Italian citizenship by descent: what still works after the reform

A passport is a right, not a favour. If you obtain it through your ancestry, you are not asking to be let in: you are having confirmed what has been yours since birth. Which countries open this route and how far back they look is set out in the overview of citizenship by descent. For many German families, Italy is the first country that comes to mind. Since 2025 the route has narrowed, but it has not closed.

What the reform changed about Italian citizenship

The principle still stands, unchanged, in Article 1 of Law 91/1992: a child of an Italian father or an Italian mother is Italian by birth. Under that article, where the child is born makes no difference. For generations, all you needed was to document an unbroken chain back to an ancestor who had left Italy.

With Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted into law and amended by Law 74 of 23 May 2025, Italy inserted a new Article 3-bis into that law. Its current wording has applied since 24 May 2025. It expressly departs from Article 1 and says: anyone born abroad who holds another nationality is treated as someone who never acquired Italian citizenship. This also applies to everyone born before it came into force.

That is the heart of it. The reform does not just reset the future, it reaches back to the moment of birth. For a German with Italian roots, this means: you were born abroad and you hold another nationality, namely German. So recognition is only open to you through one of the exceptions in Article 3-bis.

People born in Italy are not affected, nor are those who hold Italian citizenship only and have or can have no other. The Consulate General in Frankfurt expressly lists both groups as still recognised.

Who still qualifies today: the exceptions in Article 3-bis

Article 3-bis lists the cases in which the old rule still holds. The first three concern only applications already under way; the last two are the ones that matter for you today.

The decisive case: Italian only

The key word in letter c) is "esclusivamente": exclusively. It is not enough for your father, mother, grandfather or grandmother to be Italian. They must not hold any other nationality.

The law looks at two points in time. A living parent or grandparent must be Italian only today. One who has died must have been Italian only at the time of death. What came before is not the yardstick for this exception.

This leads to advice that many families hear too late: whoever in your family still holds only an Italian passport today is keeping the door open for children and grandchildren. Before he or she also takes German citizenship, it is worth working out together who could still be recognised afterwards.

The second route: two years in Italy before you were born

Letter d) helps families in which a parent lived in Italy. That parent must have lived there for at least two uninterrupted years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before you were born. Whether this parent is also German today makes no difference for this exception.

Through your mother: the 1948 line

Citizenship passes through the father and through the mother. Through the maternal line, however, the consulate, by its own account, recognises it only for people born after 1 January 1948. Since only parents and grandparents count now, this limit mainly affects your mother or father when the line runs through your grandmother.

Italian citizenship as a German: which family has which route

Most families with Italian roots in Germany will recognise themselves in one of these situations:

So whether a grandfather who came to Germany as a guest worker stayed purely Italian or took German citizenship decides your claim. Settle that question first, before you start hunting for the oldest record. How to find birth, marriage and death certificates in Italy and Germany is explained in the article on genealogy for your passport.

Applying for Italian citizenship: the process at the consulate

If you live in Germany, the Italian consulate for your place of residence is responsible. The Consulate General in Frankfurt, for example, covers Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Lower Franconia. Recognition by descent is available there to adults only. Minors have their own routes through their parents.

Step 1: appointment and a complete file

The application is accepted only by appointment and only once every document is in place. In the application you give the names and the dates and places of birth, marriage and death of your Italian ancestors in the first and second degree. In Frankfurt you book the appointment by email with the Ufficio cittadinanza.

Step 2: the records

At its core, the Consulate General in Frankfurt asks for these documents:

1. The extract of the birth certificate of the Italian parent or grandparent who emigrated first, issued by his or her Italian municipality.
2. The birth certificates of every descendant in the direct line down to you, translated into Italian.
3. The marriage certificates of the emigrant and of your parents, if the marriage took place abroad, translated.
4. The death certificate of the emigrant, if he or she has died, translated.
5. A certificate from the German authorities stating that the Italian ancestor did not become German before his or her child was born, with a certified translation.
6. An extended certificate of registration (erweiterte Meldebescheinigung) from your German place of residence, showing nationality, address and marital status.
7. Statements of where your living and deceased ancestors have lived since birth, plus a family tree.

You submit every record in the original, and the consulate keeps them. German official documents bearing the round official seal need no legalisation. Documents from other Hague Convention states need an apostille, and every document in another language needs a translation into Italian. The consulate may ask for further proof, especially where it concerns whether an ancestor was Italian only.

Step 3: fee and waiting time

The application costs €600, whatever the outcome. If it is refused, the fee is not refunded. According to the consulate, how long the review takes cannot be estimated when you apply, because information is checked in other countries. Until the case is formally closed, the consulate is under no obligation to issue certificates.

Step 4: AIRE and passport

Once you are recognised, you register in the register of Italians living abroad, the AIRE, through the FAST IT portal. Registration is a legal duty, and anyone who skips it risks a fine from their Italian municipality. You then apply for your passport at the consulate through the Prenot@mi booking portal. In Frankfurt it costs €116.20; among other things, you bring two biometric photos and a valid identity document.

Children: the route through the parents' declaration

Once you are recognised, the next question comes at once: what about my children? For a child born abroad who holds a German passport, Article 3-bis applies in just the same way. The child becomes Italian automatically only if one of the exceptions applies to the child itself, for example because a grandparent is Italian only.

For all other cases, Law 74/2025 created a route of its own in Article 4(1-bis). A minor child whose father or mother is Italian by birth becomes Italian if the parents or the guardian declare it and one of two conditions is met:

• The declaration is made within three years of birth. The three-year deadline has applied since 1 January 2026.
• Or the child lives legally in Italy for at least two uninterrupted years after the declaration.

The parents make the declaration in person before the consulate's civil registrar; according to Frankfurt, both parents do so, including the parent who is not Italian. A declaration made within this deadline is free of charge: the €250 contribution under Article 9-bis does not apply here.

One point matters for family planning: a child who becomes Italian this way is not Italian by birth, but only from the day after the conditions are met. The consulate expressly excludes such citizens as the parent for this route. So the declaration does not carry on to the next generation. On coming of age, the child may give up Italian citizenship again, provided he or she holds another. How to secure several passports for your children at once is shown on the page on family and a second passport.

When descent is not enough: naturalisation with residence in Italy

If you meet none of the exceptions, you are not shut out for good. Descendants have a second route, and it runs through genuine residence in Italy.

Under Article 9(1)(a), citizenship can be granted by decree of the President of the Republic to a foreign national whose father, mother or grandparent is or was Italian by birth, if he or she has lived legally in Italy for at least two years. This is naturalisation, not a right to have citizenship confirmed. It requires:

Young people have a shortcut with no discretion involved. Under Article 4(1)(c), a descendant of a parent or grandparent who was Italian by birth becomes Italian if, on reaching the age of majority, he or she has lived legally in Italy for at least two years and declares within one year the wish to acquire citizenship.

If you have no parent or grandparent who is Italian by birth, general naturalisation remains: as a citizen of an EU member state, you can be naturalised under Article 9(1)(d) after four years of legal residence in Italy. What the move to Italy means in practical and tax terms is set out in the country profile moving to Italy (in German) and in the overview taxes in Italy (in German). How naturalisation works around the world and where it is fastest is explained in the article on naturalisation abroad.

Reacquisition for former Italians until the end of 2027

Many grandparents lost Italian citizenship decades ago because they became citizens of another country abroad. For them, Law 74/2025 opened a window in Article 17.

Anyone who was born in Italy or lived there for at least two uninterrupted years, and who lost citizenship by 15 August 1992 under the rules of the old 1912 law, for example through naturalisation abroad, gets it back. A declaration made between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027 is all it takes. Anyone who lost citizenship on or after 16 August 1992, or who renounced it, is left out.

Reacquisition takes effect from the day after the declaration, not retroactively from birth. So it gives the former Italian their own passport back, not automatically their children and grandchildren living abroad. For a grandmother who never forgot her Italian homeland, it is still a powerful piece of justice.

German-Italian dual citizenship: what you keep

Recognition takes nothing away from you. Under Italian law you have been Italian since birth; the consulate only confirms it. And even if you acquire Italian citizenship on application, for instance through naturalisation with residence, you no longer lose German citizenship since 27 June 2024. Italy, in turn, says in Article 11 of its law: anyone who holds or acquires a foreign nationality remains Italian. The full German framework is explained in the article on dual citizenship in Germany.

There are hardly any real drawbacks, only duties. You register with AIRE and keep your address there up to date; otherwise, for example, your postal ballot will not reach you, and you risk being struck off. And before you move to Italy for one of the residence routes, check the tax consequences of the move.

In return, you gain a great deal. Two passports mean two embassies that protect you, and a spare if one passport is lost or stolen abroad. How to enter and leave countries correctly with two passports is covered in travelling with several passports. And above all, you give your children an option that, through the declaration under Article 4(1-bis), reaches one generation further.

When no road leads to Italy

Not every Italian family story ends at the consulate. Perhaps your grandfather took German citizenship, perhaps the last Italian in the family was three generations back. Then it is worth looking at other descent countries. Each country draws the line differently. For many German families, Poland is a natural candidate; more on that in Polish citizenship by descent.

And there are routes that need no ancestors at all. Naturalisation abroad is the free route and, in the end, the better one, but it costs years of genuine residence. Citizenship by Investment buys you that time: a second passport in months rather than years, while the long route carries on. The two do not rule each other out, as the article on CBI and naturalisation shows. Which programmes are open today and how their costs compare can be found under programmes compared.

Frequently asked questions