Italian Citizenship Law 74/2025: What Changed, Who Is Affected, and What to Do Now
⚖️ Update — March 12, 2026
The Italian Constitutional Court has ruled. On March 12, 2026, the Court declared the constitutional challenges to Law 74/2025 partly unfounded and partly inadmissible. Law 74/2025 stands. The two-generation limit for new applications filed after March 27, 2025 is constitutionally legitimate. The retroactivity argument was rejected. There is no automatic reopening for applications rejected under the new rules.
The written ruling is expected by April 2026 and may contain nuances not yet public. If you were rejected after March 27, 2025, consult a citizenship lawyer before taking any action. Alternative pathways — the 1948 rule and the two-year residency route — remain fully available and unaffected by this ruling.
What Was the Law Before March 2025?
There was no generational limit. Third, fourth, fifth, and even sixth generation descendants could apply. The only conditions were that the Italian ancestor had not renounced citizenship before the birth of the next generation in the line, and that citizenship was not lost through naturalisation while minors were still dependants.
This system meant that millions of people in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada and other countries with large Italian diaspora communities were potentially eligible.
What Did Law 74/2025 Change?
Law 74/2025 (formerly Decree-Law 36/2025, the "Tajani Decree") came into force on March 27, 2025.
The key change: a hard two-generation limit.
Under the new rules, automatic jure sanguinis eligibility is restricted to:
- Persons with an Italian parent who held exclusively Italian citizenship at the time of the applicant's birth
- Persons with an Italian grandparent who held exclusively Italian citizenship at the time of the parent's birth
Everyone beyond the second generation — great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and further — no longer qualifies automatically under jure sanguinis from March 27, 2025.
Does the New Law Affect Applications Already Filed?
This applies to applications filed with Italian consulates abroad, applications submitted to Italian comuni, and cases already before Italian courts. The date that matters is when your application was formally received — not when you started preparing it.
What About the Retroactive Application?
Two Italian courts — in Turin and in Mantua — referred constitutional challenges to the Italian Constitutional Court in 2025, arguing that retroactive revocation of acquired rights violates fundamental constitutional principles.
On March 12, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court upheld Law 74/2025,
declaring the constitutional challenges partly unfounded and partly inadmissible.
→ Read our full analysis: What to expect from the March 11
Constitutional Court ruling
Who Is Still Eligible Under the New Rules?
- Italian parent (first generation)
- Italian grandparent (second generation)
- Applications filed before March 27, 2025 — all generations protected
- 1948 maternal line cases — separate judicial route, unaffected
- Italian great-grandparent (third generation)
- Fourth generation and beyond
- New applications filed after March 27, 2025 beyond 2nd generation
- Note: retroactivity under Constitutional Court review — may change
What Are the Alternative Pathways?
1. The 1948 Rule — Maternal Line Cases
2. Italian Citizenship by Residency (Two-Year Pathway)
3. Beneficio di Legge — Qualifying Minors
What Documents Will You Need?
Whatever pathway applies to your situation, one thing is certain: you will need official certified Italian documents. The documents required for any citizenship claim typically include:
- Birth certificates of every person in the line of descent from the Italian ancestor to you
- Marriage certificates for every couple in the line of descent
- Death certificates where relevant
- Naturalisation or renunciation records if an ancestor changed nationality
- Certificates of no-impediment from relevant Italian comuni
All documents must be official certified copies issued by the relevant Italian stato civile (civil registry), state archive, or parish register — not genealogical database extracts or photocopies.
How Italian Roots Finder Can Help
Whether you are gathering documents for a pending application, preparing for a potential appeal after the Constitutional Court ruling, or simply want to know which records exist before committing to a legal process — we offer a free preliminary search.
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