Italy's Top Court Boosts Citizenship Rights for Descendants of Italian Emigrants

Italy's highest court has ruled that children born with both Italian citizenship and another country's citizenship do not automatically lose their Italian citizenship if a parent later becomes a citizen of another country. The landmark judgment is expected to strengthen citizenship by descent claims for thousands of families worldwide, especially those with Italian roots in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and other countries.

The ruling settles a long running legal dispute known as the "Minor Issue", which has affected many citizenship by descent applications involving descendants of Italians who emigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The decision was issued by the Court of Cassation's United Sections (Sezioni Unite), the court's highest panel that settles conflicting legal interpretations. Its judgments carry significant legal authority and are rarely overturned.

At the centre of the case was whether a child who was already an Italian citizen by birth under the principle of "iure sanguinis" or citizenship by blood automatically lost that citizenship when an Italian parent later naturalised in another country while the child was still a minor.

The court ruled that under Italy's historic citizenship laws, the answer is no. Children who were Italian citizens from birth, including those born in countries such as the United States that grant citizenship at birth, kept their Italian citizenship even after a parent's later naturalisation. Since they remained Italian citizens, they could legally pass that citizenship to future generations.

The judgment overturns a restrictive legal interpretation that had emerged from court decisions since 2023. Under that approach, many citizenship claims were rejected because authorities believed the chain of citizenship had been broken.

Legal experts say the ruling could help hundreds of thousands of families whose applications were rejected solely because of the Minor Issue. It is also expected to guide judges handling pending cases and influence how Italian consulates and administrative authorities process future applications, although it remains unclear when official procedures will be updated.