Italy · Citizenship by Descent
If your parent or grandparent was born in Italy, you may already be Italian
Citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis) can make you an Italian and EU citizen while you keep your US passport. Italy's 2025 reform changed the rules, so here's exactly who still qualifies.
How it works
You don't apply for it. You inherit it.
Italian citizenship passes down by blood, not by paperwork. If the family line is unbroken, you were arguably born Italian and never knew it. The work isn't qualifying from scratch. It's proving that chain with official records and getting a consulate or Italian court to recognize what's already true.
2 generations
As far back as a parent or grandparent born in Italy.
The 2025 cap
600 euros
Consular fee, per adult applicant.
Plus records and translations
2 to 4+ years
Records, an appointment, then recognition.
Patience required
Both passports
Keep your U.S. passport; add an EU one.
Dual citizenship allowed
Who qualifies
Start with who was born in Italy
The automatic route now stops at your grandparent, so look at your closest Italian-born relative. Two things decide it: that the ancestor held only Italian citizenship, and whether you can prove every link.
- Parent born in Italy? You may already be a citizen, and just need it recognized.
- Grandparent born in Italy? You register the chain at an Italian consulate.
Citizenship by Descent (Jure Sanguinis)
Italy lets people with Italian ancestry claim Italian (and EU) citizenship without giving up U.S. citizenship — but a 2025 reform changed the rules dramatically. As of Law 74/2025 (in force May 24, 2025 and upheld by Italy’s Constitutional Court in April 2026), automatic recognition is capped at two generations: you generally need a parent or grandparent who was born in Italy, not a great-grandparent or further back. If your only Italian ancestor is more distant — and you did not already have a complete application filed before March 27, 2025 — you are very likely no longer eligible through this route, though a separate Italian-residency naturalization path may apply.
- Government cost
- $700
- Processing time
- ~730 days
- Timeline
- Typically 2–4+ years total: sourcing/apostilling multi-generation records, a consulate appointment (wait varies widely), then ~24–36 months of adjudication. 1948-rule court cases run 2–4 years.
- Difficulty
- Hard
Key requirements
- A parent or grandparent born in Italy who held only Italian citizenship (the 2-generation cap) — OR a complete application filed before March 27, 2025 (grandfathered)
- An unbroken citizenship chain: no ancestor in the qualifying line naturalized abroad before the next descendant’s birth
- Full civil records for the line — birth/marriage certificates for the Italian ancestor and every direct descendant, apostilled and translated into Italian
- Proof the ancestor did not naturalize abroad before the next birth, and that no one in the line renounced Italian citizenship
- €600 non-refundable consular fee per adult applicant (~$700 USD)
- A consular appointment (waits vary widely), or an Italian residence for the in-Italy route
- For pre-1948 maternal-line cases: filing through an Italian court, and still subject to the 2-generation cap if filed after Mar 27, 2025
The 2025 reform
Here's the catch
Until 2025, people traced Italian citizenship back through great-grandparents and further. That era is over. A 2025 law, since upheld by Italy's Constitutional Court, capped the automatic route at two generations. If your only Italian ancestor is a great-grandparent, and you didn't file by March 27, 2025, that path is most likely closed. The good news: a parent or grandparent still counts.
Who can help you prove it
Sovereign Roots
Citizenship by Ancestry
They check your line against the new rules and run the case end to end.
Legalize That Doc
Document Preparation
Vital records, apostilles, and certified Italian translations.
Move To Dolce Vita
Italian Immigration
Consulate paperwork, or the in-Italy residence route if you'd rather.
Where your roots may trace
Where most Italian-American roots trace back
Sicily
Island of its own
An island that runs on its own terms, with Greek temples older than the Colosseum, Etna smoking above Catania, and street markets in Palermo that feel closer to North Africa than to Rome. Towns under 20,000 people qualify for Italy's 7% flat tax for foreign pensioners. Summers punish, and the paperwork is slower still.
Naples
Pizza and Vesuvius
Where pizza was invented, under a volcano, with Pompeii on the local commuter line and Rome an hour away by fast train. Nothing here is orderly and nothing is quiet. Petty crime is constant, and the bureaucracy defeats people who managed fine elsewhere in Italy.
Questions we hear a lot
What about the pre-1948 female line?
Before 1948, Italian women couldn't pass citizenship to their children. If your line runs through a woman whose child was born before 1948, you generally file a case in an Italian court, and since 2025 those cases are held to the two-generation cap, too.
What documents will I need?
Birth and marriage certificates for your Italian ancestor and every person down the line to you, plus death certificates where needed. They have to be certified, apostilled, and translated into Italian. This is where most claims stall, so start ordering records early.
What does “held only Italian citizenship” mean?
Your qualifying parent or grandparent can't have become a citizen of another country before the next person in your line was born. If they naturalized as an American first, the chain usually breaks at that point.
My great-grandparent was the one born in Italy. Am I out of luck?
For the automatic route, most likely. Since Italy's 2025 reform, recognition stops at a parent or grandparent, unless you already had an application filed or a consulate appointment confirmed by March 27, 2025. If you're past the line, living in Italy for two years is a separate path to citizenship.
Do I have to give up my U.S. citizenship?
No. Italy allows dual citizenship, and the U.S. recognizes it in practice. You keep your U.S. passport and gain an Italian (and EU) one.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
Plan on two to four years or more. The consular fee is 600 euros per adult, and you'll spend more on records, apostilles, and translations. Getting a consulate appointment is often the slowest part.
Do I need to speak Italian or live in Italy?
Not for the descent route. It's about bloodline and documents, not residency or a language test. The separate two-year residency path does require living in Italy and B1 Italian.
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Not sure your line still qualifies?
Talk to an Expatsi advisor about your visa path.
Why not you?