What we know after Supreme Court Judgment No. 24045/2026 and Circular No. 65050/2026 and what is still unclear

Last updated: August 19, 2026 | Author: Avv. Salvatore Aprigliano — Aprigliano Law Firm

Following Judgment No. 24045/2026 of the Joint Sections of the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione), published on July 26, 2026, and Italian Ministry of the Interior Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026, many people whose Italian citizenship by descent applications were rejected by an Italian Consulate or municipality (Comune) because of the Minor Age Issue are now asking the same question:

Should I ask the Consulate or Comune to reconsider the rejection, or should I go to court in Italy?

There is no answer that is right for everyone.

Administrative reconsideration — also referred to in this article as administrative review or re-examination — and court proceedings are different paths. They involve different costs, procedures, decision-makers and timing considerations.

There is another reason to be cautious: the new reconsideration process for Minor Age rejections is extremely recent. As of August 2026, there are still no detailed ministerial guidelines addressing every practical aspect of how these requests will be handled.

This article therefore does not assume that reconsideration is safer, that going to court is faster, or that one option is generally better than the other.

Its purpose is to compare the two paths and, most importantly, separate what we know today from the questions that remain open.

At a glance

For straightforward cases, requesting reconsideration may be the simplest and least expensive route. For others, a court case may deserve consideration. In more complex situations, the answer can depend on the original application, the wording of the rejection, relevant dates, family circumstances and the evidence available.

Table of contents

1. What changed after Supreme Court Judgment No. 24045/2026 and Circular No. 65050/2026?
2. Minor Age reconsideration: what are the main advantages?
3. Minor Age reconsideration: what remains unclear?
4. Going to court after a Minor Age rejection
5. Reconsideration vs. court proceedings: quick comparison
6. Frequently asked questions
7. So, should you request reconsideration or go to court?

What changed after Supreme Court Judgment No. 24045/2026 and Circular No. 65050/2026?

With Judgment No. 24045/2026, published on July 26, 2026, the Joint Sections of the Italian Supreme Court resolved the conflicting interpretations surrounding the Minor Age Issue.

In simplified terms, the Court addressed the position of a child born abroad in a country applying ius soli citizenship — such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia or Argentina — who was already both a citizen of the country of birth and an Italian citizen by birth.

The Court rejected the interpretation under which that child automatically lost Italian citizenship when the Italian parent later naturalized while the child was still a minor.

As a result, in those cases, the citizenship line is not considered broken solely because of the Minor Age Issue. Descendants may therefore be able to seek recognition of Italian citizenship under the rules applicable to their individual case and, where the relevant transitional requirements are satisfied, under the legal framework that applied before the March 28, 2025 reform.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Italian Ministry of the Interior issued Circular No. 65050 on August 10, 2026, changing the previous administrative guidance and allowing applications previously denied because of the Minor Age Issue to be reconsidered.

A person who formally filed an Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) application and later received a Minor Age rejection may now ask the same authority to reconsider or review that decision in light of the new interpretation.

The Circular also provides that applicants requesting reconsideration do not need to resubmit the original documents already filed with their citizenship application.

For a step-by-step explanation, see our Italian Citizenship Minor Age Reconsideration Guide, published on August 13, 2026.

Reconsideration should not be confused with going to court.

Reconsideration is an administrative review of the previous rejection by the same authority that issued it. A court case is different: the applicant challenges the consular or municipal denial before the competent Italian civil court and asks the judge to overturn the rejection and recognize the applicant’s Italian citizenship.

Understanding that difference is essential before comparing the two options.

Minor Age reconsideration: what are the main advantages?

1. It is an administrative review

The request is submitted to the same Consulate or Comune that issued the original citizenship rejection.

For a straightforward Minor Age case, this may avoid the need to immediately start a court case in Italy.

2. It may cost significantly less than going to court

A reconsideration request does not necessarily require an attorney.

In relatively simple cases, applicants may submit the request themselves. Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026 does not expressly provide for a new administrative filing fee for the reconsideration request.

Administrative review can therefore be significantly less expensive than court proceedings in Italy.

3. You do not have to resubmit all of your original documents

Circular No. 65050/2026 allows the authority to reconsider applications rejected because of the Minor Age Issue without requiring applicants to submit again the original documents already held by the administration.

This can be particularly useful when the Consulate or Comune still holds the original citizenship file.

4. In straightforward cases, reconsideration may avoid a court case altogether

If the original rejection was based only on the Minor Age Issue, and the rest of the citizenship line and documentation do not present additional problems, reconsideration gives the administration an opportunity to reassess the application under the new guidance.

That does not mean that reconsideration automatically results in recognition of Italian citizenship.

It does mean that, in appropriate cases, the previous rejection may potentially be resolved without the higher cost and additional complexity of litigation.

Minor Age reconsideration: what remains unclear?

The ability to seek reconsideration is new, and Circular No. 65050/2026 does not regulate every procedural detail.

Several important questions therefore remain open.

How long will a Consulate or Comune take to decide a reconsideration request?

This is currently one of the most important unanswered questions.

Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026 does not establish a specific maximum period for deciding a Minor Age reconsideration request.

For Consulates, Article 75 of Legislative Decree No. 71/2011 expressly provides for reconsideration of a consular decision and requires the Consulate to decide the request under the procedures and time limits provided by Article 2 of Law No. 241/1990.

The Consulate therefore has an obligation to issue a decision.

What is less clear is which specific deadline applies to this new type of Italian citizenship reconsideration.

Italian legislation now provides a maximum period of 36 months for certain citizenship recognition proceedings. Neither Article 75 nor Circular No. 65050/2026, however, expressly states that a shorter deadline applies specifically to reconsideration of a Minor Age rejection.

Nor have we identified specific guidance from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) that conclusively answers this question.

The 36-month period is therefore an important statutory benchmark, but it should not automatically be presented as the established deadline for this specific reconsideration procedure.

There is also not yet enough practice to know how individual offices will organize the new requests. Will reconsideration cases have their own queue? Which date will determine the order in which cases are handled: the original citizenship application or the reconsideration request? Could individual Consulates adopt different workflows?

For this reason, it is not currently possible to give applicants a reliable estimate of how long Minor Age reconsideration will take in practice.

Could reconsideration reopen other parts of the citizenship application?

Possibly.

Removing the Minor Age Issue does not necessarily mean that citizenship must automatically be recognized.

Much may depend on the wording of the original rejection.

If the Consulate or Comune had already expressly confirmed that the citizenship line was properly documented, that the file was complete and acceptable, and that the only obstacle was the Minor Age Issue, there may be less left to examine.

The situation may be different where the authority stopped its review after finding that the Minor Age Issue alone was sufficient to reject the application for recognition of Italian citizenship.

Once that obstacle is removed, the authority may still need to complete its review of the rest of the file.

That could potentially reveal other issues, including missing records, name or date discrepancies, or other matters that were not addressed in the original decision.

For this reason, the exact wording of the original rejection can matter when assessing the likely scope of reconsideration.

Could new Ministry guidance affect a reconsideration request that is still pending?

Yes, potentially.

The current Minor Age reconsideration process is based on Ministry of the Interior Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026, which does not define every practical aspect of how reconsideration requests must be handled.

The Ministry could therefore issue further guidance in the future — for example, requiring additional documents, introducing new procedural requirements, or adopting more restrictive criteria for the review of Minor Age reconsideration requests.

If the new guidance were intended to apply to reconsideration requests that are still pending, those applications could be affected by the new administrative instructions before the Consulate or Comune issues its decision.

This is an important difference from a court case. A ministerial Circular does not bind an Italian judge.^[1] If new administrative guidance were issued while a citizenship case was already pending before an Italian court, the judge would remain responsible for independently interpreting and applying the law.

In other words, a pending reconsideration remains within the administrative framework governed by Ministry instructions; a pending court case does not.

Why can timing matter when children are involved?

Timing may become particularly important when the applicant has children affected by the transitional rules introduced after the 2025 citizenship reform.

Under the current framework, in qualifying circumstances, a declaration may be made by May 31, 2029 for certain persons who were minors on May 24, 2025 and whose parent qualifies under the relevant citizenship provisions.

If the child becomes an adult before May 31, 2029, he or she may personally make the declaration within the same deadline.

A harder question can arise where the parent’s own recognition of Italian citizenship is still pending in reconsideration as May 31, 2029 approaches.

There is not yet sufficiently developed administrative practice to give a universal answer about every possible consequence of that situation.

For families potentially affected by the deadline, timing may therefore be more than a matter of convenience.

Going to court after a Minor Age rejection

What are the main advantages?

1. The law on the Minor Age Issue is now much clearer

Supreme Court Judgment No. 24045/2026 resolved the specific legal conflict at the center of the Minor Age Issue.

When an administrative rejection was based on that issue, the competent Italian court now has a ruling from the Joint Sections of the Supreme Court addressing that legal question.

That does not guarantee the outcome of the case. It does, however, place applicants whose rejection was based on the Minor Age Issue in a significantly stronger legal position than before Judgment No. 24045/2026.

The court must still review the chain of descent, naturalization history, documentary evidence, applicable transitional rules, and any other legal or factual issue that may affect the individual claim.

But the specific legal question at the heart of the Minor Age Issue is now governed by a substantially clearer Supreme Court framework.

2. The claim is decided by a judge

In reconsideration, the previous decision is reviewed by the same administrative authority — the Consulate or Comune — that issued the rejection.

In a court case, the citizenship claim is decided by a judge.

This distinction also matters if the Ministry later changes its administrative guidance. New Ministry instructions may affect how pending reconsideration requests are handled if they are intended to apply to those requests, but a ministerial Circular does not bind the judge in a pending court case. The court remains responsible for independently interpreting and applying the law.

This difference can become particularly relevant when a case involves legal issues that go beyond applying Circular No. 65050/2026 — for example, questions requiring interpretation of the 2025 citizenship reform or its transitional provisions.

3. Court timing may currently be more predictable

The length of an Italian citizenship case varies depending on the competent court, its workload and the circumstances of the individual case.

However, Italian citizenship by descent court cases already operate within an established procedural framework, while the practical handling of Minor Age reconsideration requests is only beginning to develop.

Based on current experience, many citizenship cases may conclude within approximately 24 months. This is only a general indication and should never be treated as a prediction or guarantee for an individual case.

4. You generally do not have to request reconsideration before going to court

As a general principle, a person seeking recognition of Italian citizenship is not required to exhaust every available administrative remedy before bringing the citizenship claim before the competent civil court.

The existence of the new reconsideration process therefore does not necessarily mean that someone who already received a Minor Age rejection must first request administrative review and wait for a decision before considering a court case.

A different question can arise if reconsideration has already been requested and remains pending when the court case is filed. That issue is addressed in the FAQ below.

What are the main limitations of going to court?

1. Court proceedings are generally more expensive

Unlike a reconsideration request that an applicant may potentially submit without legal representation, a court case requires an attorney and involves legal and court-related costs.

The overall expense will therefore generally be higher than administrative reconsideration.

2. The result is not automatic

Judgment No. 24045/2026 resolved the Minor Age Issue. It did not resolve every other question that can arise in an Italian citizenship by descent case.

The court may still need to examine the chain of descent, naturalization events, documentary evidence, Article 3-bis and the 2025 reform, applicable transitional provisions, discrepancies and other case-specific legal issues.

A previous Minor Age rejection therefore does not, by itself, guarantee judicial recognition of Italian citizenship.

Reconsideration vs. court proceedings: quick comparison

The table does not identify a universal “better” option.

The right assessment may depend on the original rejection, the underlying application, relevant dates, documentary evidence, family circumstances and any additional legal issues.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to request reconsideration before going to court in Italy?

Generally, no.

Administrative reconsideration is not generally a prerequisite to bringing a claim before the competent Italian civil court for recognition of citizenship.

A person who has already received a Minor Age rejection may therefore consider going directly to court without first requesting reconsideration.

What if I request reconsideration and later decide to go to court while reconsideration is still pending?

This is a different and currently less settled question.

Although reconsideration is generally not a prerequisite for going to court, an applicant who voluntarily starts the reconsideration process and then files a court case while that review remains pending may face procedural arguments about the relationship between the two proceedings, including a possible argument concerning the applicant’s present interest in judicial relief.

Whether such an argument would succeed is a separate question.

The new Minor Age reconsideration process is too recent for there to be sufficiently established case law or administrative practice addressing this specific situation.

It should therefore be assessed case by case rather than treated as a settled rule.

Can the Consulate raise new problems during reconsideration?

Potentially, yes.

If the original decision rejected the case because of the Minor Age Issue without completing the review of the remaining file, the authority may identify additional issues during reconsideration — for example, missing documents, discrepancies or matters that were never previously examined.

If the original rejection expressly confirmed the citizenship line and documentation and identified Minor Age as the sole obstacle, the position may be different.

Again, the wording of the original rejection matters.

What if the Consulate or Comune still has my original citizenship documents and I want to go to court?

That does not necessarily mean you must collect the entire citizenship file again.

You can first request that the administration return or make the original records available.

If the records remain in the authority’s possession, it may be possible, depending on the circumstances, to start the case using the rejection and the documents available and then ask the court to obtain or order production of documents held by the administration.

Having a complete copy or scan of the file originally submitted can be particularly valuable in this situation.

I had a consular appointment before March 27, 2025, but I never formally submitted my citizenship application because of the Minor Age Issue. Can I request reconsideration?

As a general rule, no.

Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026 provides for reconsideration of applications that were actually filed and later rejected because of the Minor Age Issue.

Reconsideration requires a previous administrative decision to reconsider.

If the citizenship application was never formally filed and no rejection was issued, there is generally no previous denial that can be reopened through this reconsideration procedure.

I had an appointment before March 27, 2025, but the Consulate or Comune advised me not to file because of the Minor Age Issue. Can I ask an Italian court to apply the pre-2025 rules?

This is one of the more complex situations.

Article 3-bis(a-bis), introduced by Decree-Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025 and converted with amendments by Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, protects, subject to its specific requirements, an application actually filed on the date of an appointment that had been communicated to the applicant by 11:59 p.m. Rome time on March 27, 2025.

Having an appointment alone, without actually filing the application, does not automatically fall within the literal wording of Article 3-bis(a-bis).

The analysis becomes more complicated where the applicant obtained the appointment in time, appeared for it, but did not file because the Consulate or Comune allegedly advised that the Minor Age Issue prevented recognition.

That situation may raise additional interpretative and constitutional questions, particularly in light of the Constitutional Court’s reasoning in Judgment No. 63/2026 concerning the different position of individuals who had already taken concrete steps to seek recognition of citizenship before the 2025 reform.

Those questions remain subject to judicial interpretation and should not be treated as settled.

There is currently no automatic rule allowing someone in that situation to rely on Article 3-bis(a-bis). Whether comparable protection can be argued where the applicant appeared for the appointment but did not file because of instructions received from the Consulate is a separate legal question.

Evidence may therefore become particularly important.

Emails from the Consulate, appointment confirmations, written instructions, contemporaneous communications and other documentary evidence may help establish what occurred.

This is especially relevant because Article 19-bis of Legislative Decree No. 150/2011, as amended by the 2025 citizenship reform, limits the forms of evidence available in citizenship proceedings and, subject to the exceptions provided by law, excludes witness testimony and oaths.

The outcome of a court case in this situation cannot be considered certain. It may depend on the facts, the documentary evidence available and the interpretation adopted by the judge.

Where no application was formally filed and therefore no administrative rejection exists to reconsider, a court case may nevertheless be the route that needs to be evaluated if the person wants to seek recognition under the legal framework applicable to his or her individual situation.

What if I have children and reconsideration takes a long time?

This deserves particular attention.

Under the current transitional rules, qualifying declarations involving certain persons who were minors on May 24, 2025 may be made by May 31, 2029.

If that person becomes an adult before the deadline, he or she may personally submit the declaration by May 31, 2029.

The harder question arises when the parent’s own Italian citizenship recognition is still pending as that date approaches.

At present, not every possible consequence of a Minor Age reconsideration remaining unresolved by May 31, 2029 is supported by settled administrative practice.

For families potentially affected by this deadline, it may therefore be important to consider timing before choosing how to proceed.

So, should you request reconsideration or go to court?

Supreme Court Judgment No. 24045/2026 of July 26, 2026 and Ministry of the Interior Circular No. 65050 of August 10, 2026 substantially changed the legal landscape surrounding the Italian citizenship Minor Age Issue.

For someone whose application was rejected solely because of the Minor Age Issue, whose file does not appear to present additional complications and whose family circumstances do not make timing particularly important, the choice between filing a reconsideration request independently and asking an attorney to evaluate a court case may largely be a personal one.

Administrative reconsideration may be simpler and considerably less expensive.

Going to court costs more, but places the citizenship claim before a judge and uses a judicial procedure that is already established.

Other situations are more complex.

That may be the case when children could be affected by the timing of reconsideration and the May 31, 2029 transitional deadline, or when a person had a pre-reform appointment but never formally filed the citizenship application because of the Minor Age Issue.

In those cases, the decision is no longer simply a comparison of cost and speed.

The transitional provisions of the 2025 citizenship reform, evidentiary issues and legal questions that remain subject to judicial interpretation may become relevant.

In these more complex situations, obtaining an individual legal assessment before deciding which path to take may be prudent.

The new Minor Age reconsideration procedure is an important opportunity, but the administrative practice is still developing.

For now, perhaps the most useful distinction is not between a “good” option and a “bad” one. It is between straightforward cases, where the available choices can be compared relatively easily, and cases involving unresolved legal or timing issues, where the consequences of that choice require closer analysis.

^[1]  See Italian Constitutional Court, Ordinanza n. 66/2024.