Jure Sanguinis Citizenship

To qualify, you must prove that your Italian ancestor was an Italian citizen at the time of their child’s birth and that this chain continued down to you.

• The 1861 Threshold: Your ancestor must have been alive and an Italian citizen on or after March 17, 1861 (the date of Italy’s unification).
• The Unbroken Line: The line is broken if your ancestor naturalized in another country before the birth of the next person in your lineage. If they naturalized after the birth of the next generation, the "bloodline" was successfully passed on.
• The 1912 Rule: If your ancestor naturalized before June 14, 1912, they likely lost their Italian citizenship automatically, and in many cases, this caused their minor children to lose it as well, breaking the line.
• The 1948 Rule (Maternal Line): Historically, Italian women could only pass citizenship to children born on or after January 1, 1948.
  • If the child in your line was born to an Italian mother before 1948, you cannot apply through a consulate. You must instead file a lawsuit in the Italian court system. These "1948 Cases" are routinely successful but require a lawyer.
• The "Minor Issue" (Recent Legal Shift): Under current Ministry of Interior guidelines (following Supreme Court rulings in 2024 and 2025), if an Italian ancestor naturalized while their child was still a minor, the consulate may consider the line broken. This is currently a highly litigated area; while consulates are rejecting these cases, many Italian courts are still ruling in favor of applicants.