Blood right / descendency
Jure Sanguinis
Jure Sanguinis is the principle in nationality law that establishes the right to citizenship through blood/descendency. Jure Sanguinis Italian citizenship cases are for descendants who have Italian ancestry (no generational limit).
Applications for Italian Citizenship at the consulate or comune. As long as there are no "interruptions" or loss of citizenship present in the family line.
Also known as '1948 cases', a judicial procedure to claim Italian Citizenship is necessary when the Italian family line has been "interrupted" through the birth of a child to a female ancestor prior to January 1st, 1948.
Administrative Application
You are eligible to apply for Italian Citizenship through an administrative procedure when there are no “interruptions” (through loss of citizenship, naturalization, renunciation, etc.) in your Italian bloodline.
It is also essential that there were no children born by a female Italian ancestor before January 1st, 1948 for you to be eligible through the administrative path.
Applying for Italian Citizenship administratively means that you must apply according to where you are resident – whether at your local consular authority (if applying outside of Italy), or local municipal office/comune (if living in Italy).
- Eligibility check to confirm you are applicable for Italian citizenship
- Review of vital documents to ensure conformity to the consular authority’s standards;
- Italian document retrieval (including, but not limited to: birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, etc.)
- legal consultation throughout the entire process.
Judicial Procedures
A judicial procedure is necessary for those whose Italian family line has been “interrupted” by the birth of a child before January 1st, 1948 to a female Italian ancestor. The judicial citizenship procedure is colloquially known as a “1948 case” for this reason.
According to the 1912 citizenship law, only men were permitted to pass Italian citizenship to their children.
The current law granting Italian citizenship via jure sanguinis states that women could hold but not pass citizenship to children born before January 1st, 1948 – the date that Italy became a Republic.
However, an amendment to Italian citizenship law in 1992 revised a prejudicial ruling that limited the ability for women to pass their Italian citizenship to their descendants altogether.
Now, these cases can be presented before the Italian civil court via judicial appeal.
Technically, the judicial procedure is an appeal against the discriminatory laws which were in place before January 1st, 1948, which did not allow women to transfer their Italian citizenship on to their descendants – and as there is yet to be legislative change to enable consular or municipal authorities to grant citizenship under these circumstances, appointing legal representation to present an appeal supporting your right to recognition is the only option to claim Italian Citizenship.
