In recent days, the issue of Italian citizenship by descent has once again been completely reshaped. On one hand, as foreseen in Art. 1-bis of Law 74/2025, the Government has finally introduced a new facilitated channel for the return of descendants to Italy; on the other, Parliament is examining a legislative proposal that aims to revise the rules of jure sanguinis citizenship and introduce an Italian language and cultural proficiency test for third-generation descendants and beyond.
Is the visa for descendants a solid pathway to citizenship?
On Tuesday, 25 November, the Italian Government published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale a decree that sets out detailed rules for the facilitated entry of descendants of Italian nationals living in countries with a strong presence of Italian emigrants. This measure implements the so-called Tajani Decree, approved in March and converted into law in May 2025, designed to strengthen ties with Italian communities abroad and encourage the so-called “return to one’s roots”.
The decree allows descendants of Italian citizens, provided they hold citizenship from one of the seven countries identified by the Ministry, each with more than 100,000 AIRE-registered Italians (currently the U.S., Canada, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay), to obtain a visa and a residence permit outside the immigration quotas set by the annual Decreto Flussi, enabling them to work and live in Italy.
However, this visa and residence permit are not yet operational, as the implementing regulation that will define the procedure and the documentation required to prove descent from Italian citizens has not been published.
Once this special residence permit becomes available, it will allow children and grandchildren of Italian citizens to apply for naturalization (not recognition jure sanguinis) after two years of legal residence in Italy. The processing time for a naturalization application is typically two to three years from the date of filing. For all other applicants, the waiting period remains ten years, as is the case for any foreign national.
If you are a third-generation descendant or beyond, you might be asking yourself: Is this the only path available to me?
The short answer is no, and filing a court petition remains the most effective and cost-efficient route to obtain recognition of your Italian citizenship.
In reality, the only profiles of applicants who would find this alternative attractive are those who, while being first- or second-generation descendants, were never eligible according to the old law due to a broken transmission line; and those whose main priority is moving to Italy, regardless of citizenship status.
If you were eligible according to the criteria set out in the old law, the quickest, most cost-efficient path forward for you is filing a court petition – and fast.
When justifying the new proposal, MAIE MP Franco Tirelli stated:
“We believe that the government, after the Constitutional Court’s ruling, which we expect will declare it unconstitutional, will see this draft as a response to all Italian citizens abroad who had been asking for a reform of this law, which, for us, was shameful.”
These developments fully confirm what Aprigliano Law Firm has argued from the beginning: the 2025 reform is unconstitutional. It limits consolidated rights, creates inequality within the same family line, violates fundamental principles, and contradicts decades of Italian jurisprudence on jure sanguinis. It is therefore no surprise that Parliament is already working on a complete overhaul, not a simple correction, but a new framework that will remove the generational limit while introducing stricter requirements for third-generation descendants and beyond.
We are now in a genuine phase of regulatory transition. The decree on facilitated entry provides a pathway for those wishing to move and work in Italy; the MAIE proposal will redefine the rules for jure sanguinis to avoid future legal challenges, and the language test will almost certainly become mandatory for great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and more distant descendants.
For this reason, it is crucial to seize the current window of opportunity. The new law will very likely be declared unconstitutional, and if the Constitutional Court strikes it down, the previous legal framework will apply, the one not requiring any language test. However, this benefit will apply only to petitions already filed in court before the new law is officially enacted.
From our perspective, the new law will probably be approved before the Constitutional Court issues its ruling. A reasonable estimate is that the new law is unlikely to be enacted before the end of the first half of 2026, while the Constitutional Court’s decision could arrive by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
This is therefore the right moment to act. The 2025 framework will be replaced, but the new system will undoubtedly be more restrictive. Applying now allows you to secure your rights under the old rules, avoiding future limitations and linguistic requirements.
Aprigliano Law Firm is monitoring every stage of this process and has already anticipated the scenarios that are now unfolding. For those entitled to Italian citizenship by descent, this is very likely the last opportunity to start the process without a language exam and before additional requirements come into force in the coming months.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
