Q: What is the “minor rule”, or “minor issue”, and how could it impact my ability to apply for my Italian citizenship, via iure sanguinis?
A: Let’s first start with some information about what the regulation is and then what the impact can be.
Background:
In recent months, we noticed that the 1912 Regulation was increasingly being applied to citizenship applications submitted through consulates and municipalities as well as with applications submitted through the courts (i.e., “1948 cases” that concern maternal lineage).
In January 2024, the Italian Court issued a decision recognizing the application of a law that was in force between 1912 and 1992. This law stipulated that the direct descendant of an Italian citizen who had naturalized in another country could apply for Italian citizenship iure sanguinis if they were a minor at the time of their parent’s naturalization and applied as soon as they reached adulthood.
However, according to this recent decision, the descendant of the Italian citizen who naturalized abroad had 1 year to claim the Italian citizenship upon turning 21. If the descendant did not claim the citizenship by this deadline, the lineage is considered “interrupted“, and all their descendants would no longer be eligible for Italian citizenship recognition.
Then on October 3, 2024, the Ministry of the Interior released a a resolution specifying that the Court interpretation must be applied across the board, to those citizenship cases that meet the following set of circumstances:
- If the Italian ancestor naturalized after the birth of their child but while that child was still a minor;
- And there was no attempt to regain Italian citizenship for the parent (who naturalized) while the child was a minor;
- When they become an adult (at age 21), they only have 1 year in which to claim Italian citizenship;
What does this mean for someone seeking Italian citizenship?
This regulation means that, outside of that one-year window, people will have a “broken link” in their line of descent and the chances of a successful citizenship application have now become much more difficult, or even impossible, depending on the personal circumstances. For example, some of the possible alternative options that we might consider in cases like this are to look if the applicant has alternative lines of Italian descent, or to assist the applicant in establishing Italian residency for three years (with or without establishing Italian tax residency) which would “fix the broken link”.
HERE is information about the requirements for Italian citizenship iure sanguinis and you can submit our Italian Citizenship Screening Form if you want to see if you qualify for Italian citizenship.
New Supreme Court ruling – how to apply for citizenship now.
If you’re not sure where this leaves you, please book a consultation with our citizenship department.