Italian Citizenship via Great Grandparent: Rules for Americans
Last updated: May 14, 2026
If your only Italian-born ancestor is a great-grandparent, the short answer for 2026 is that you almost certainly no longer qualify for automatic recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. A reform passed in 2025 cut off claims past the grandparent generation, and Italy's Constitutional Court upheld that cutoff in March 2026.
Last updated: May 14, 2026
- What changed in 2025 and why great-grandparent claims are affected
- Who can still file under the old rules
- Eligibility checklist if you are filing under the transitional rule
- Document checklist for a great-grandparent case
- Application steps
- Fees and processing time
- Alternatives if you do not qualify under the new rules
- Common pitfalls
What changed in 2025 and why great-grandparent claims are affected
For decades, Americans with an Italian-born great-grandparent (a bisnonno or bisnonna) could pursue jure sanguinis recognition with no generational limit, provided the chain of citizenship had never been broken. That window has now closed for most applicants.
On March 28, 2025, the Italian Council of Ministers issued Decree-Law No. 36/2025. The Chamber of Deputies passed the conversion bill on May 20, 2025 by a vote of 137 to 83, and Law No. 74/2025 (commonly called the Tajani Law) was published in the Official Gazette on May 23, 2025 and took effect the following day.
Under the new rules, automatic recognition of Italian citizenship by descent is limited to applicants who have:
- An Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy who held exclusively Italian citizenship at the relevant moment (either at the applicant's birth, or at death if the ancestor died before the applicant was born), or
- A parent or adoptive parent who acquired Italian citizenship and then resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years before the applicant's birth or adoption.
Great-grandparents are not on that list. On May 28, 2025, Italy's Ministry of the Interior issued Circolare No. 26185 spelling out how consulates and comuni should apply the new rules. And on March 12, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court rejected the constitutional challenges brought against Law 74/2025, confirming that the generational cap remains fully in force.
The practical result: an American whose Italian-born ancestor is a great-grandparent (or further back) is no longer eligible for jure sanguinis recognition unless they fall under the transitional rules described below.
Who can still file under the old rules
The law contains a narrow grandfather clause. The pre-reform rules, which allowed claims through great-grandparents and earlier ancestors, still apply if you meet either of these criteria by 11:59 PM Rome time on March 27, 2025:
- Your application was submitted to an Italian consulate, a comune in Italy, or a court (for example a "1948 case"), or
- You had an officially confirmed consular appointment on the books.
If neither condition was met by that deadline, your case will be evaluated under Law 74/2025, and a great-grandparent ancestor will not be enough on its own. This applies to administrative cases at consulates and comuni as well as to judicial proceedings filed in Italian courts after March 27, 2025, including 1948-rule cases involving maternal-line transmission before January 1, 1948.
If you do have a pre-deadline filing or confirmed appointment, your case continues. Statutory processing at consulates is governed by DPCM No. 33 of January 17, 2014, which sets a 730-day (24-month) deadline, though real-world consular timelines have often been longer.
Eligibility checklist if you are filing under the transitional rule
Use the checklist below to confirm you fall inside the grandfathered group through a great-grandparent.
- The Italian great-grandparent was born in Italy.
- The great-grandparent had not naturalized as a US citizen before the next ancestor in the chain (your grandparent) was born. If naturalization happened after that child's birth, the line generally remained intact, although a separate Ministry of the Interior guideline issued October 3, 2024 (the "minor issue") holds that naturalization while the child was still a minor disrupts transmission.
- No ancestor in the line formally renounced Italian citizenship before the next generation was born.
- If your line passes through a woman with a child born before January 1, 1948, you are in "1948 case" territory and must (or must have) proceeded in court rather than at a consulate.
- Your application or confirmed appointment existed on or before March 27, 2025 (Rome time).
If you cannot satisfy that last point, the rest of the checklist no longer gets you to automatic recognition.
One separate point worth knowing: Italy's modern dual-citizenship regime started August 16, 1992. Foreign naturalization on or after that date does not cause automatic loss of Italian citizenship. Earlier naturalizations triggered automatic loss under Article 8 of Law 555/1912, which is the main reason great-grandparent chains so often broke in the first place.
Document checklist for a great-grandparent case
For anyone still proceeding under the transitional rule, the document set is essentially what it was before the reform. You are reconstructing an unbroken chain from your Italian-born great-grandparent down to you.
Document | Notes |
|---|---|
Great-grandparent's Italian birth record | From the comune of birth in Italy. |
Great-grandparent's marriage record | Italian or US, depending on where they married. |
US naturalization record (or proof of non-naturalization) | From USCIS and/or the National Archives. Must show date relative to next ancestor's birth. |
Great-grandparent's death certificate | From the state of death. |
Grandparent's US birth, marriage, and death records | Long-form, certified. |
Parent's US birth, marriage, and (if applicable) death records | Long-form, certified. |
Your US birth certificate | Long-form, certified. |
Any divorce decrees in the chain | For every divorced person in the line. |
Apostilles | On every US vital record and the USCIS letter. |
Certified translations into Italian | For every non-Italian document. |
Name discrepancies (a common issue with early-twentieth-century immigrants) typically need to be addressed through amended records or a one-and-the-same affidavit, depending on what your consulate or comune accepts.
Application steps
The procedural path depends on where you file.
- Decide your venue. US residents normally apply through the Italian consulate with jurisdiction over their state of residence. Some applicants choose to establish residency in an Italian comune and apply there, which can be faster but requires actually living in Italy during processing.
- Confirm your transitional status. Pull your appointment confirmation or the receipt of your earlier filing. This is the document that keeps your case under pre-reform rules.
- Gather and apostille every vital record. US records are issued by individual states, so order long-form certified copies and apostilles from each relevant secretary of state.
- Get certified Italian translations. Use a translator your consulate or comune recognizes.
- Submit the file. At a consulate, you appear in person at your appointment. At a comune in Italy, you submit after registering residency.
- Wait. Consulates work to the 730-day statutory deadline. Comuni vary widely. Courts in Rome handle most judicial cases for applicants abroad.
- Register the result. Once recognized, your birth (and your children's births) are transcribed into the Italian civil registry, after which you can request an Italian passport.
Fees and processing time
Fees rose sharply at the start of 2025 and remain at those levels in 2026.
Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
Consular fee, adult applicant | €600 per applicant, non-refundable | Article 1, paragraph 639 of the 2025 Budget Law |
USD equivalent (Los Angeles Consulate, Jan-Mar 2025) | US $643.70 | Los Angeles Consulate posting |
Comune fee (Italy) | Up to €600 per adult applicant | 2025 Budget Law |
Court filing fee (contributo unificato) | €600 per petitioner | Article 814, 2025 budget amendment |
Consular statutory processing deadline | 730 days (24 months) | DPCM No. 33 of 17/01/2014 |
The €600 consular fee is payable per adult applicant, not per family, and you do not get it back if your application is denied. On top of these official fees, plan for vital-record orders, apostilles, translations, mailing, and (often) a genealogist or attorney.
Alternatives if you do not qualify under the new rules
Most Americans with only a great-grandparent connection now fall outside jure sanguinis. The remaining realistic routes to Italian citizenship are:
- Residence-based naturalization, fast track. Under amended Article 9 of Law 91/1992, applicants with an Italian-born parent or grandparent can apply after two years of legal residence in Italy (reduced from three). This benefit does not extend to great-grandparent descendants. If your parent is recognized as Italian first, however, you become the child of an Italian citizen and your situation changes.
- Ordinary naturalization. Non-EU nationals can apply after 10 years of legal residence in Italy. A June 2025 referendum proposing to cut this to five years failed to reach quorum, so 10 years remains the rule. The application fee to the Ministry of the Interior is €250, with processing typically 24 to 36 months, and B1-level Italian is required.
- Naturalization through marriage to an Italian citizen, with its own residency and language requirements.
- Reacquisition by declaration for Italians born in Italy who lost citizenship under the 1912 law: a declaration may be filed between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027 without needing to reside in Italy. This is narrow and applies to the original Italian-born person, not to descendants.
- Living in Italy on another basis. Many Americans now use a long-stay visa to relocate and, separately, work toward naturalization. For an overview of one popular option, see our guide to the Italy Digital Nomad Visa options. For other European residency routes, see European visa and residency alternatives.
For a broader walkthrough of jure sanguinis as it stands in 2026, our How to Get Italian Citizenship by Descent guide covers parent and grandparent cases in detail.
Common pitfalls
- Assuming the great-grandparent route is still open. It is the single most common misconception in 2026. Unless you locked in your case by March 27, 2025, it is not.
- Forgetting the "exclusively Italian" requirement. Under Law 74/2025, the qualifying parent or grandparent must have held only Italian citizenship at the moment that matters (your birth, or the ancestor's death if earlier). A grandparent who naturalized as American before your birth can disqualify an otherwise straightforward case.
- Overlooking the minor issue. The October 3, 2024 Ministry of the Interior guideline holds that an ancestor's naturalization while their child was still a minor breaks the chain. This catches many cases from the early 1900s.
- Mixing up 1948 cases. Maternal-line cases with pre-1948 births still require court proceedings, and those filed after March 27, 2025 are now subject to the new generational limits as well, per consular guidance.
- Missing the minors' declaration window. Children who were minors as of May 24, 2025 and whose parent is an Italian-born citizen may benefit from a transitional declaration, but both parents must file by 11:59 PM Rome time on May 31, 2026.
- Paying the consular fee without confirming eligibility. The €600 is non-refundable.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still claim Italian citizenship through my great-grandfather if my grandfather and father never claimed it?
Only if your case (or a confirmed consular appointment) was on file by 11:59 PM Rome time on March 27, 2025. Otherwise, no.
My consular appointment was scheduled for April 2025 but the consulate canceled it. Am I grandfathered?
The transitional rule covers appointments "officially confirmed" by the March 27, 2025 cutoff. Hold on to your original confirmation email and contact the consulate directly; outcomes have varied case by case.
Does the March 12, 2026 Constitutional Court ruling reopen anything?
No. The Court rejected the challenges to Law 74/2025, so the great-grandparent cutoff stands.
What if my parent gets recognized through the grandparent? Do I then qualify?
Yes. Once your parent is an Italian citizen, you are the child of an Italian citizen, which is a separate legal basis. You would still need to be registered properly, and the "exclusively Italian" rule applies as of your birth.
Can I move to Italy and naturalize faster because my great-grandparent was Italian?
No. The two-year fast track applies to descendants of an Italian-born parent or grandparent. Great-grandparent descendants fall under the standard 10-year residency rule, with B1 Italian required.
How long does a consular case take in practice?
The statutory deadline is 730 days under DPCM No. 33/2014, though real timelines have historically been longer. Comune and court timelines vary.
Is the €600 fee really per person?
Yes, per adult applicant. A family of four adults pays €2,400 in consular fees alone, and the fee is not refunded if the application is denied.
Where do I get the official text and updates?
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at esteri.it and your local Italian consulate website are the authoritative sources. For case-specific questions, contact the consulate with jurisdiction over your US state of residence.
If you are moving to Italy through one of the remaining routes, getting your Italian to a working level early makes the residency, paperwork, and daily life far easier. try Migaku if you want to learn Italian from real shows, news, and books rather than textbook drills.