How Italy's 2025 reform changed citizenship by descent

See how Article 3-bis changed Italian citizenship by descent, which exceptions remain, and why the family chain still matters.

Is an Italian ancestor still enough?

Short answer: no.

Italy changed the citizenship-by-descent rules in 2025. If you were born abroad and hold another citizenship, you now need to check Article 3-bis before relying on the older family-chain rules.

The relationship still matters. But it no longer answers the question by itself.

What does Article 3-bis do?

Article 3-bis creates a new gate for a person who:

1. was born outside Italy, including before the reform, and
2. holds another citizenship.

If both facts apply, the person is treated as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless one of the statutory exceptions applies. Article 3-bis

This is an original bar to acquisition under the new law. It is not described as a later revocation of citizenship. Law 74/2025 coordinated text

Who is outside that gate?

The Article 3-bis foreign-birth gate does not apply in the same way if:

• you were born in Italy, or
• you do not hold another citizenship.

You still need to prove the parent-child chain and the Italian status of the transmitting parent at the relevant birth.

Do not answer the other-citizenship question from one passport alone. Citizenship can exist automatically even when you never requested a passport.

Which exceptions should you check?

Article 3-bis contains five main routes to examine.

A complete filing by the cutoff

A recognition application with the necessary documents may preserve the old-law test if it reached the competent consulate or mayor by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025.

An appointment communicated by the cutoff

A later filing may be protected if it was made on the date of an appointment that the competent office had communicated by the same cutoff.

A court case filed by the cutoff

A judicial application filed by that time may also preserve the old-law test.

An exclusively Italian parent or grandparent

A parent or grandparent may support the current exception if that person possesses, or possessed at death, exclusively Italian citizenship.

A parent who lived in Italy for two years

A parent or adopter may support the current exception after living continuously in Italy for at least two years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the applicant's birth or adoption. Article 3-bis

These exceptions ask different questions. Use the protected-filing guide and the parent and grandparent exceptions guide to review them separately.

Does an exception prove the whole case?

No.

An exception only gets you past the Article 3-bis gate. You still need to show that citizenship reached each generation.

Check:

• when the first ancestor became Italian,
• whether the ancestor naturalized elsewhere,
• whether any child was a minor when a parent lost citizenship,
• whether the line passes through a woman whose child was born before 1948,
• whether legal filiation existed at the required time, and
• whether adoption, marriage, a treaty, or a territorial change affected the line.

A surname, family tree, or Italian birth certificate for one person does not prove the complete chain.

What is happening in the courts?

Constitutional Court Judgment 63/2026 upheld the challenged parts of the reform on the grounds decided in that case.

But the story did not end there.

Constitutional Court Order 147/2026 referred a question about Article 3-bis and EU law to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The joined Italian proceedings were suspended while that question is pending.

Article 3-bis remains enacted and operative. The order did not invalidate or suspend the law for every applicant.

So two claims are unsafe:

• "the reform no longer applies," and
• "every constitutional or EU-law issue is settled."

What should you check first?

Start with four facts:

1. Were you born in Italy or abroad?
2. Do you hold another citizenship?
3. Was there a filing, communicated appointment, or court case by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025?
4. Can you prove one of the current parent-based exceptions?

Then build the family chronology.

The main point: Article 3-bis is now the first gate for many foreign-born applicants. Passing that gate does not replace the rest of the citizenship chain.