Dual Italian Citizenship: Who Can Apply

Simone Bertollini's website offers an interesting summary of the cases in which you can apply for Italian citizenship. Of course, all the documents you'll need to collect must be translated into Italian.

People that qualify for citizenship jus sanguinis, have a great advantage over those that do not have Italian descents, and have to go through the naturalization process. Italian law states that a foreigner must live in Italy for 10 years, and meet many other requirements in order to naturalize as an Italian citizen. 

Dual citizenship with Italy can be claimed in different cases. Below you can find the most common:

Italian citizenship through parents

​CASE #1: Your father was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth and you never renounced your right to Italian citizenship.

CASE #2: Your mother was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth, you were born after January 1st, 1948 and you never renounced your right to Italian citizenship.

Italian citizenship through grandparents

CASE #3: Your parent was born in the U.S. after January 1, 1948, your grandfather or grandmother was an Italian citizen at the time of his or her birth, and neither you nor your parent ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.

CASE #4: Your parent was born in the U.S. before January 1st, 1948, your grandmother was an Italian citizen at the time of his or her birth, and neither you nor your parent ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
This is only available through a judicial action in Italy. This action is based on the Italian Supreme Court (“Corte di Cassazione“) ruling number 4466 of February 25, 2009.

Italian citizenship through great grandparents

CASE #5: Your grandfather was born in the U.S., your paternal great grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of his birth, and neither you nor your father ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
In great grandfather cases, it is very common to find discrepancies in the name or date of birth of your ancestor. Even if you collected all your vital records on your own or through an Italian citizenship assistance program, you will ultimately need to contact us or another licensed attorney to fix the discrepancies through a Court order.

Please note that prior to the year 1992, ALL Italian citizens that naturalized as U.S. Citizens AUTOMATICALLY lost their Italian Citizenship, and no formal renunciation was required.If your last Italian-born ancestor naturalized before his child was born, you do not qualify for Italian citizenship. To find out whether you qualify or not, it is often necessary to conduct a comprehensive Genealogy Search.

You can only qualify through your last Italian-born ancestor (either side). Simply put, you cannot pick any other ancestor down the line. For example, if your grandfather was the last ancestor born in Italy, but he became a U.S. citizen before your father or mother was born, you do not qualify. You would not be able to claim it through your great grandfather. No exception.

Does Italy allow Dual Citizenship? After 1992 Italy allows dual citizenship with the United States. As long as you can prove your Italian ancestry, you can become an Italian citizen. Italy does not require you to renounce your citizenship(s) when you claim your Dual citizenship.
Therefore, Dual Citizenship with Italy can be lawfully pursued.

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