On 28 March 2025, the Meloni government issued Decree-Law 36/2025 (DL 36/2025), which imposed an immediate two-generation cap on Italian jure sanguinis citizenship applications. The decree was converted into permanent law on 24 May 2025 as Law No. 74/2025. Prior to this, Italian descent had no generational limit — any unbroken chain back to a post-1861 Italian ancestor could support a claim. Post-2025, most applicants must have an Italian-born parent or grandparent; great-grandparents and more distant ancestors are no longer recognised except under specific transitional provisions.

Applications formally filed at an Italian consulate, comune, or court — or appointments officially confirmed — before 11:59 PM Rome time on 27 March 2025 are processed under the pre-DL 36/2025 framework (no generational limit). Files that had only been prepared but not formally lodged by that deadline now fall under Law 74/2025. We triage every client explicitly against this deadline.

Applicants must descend from an Italian-born parent or grandparent. Additionally, that ancestor must either (a) have held only Italian citizenship and never naturalised elsewhere before transmitting citizenship, or (b) have lived in Italy for at least two consecutive years after obtaining Italian citizenship and before the applicant's birth. The second path creates some flexibility for cases where an Italian ancestor naturalised in another country but later returned to Italy for two years of residence.

Italian citizenship law historically denied maternal-line transmission for births before 1 January 1948, when the Italian Constitution introduced gender equality. Italian courts have since established that this pre-1948 exclusion is unconstitutional: applicants descending through a female Italian ancestor in the pre-1948 period can claim Italian citizenship via a judicial petition filed at the Rome Civil Court. This court route is unaffected by DL 36/2025 except insofar as the underlying lineage must still fit within the post-2025 generational framework.

Typical Liberty Mundo fees for Italian jure sanguinis run US$6,500-15,000 depending on complexity: simple consular-route grandparent cases at the lower end, 1948-Rule court cases and multi-archive document-retrieval cases at the higher end. On top of the legal fee come Italian government fees (EUR 300 consular application fee, apostilles, certified translations, and comune / court fees) which typically add US$500-2,500 total.

12-36 months depending on route. Italian consulates in major US / Canadian / Argentine / Brazilian / Australian cities typically run 18-36 month queues. The in-Italy comune route (requires temporary Italian residence) can reduce this to 6-12 months post-document-collection. The 1948 Rule court route runs 18-30 months including Roman hearing scheduling.

Yes. Italian passport holders have UK visa-free access subject to the UK Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) introduced January 2025, with full enforcement from 25 February 2026. Italian nationals are also entitled to visit, live, and work in all 27 EU member states, the EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), and Switzerland without restriction.

Yes. Italy permits unlimited dual and multiple nationality without restriction. The US, UK, Australia, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil all also permit dual citizenship with Italy. No renunciation of your existing nationality is required at any stage.

Italian citizenship does not by itself create Italian tax residency. You are only subject to Italian tax if you become a factual Italian tax resident (generally: registered in the Italian anagrafe OR residing in Italy more than 183 days per year). Italian nationals living abroad, properly registered with AIRE, are taxed by Italy only on Italian-source income.

Under the post-DL 36/2025 framework, a great-grandparent ancestor alone is no longer sufficient to establish Italian citizenship by descent for new applicants. Exception: if your parent or grandparent (between you and the great-grandparent) had already been recognised as an Italian citizen, you may still qualify through that parent or grandparent under the two-generation cap. Alternatively, if your file was formally lodged before 27 March 2025, the transitional provisions preserve unlimited-generations eligibility.

Unlikely in the near term. DL 36/2025 was introduced specifically to reduce the explosive growth in jure sanguinis applications (consulate backlogs had grown to multi-year queues). The Meloni government has signalled no intention of reversing the restriction, and the constitutionally-required Parliamentary conversion into Law 74/2025 cemented it. Clients should plan under the post-2025 framework, not hope for reversal.

Italy and Ireland are now very similar on generational reach (both grandparent-max), and both deliver EU passports. Italy has the 1948 maternal-line court path Ireland lacks. Ireland is faster (~9-18 months) and cheaper (~US$4.5k legal). Canada's December 2025 Bill C-3 now offers unlimited-generations descent for pre-15-December-2025 births — the most generous of the three — but Canadian citizenship is not EU citizenship. For EU mobility, Italy or Ireland; for unlimited generational reach, Canada (if pre-15-December-2025 birth).