness, legitimate expectations and EU citizenship. The Court read the bar as applying also to people born abroad before 28 March 2025.

Referral to the EU Court of Justice. On 23 July 2026, with order 147, the same Court sent a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union in cases from the courts of Mantua and Campobasso: whether Article 9 TEU and Article 20 TFEU preclude a rule like 3-bis. The Court restated the position it took in ruling 63. Until an answer arrives, Article 3-bis remains in the current text of the law.

Court of Cassation, July 2026. According to an August 2026 circular from the Italian Interior Ministry, the Joint Chambers of the Court of Cassation (ruling 24045 of 26 July 2026) held that a child of an Italian born in a jus soli country, such as Argentina, is a dual citizen from birth and does not lose Italian citizenship because the parent they lived with naturalized while they were a minor. This covers naturalizations between 1 July 1912 and 15 August 1992. If you were refused on that ground alone, you can ask the authority that refused you for a review; if your original application predates 27 March 2025, the 3-bis limits do not apply to you.

Where to apply for Italian citizenship: consulate, town hall or court

Consulate. Living outside Italy, you go to the consulate for your district. In Buenos Aires the appointment is booked on Prenot@mi, one per adult, and you must show at least six months of residence in the district before booking. Law 11/2026 also reshaped the system: until 31 December 2028 each consulate takes a capped number of adult applications per year: at most as many as the cases it closed the year before, with a floor of one hundred. From 1 January 2029, adults living outside Italy file by post with a central office of the Foreign Ministry in Rome. The law sets 36 months to close those procedures; that is a legal deadline, not a promise.

Town hall in Italy. If you move to Italy, the town hall handles recognition once you are on the register of residents. You must be physically present, with no proxy. The town hall asks the consulate for the certificate of non-renunciation by certified email, and you cannot chase that directly with the consulate. Article 3-bis applies exactly as it does at a consulate.

Court. The claim is filed in Italy through a lawyer. Since the reform, these cases do not admit oaths or witness evidence except where the law allows it, and the claimant must prove there was no ground preventing acquisition or causing loss of citizenship.

Documents for Italian citizenship by descent

The core list comes from the Italian Interior Ministry circular K.28.1, as published by the Buenos Aires consulate:

  • Birth record of the Italian ancestor, issued by the town of birth.
  • Birth records for every descendant in the direct line, yours included, with an official Italian translation.
  • Marriage records for the ancestor and each descendant in the line, including your parents.
  • A certificate from the country of emigration, covering every spelling of the name, showing the ancestor had not taken that citizenship before their child was born.
  • A certificate that neither you nor your ancestors renounced Italian citizenship.
  • Proof of your 3-bis condition, such as the historical residence certificate from Italy if you rely on condition d).

Buenos Aires accepts full civil records in original or GEDO format, not summary certificates. Foreign documents need an apostille and an Italian translation. Papers are not returned, so keep copies. Any office can ask for extra documents.

How to prepare an Italian citizenship file step by step

  1. Work out which Article 3-bis condition you meet and which relative provides it.
  2. Order the records for the whole line and compare names, dates and places; one wrong letter in a surname can stall the file.
  3. Get the ancestor's non-naturalization certificate and, if relevant, the Italian residence certificate.
  4. Only translate and apostille once the line is complete.
  5. Check your consulate's or Italian town hall's website, then book or register as a resident.
  6. Pay the fee only following the official instructions the office sends you.

What Italian citizenship costs and how to move the money

Fees confirmed as of November 2026:

  • Consulate: 600 euros per adult applicant, per the consular fee table. In Buenos Aires it is paid in pesos at the consular rate, by transfer only, and it is not refunded if citizenship is not recognized.
  • Town hall: each town hall may charge up to 600 euros per adult applicant, plus up to 300 euros for each record over a hundred years old concerning someone else.
  • Court: a 600 euro unified contribution for each claimant, even when several file together, plus legal fees.

Translations, apostilles and courier costs come on top, with no single price. The money side gets real if you choose the town hall route: months of rent and fees in euros while your income still arrives in Argentine pesos, soles or Colombian pesos. Sort out before you fly how you will send and receive money from Argentina, Peru or Colombia; BNKA is one of the options for moving it. If part of what you hold is in dollars, there is also a USD option. More practical guides are on the BNKA blog.

The rules can change again, especially depending on how the EU Court of Justice answers. Before you pay anything, check your office's official website.

Official sources on Italian citizenship by descent

Worth stating plainly: BNKA is a technology platform. Financial services are provided by regulated partner institutions, and the terms in force for any given operation live in the app and in the terms and conditions.

This is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.

Questions on this topic

Can I apply if my great-grandfather was Italian?

Only if you meet an Article 3-bis condition: a parent or grandparent who holds, or held at death, Italian citizenship only; a parent who lived in Italy for two continuous years as a citizen before you were born; or an application, appointment or court claim before 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025. Otherwise current law rules out recognition.

Did the Constitutional Court strike down the generational limit?

No. Ruling 63/2026 held the challenges to Article 3-bis unfounded. In July 2026, with order 147, the Court asked the EU Court of Justice whether the rule is compatible with EU citizenship. Meanwhile the article remains in the current text of the law.

How much does it cost?

As of November 2026: 600 euros per adult at a consulate, up to 600 euros per adult at an Italian town hall (each sets its own amount), and a 600 euro unified contribution per claimant in court. Translations, apostilles and, in court, the lawyer are extra.

I was refused because my great-grandfather naturalized while my grandfather was a minor. Can I try again?

According to the Italian Interior Ministry's August 2026 circular, following the July 2026 Joint Chambers ruling of the Court of Cassation, you can ask the authority that refused you for a review if that was the only ground and the naturalization happened between 1912 and 1992. If your original application predates 27 March 2025, the 3-bis limits do not apply.

WhatsAppLinkedInX

Keep reading

Start today

Your money where you live.
And where you come from.

Open your account from your phone in minutes and discover the services available to you.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play
Open my account See how much you would receive →

Download the app · Sign up with your passport · Exchange rate shown before you confirm