Persons potentially interested in the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent are hereby advised of important new developments, introduced by recent rulings of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation (Cass. Civ. Sez. I, ord. No. 454/2024 and No. 17161/2023) and by Circular No. 43347, dated October 3, 2024, from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, issued in application of new interpretative guidelines set forth by the aforementioned judicial authority.
In line with the guidelines of the aforesaid Court, the circular clarifies, first of all, that an Italian citizen who, under the 1912 law (and earlier, under the Italian Civil Code of 1865), lost Italian citizenship due to the voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship also simultaneously caused the loss of Italian citizenship for his minor child living with him. This applies even if the child was born in a country, such as the United States, where jus soli (right of the soil) is applied. Consequently, at birth, the child had dual citizenship: Italian by paternal descent under jus sanguinis (right of blood) and foreign based on birthplace under jus soli. In all such cases, therefore, the transmission line of citizenship is considered interrupted, as the minor in question, from the date of the father’s naturalization, no longer has the capacity to transmit this right to his own descendants.
However, despite the above, the applicant may demonstrate that his ancestor, who lost citizenship for the reasons described, subsequently reacquired Italian citizenship after reaching adulthood. If this occurred and can be proven, the reacquisition must have taken place before the birth of the descendant in the applicant’s direct line. Otherwise, the line of transmission cannot be considered restored.
