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A great grandmother or even a great grandfather in Italy was everything needed to guarantee Italian citizenship. Now a surprising command has changed everything, making it much more difficult for those with Italian origin that uses blood lines as a way to become Italian.
On March 28, the Italian government tightened the rules of citizenship applying for citizenship. Blood Rightsor the grandfather’s blood line will be immediately effective. The law goes to parliament to be approved within 60 days, and some changes can be implemented, but for now new request for citizenship must meet the new conditions.
Sudden changes affect thousands of people around the world, hoping or preparing to obtain an Italian passport, which is third in the world for visa-free or visas, according to Henley’s passport standards, which has made it one of the most eager.
According to the new rules, applicants must have at least one Italian parents or grandfather to be under Blood Rights. They must also show the ability of the Italian language, which was previously necessary only through housing or marriage to identify. A skilled test is a five-part test conducted several times a year, or a higher level of equal test for those living in Italy.
Prosecutors don’t have to live in Italy now, but they must have lived in the country for three years to deserve it.
Everyone had an Italian grandfather who was alive after March 17, 1861. When the Kingdom of Italy was created, he deserved to be citizenship, a process that lasts for nearly two years and the costs start from the cost of nutrition and documents to thousands of dollars.
This meant that even if human parents and grandparents had not obtained citizenship, people could still have applied for more relying on the grandparents or other generations.
According to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the decree published on March 28 in the Italian newspaper, published in the Italian newspaper, is to suppress “drinked drinks” that become “surprisingly” to Italian or to reduce travel restrictions.
“Being an Italian citizen is a serious issue, giving citizenship is a serious issue,” Tajani said Friday. “Unfortunately, there have been violations and demands for citizenship over the years, which has gone beyond our country’s real interests.
‘A feeling of loss’
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says previous citizenship laws were open for misuse. – Antonio Massello/ Getty Emaics
Between 2014 and 2024, the number of Italians living abroad rose 40 percent from 4.6 million to 6.4 million, mostly in Argentina and Brazil. The Italian consulate in Argentina submitted 30,000 applications in 2024, adding 10,000 people last year. In Brazil, consulate officials processed 20,000 applications in 2024, while in 2023 had 14,000 requests, the ministry said.
“Most of these people have nothing to do with the country, they do not pay taxes in Italy and will not vote,” Tajani said. “The reform was necessary because “civilization cannot be automatically for those who have grandfather who migrated centuries ago, without any cultural or linguistic relationship with the country,” he said.
Italy does not allow citizenship to be based on relying on Soli juice Or the right to be born, ie even those born in Italy, are not given citizenship automatically and must wait 18 years instead of applying and prove that they have lived legally in the country for 10 of them.
The new rule does not affect any of the 60,000 requests currently in consulates around the world, but it affects how people who deserve to be citizenship will apply in the future.
The consulates no longer process the demands, which will be centralized and processed online through the national government in Italy, which requires a personal meeting. According to the Foreign Ministry’s office, consulates around the world have canceled several employments of bloodline citizenship, which has been determined since March
Samantha Wilson, CEO of Smart Mom Mommy Italy, who helps facilitate the use of citizenship, says he says he is looking for citizenship of citizens not to give up.
“The order of Tajani has created fear and confusion and feels the loss for some people,” he told CNN. “This order, in our opinion, is constitutionally weak. It was as a rush as an emergency measure, beyond the normal process of democracy, and we fully expect it to be challenged – by the courts, by the legal community, and by us.”
He says one of his microscopes he planned to go to Italy on April 1 to submit a direct request has now canceled his journey because of uncertainty. Another of his property in his property department is only closed on a property in Italy, he says, but now he doesn’t want to buy it because he can’t obtain his Italian citizenship in accordance with new laws. Wilson says he has already signed a contract and is committed to continuing the purchase by law.
‘The worst mistake in my life’
Italy is one of the most powerful passports in the world. – Ricardo Milani/Hans Lucas/Afp/Getty Eimage
The law also extends to Italian citizens who were not born in Italy. Now they can only transfer citizenship to children born outside Italy if they lived in Italy for two consecutive years.
In addition, Italian citizens who have dual citizenship will lose their Italian citizenship if they do not “use by paying taxes, voting and renewing their passports and identities. This means that those who have been granted citizenship but never come to Italy may not be able to keep it, according to the decree written now.
Those who get married must live in Italy for at least two years to be worthy of citizenship through marriage. The exposure cost has doubled, from 300 to 600 euros (from $324 to $648).
The Italians born in Italy, but now live abroad, can still be able to transfer their citizenship to their children, but must record the birth in Italy.
“For those who apply and are ready through the courts, we will do our best to register their cases before the order is approved. The short window can make a difference if the transitional provisions are expanded when the law is changed,” Wilson told CNN.
“For those who are not yet ready to register, the only option is now waiting – for parliament’s decision within the framework of the 60-day window, for the Constitutional Court hearing in June, and more, for the results of what seems to be in court challenge.
CNN interviewed a man who did not want to be named if he could hurt their case, who had just moved to Rome in March in the hope of taking citizenship from the great grandmother, who moved to South America during World War II.
According to the new rules, they are not worthy, although their father, who was born in South America, has Italian citizenship. They hope to find a lawyer who can act as a leader through a complex process. “I have all the papers, everything has been translated, nutrio and ready for my interview in mid-April,” they told CNN. “If they don’t cancel it, I will have a chance, but I feel that I have made the worst mistake in my life.
CNN has also reached an American family carrying seven people on the way to Italy on a passenger ship to seek citizenship based on grandparents who migrated to the United States but never became US citizens.
The family, which includes adolescents and adults, signed a long-term contract to establish housing and interviewed the local community in Italy to request permission to stay based on their efforts to citizenship—conditions for submitting applications for citizenship before March 28.
They also say they have spent tens of thousands of dollars on translation and nutrients of all the documents related to his grandparents. Now, according to the new rules, they are no longer worthy and have no idea what obstacles they face when they arrive because they are planning to do everything they plan to do on the basis of the conditions that are no longer recognized.
“We followed the Italian law, and we were implementing the measures in the Italian government and we took our whole life to go to Italy according to the laws when we boarded the ship on March 23,” he told CNN. “The creation of this change is trapped in Italy without any warning that they have no legal position and have been deprived of home in a tourist ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Salvatoor Levreri, an Italian, who works as a dentist in South Carolina, told CNN that he feels the new law is not thoughtful.
“This not only breaks the dreams of the Italian diaspora who are looking for a recognition of citizenship to return to their ancestors, but also burns the rights of citizens who have children abroad to transfer my Italian citizenship to them,” he told CNN.
“This creates a double caste system in which some citizens can transfer their citizenship to their children, but second-class citizens like me can’t do that. For many generations, Italian culture has endured because of the strength of family relationships.
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