Italian Citizenship Ruling in Italy Upholds Ancestry Limits, Cutting Off Automatic Claims for Millions
Italy’s Constitutional Court has delivered an italian citizenship ruling that upholds limits on citizenship by descent, confirming that millions of people with more distant Italian ancestry no longer qualify for automatic recognition under rules tightened last year.
What the Court Decided and What Happens Next
On March 13, 2026, the Constitutional Court upheld the 2025 law restricting citizenship by descent and rejected legal challenges to Law 74/2025, previously introduced as Decree-Law 36/2025 and commonly known as the Tajani Decree. The court found the restrictions constitutional, pointing to state interests that include preventing abuse, managing consular backlogs, and preserving the integrity of citizenship rules.
A full written decision is expected soon, which will provide more detail on the court’s reasoning. For now, the ruling cements a narrower framework that had been contested since it was introduced as an emergency measure in March 2025 and later converted into law in May of that year.
How Eligibility Changes Under the Upheld Law
The upheld law limits jure sanguinis transmission to cases tied to parents or grandparents born in Italy. In practice, claims based on great-grandparents or earlier generations are excluded from automatic recognition unless specific residency conditions apply.
The measure is retroactive from March 27, 2025, a feature that has been central to the controversy. Grandparent-based claims remain valid only if the grandparent was born in Italy, while earlier generations no longer confer automatic rights. The change particularly affects people born abroad who already hold another citizenship unless they can demonstrate a direct and recent link under the law’s narrowed standards.
Applications filed before the cutoff date continue under the previous rules, and roughly 60, 000 such cases are pending.
Why Italy Tightened the Rules
Officials framed the restrictions as a response to massive application volumes that strained the consular system. Some consulates faced extremely long waits, and the law also sought to address concerns about commercialization tied to passports.
Supporters of the restrictions argue the changes reduce exploitation and ease administrative pressure. Critics counter that the law weakens cultural ties with diaspora communities formed during large waves of emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries.
With an estimated 80 million people worldwide claiming Italian descent—including large communities in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States—the policy shift has broad implications for families that had looked to citizenship recognition for mobility and other practical benefits.
Other Legal and Policy Developments Still in Motion
The March italian citizenship ruling arrives after a July 2025 decision affirming citizenship from birth, which had raised hopes among some applicants that retroactive limits might be overturned. Instead, the latest outcome reinforces the tightened approach.
Additional developments in 2026 remain relevant for applicants tracking next steps. A February Palermo court ruling allowed some Italo-Argentinian applicants—who had been blocked by consulate delays—to proceed under pre-law rules in certain circumstances. Separately, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on retroactivity for pre-2025 births on April 11. Another long-running question described as the “minor issue, ” involving whether naturalization breaks transmission, could also see resolution later this year.
On the legislative side, Parliament passed Bill 1683 in January 2026, shifting adult jure sanguinis processing to a centralized office in Rome starting in 2029, with annual quotas. Consulates will continue handling cases through 2028.
Options for Those Who No Longer Qualify Automatically
For people who are now ineligible for automatic recognition through more distant ancestry, the remaining routes described alongside the new framework include naturalization after 10 years of residency (sometimes reduced) or citizenship by marriage after two years. Reacquisition remains available until December 31, 2027, for certain individuals who lost citizenship under pre-1992 rules.
Diaspora groups have expressed disappointment, and some are planning further appeals. Immigration lawyers have advised applicants to review family records for qualifying links or confirm whether they filed before the cutoff, as those cases continue under earlier rules while the courts and government move forward with the updated system.
