Italy's 2025 Citizenship Law Change:
Law 74/2025 Explained

What is Law 74/2025?

Decree-Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025 (often called the "Tajani Decree") was converted, with amendments, into Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, which entered into force on May 24, 2025. It inserted a new Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992, Italy's main citizenship law. The government's stated aim was to address the volume of citizenship-by-descent applications from descendants of Italian emigrants.

Before this law, Italian citizenship by descent (Jure Sanguinis) could be claimed through any direct Italian ancestor, with no generational limit, provided the line of transmission was never broken (for example, by an ancestor naturalizing abroad before the next person in the line was born).

Article 3-bis changes that for people born abroad who also hold another citizenship: they are treated as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless one of the conditions below applies.

What exactly changed?

If you were born outside Italy and hold another citizenship, Article 3-bis recognizes you as an Italian citizen only if at least one of the following applies:

• A parent or grandparent holds, or held at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship (Article 3-bis(c)), or
• A parent (or adoptive parent) lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before your birth or adoption (Article 3-bis(d)), or
• Your case falls under the transitional rules for applications, appointments or court cases started by the March 27, 2025 cutoff (Article 3-bis(a), (a-bis) and (b)), explained below

In practice, claims that rely only on a great-grandparent or earlier ancestor no longer qualify for new applications. But the change is not only about generations: many parent and grandparent claims are affected too.

What "exclusively Italian citizenship" means

The key word is exclusively. The qualifying parent or grandparent must have held only Italian citizenship, with no other nationality. Italian consulates assess this at the date of your birth, or at the ancestor's death if they died before you were born.

• A grandparent born in Italy who never naturalized anywhere else will usually meet the test.
• A grandparent who became a U.S. or Canadian citizen before your birth (or before their death) generally does not, even if they were born in Italy and passed citizenship to your parent.
• The ancestor does not need to have been born in Italy. What matters is the citizenship they held.

Consulates ask for documentary proof, such as certificates confirming no other citizenship was held, statements of renunciation of any other citizenship, or certificates of non-registration on foreign electoral rolls. How the test applies to your family depends on dates and records, so it should be checked case by case.

Who is grandfathered?

The law keeps the old rules for cases already under way at the cutoff of 11:59 PM Rome time on March 27, 2025. Your claim is assessed under the pre-reform rules if any of the following is true:

• A complete application was submitted to the competent consulate or Italian municipality by the cutoff, or
• The competent office had communicated an appointment date to you by the cutoff, and you submit the complete application, with the required documents, on that appointment date, or
• A court case seeking recognition of your citizenship was filed by the cutoff

Having merely requested an appointment, or being on a waiting list, does not qualify.

Are parent and grandparent claims still affected?

Yes, they can be. Under the old framing, any applicant with an Italian-born parent or grandparent was eligible. Under Article 3-bis, that parent or grandparent must have held exclusively Italian citizenship, or your parent must meet the two-year residence rule. The standard requirements still apply as well: an unbroken line of transmission, and no renunciation.

Many families with a grandparent who never naturalized will still qualify. Families whose Italian-born grandparent became a U.S. or Canadian citizen should have their dates reviewed before investing in documents.

What about 1948 cases?

A "1948 case" arises where citizenship must pass from an Italian woman to a child born before January 1, 1948. Consulates do not recognize this kind of maternal transmission, so these cases are decided by Italian courts.

For new applications, a 1948 case must also satisfy Article 3-bis. The question is whether a parent or grandparent of the applicant held exclusively Italian citizenship (or a parent meets the two-year residence rule). That qualifying parent or grandparent is not necessarily the same person as the female ancestor at the center of the 1948 argument. Each lineage needs to be assessed individually.

Which route fits you?

Your situation	Route today
Parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship	Consulate application (or court, for 1948 lines or unreasonable delays)
Application, appointment or court case started by March 27, 2025	Continue under the pre-2025 rules
Living Italian-born parent or grandparent who lost citizenship by August 15, 1992	They may reacquire by December 31, 2027
You are Italian by birth with children who were minors on May 24, 2025	Declare them by May 31, 2029
Claim relies only on a great-grandparent or earlier	No route today; follow EU Court case C-816/26

Legal challenges: where things stand

Constitutional Court (April 2026). On April 30, 2026, Italy's Constitutional Court filed Judgment No. 63/2026, rejecting the constitutional challenges raised by the Court of Turin. It held that Article 3-bis sets a condition for acquiring citizenship rather than revoking citizenship already held.

EU Court of Justice (pending). On July 23, 2026, in Order No. 147/2026, the Constitutional Court asked the Court of Justice of the European Union whether Article 3-bis is compatible with EU citizenship rights (Article 9 TEU and Article 20 TFEU). The case is registered as C-816/26. Under the ordinary procedure, a ruling can take around 18 months. At least one Italian court (Catanzaro, September 2026) has postponed a post-reform case until the EU Court decides.

What this means for you. The law remains in force and is applied by consulates and courts. A future EU ruling could change the position for people who do not qualify today, but there is no guarantee of the outcome or its timing. If you qualify under current rules, there is no reason to wait.

Other changes you should know about

• Children of Italian citizens. Many minor children born abroad no longer become Italian automatically. They may acquire citizenship through a formal declaration by the parents within statutory deadlines. For children who were minors on May 24, 2025 and whose parent is an Italian citizen by birth under the transitional rules (a case started by March 27, 2025), the declaration deadline was extended to May 31, 2029.
• Reacquisition window. Former citizens who were born in Italy, or lived there for two continuous years, and lost Italian citizenship by August 15, 1992 (for example, by naturalizing abroad) can reacquire it by declaration between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027. A €250 fee applies.
• Centralized processing. A law of January 2026 moves recognition applications from adults living abroad from individual consulates to a central office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a 36-month deadline for applications filed from January 1, 2026. The new office was established in September 2026 and is due to be operational from January 1, 2029.
• Government fees. Separately from Law 74/2025, Italy's 2025 Budget Law (Law 207/2024) set a €600 fee per adult applicant at consulates, allowed Italian municipalities to charge up to €600 per adult applicant, and set a €600 court fee per claimant in citizenship cases, from January 1, 2025.

What should you do now?

If you have a parent or grandparent who never held any citizenship other than Italian, you are likely to qualify under current rules and should move forward. Waiting only adds time to an already long process.

If your Italian parent or grandparent naturalized abroad, if your claim runs through a great-grandparent or earlier, or if you started your application before March 27, 2025, your situation needs a closer look. Our team can review your dates and documents, check whether any transitional rule, the two-year residence rule or the reacquisition window helps your family, and tell you honestly whether a case is viable today.

Changelog

• November 2, 2026: added the route table and links to new guides on exclusive citizenship, reacquisition, minors, centralization and case C-816/26.
• November 1, 2026: rewrote the page around the exclusive-citizenship test; added Judgment 63/2026, Order 147/2026 (case C-816/26), the July 2026 Cassation Minor Issue ruling, centralization and the 2025 Budget Law fees.

Primary sources

• Law 91/1992 (consolidated text, incl. Article 3-bis) — Normattiva
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Citizenship
• Consulate General of Italy in Miami — Citizenship by descent (new rules)
• Constitutional Court — Judgment No. 63/2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Citizenship law depends on the facts of each lineage.