by EUDO Citizenship expert Guido Tintori

According to the latest available data, between 1998 and 2010, 1,003,403 individuals got Italian citizenship by descent at Italian consulates abroad.
73.3 per cent (735,635) of the total new Italian/EU passports were released in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to claim Italian citizenship and turn it into a passport it is sufficient to prove that the Italian male ancestor – also female if born after 1948 –, with no generational limit, never renounced Italian nationality voluntarily and in front of Italian authorities (Circular k.28.1 1991). The procedure is automatic and does not include any residence or language requirements. Once the applicants have their Italian citizenship by descent recognized, the same documentation can be used by other members of the same family in a speed track procedure.

The application can be submitted either at consulates abroad or at a municipality in Italy. The data here refer only to successful applications carried out abroad. They are therefore underestimating the actual number of “newly recognized Italians and EU citizens”. Since in many consulates there is a long backlog of applications faced by understaffed bureaucracies, many South American citizens of Italian ancestry are applying after transferring their residency to Italy. When they follow this procedure, they cannot be traced, because they are statistically registered by Italian local authorities no differently from any other Italian citizens who transfer their residency back to Italy from abroad.