GUIDE · PRATICA
Law 74/2025 inserted Art. 3-bis into the citizenship statute. It is a filter placed in front of the old rule, and it turns on what a parent or grandparent held, and when.
UPDATED
October 2026
READING TIME
11 min read
The change
It did not amend Art. 1. The founding rule is untouched: the child of an Italian parent is Italian. What the reform added is a new Art. 3-bis sitting in front of that rule, and Art. 3-bis is a filter, not a new way of transmitting citizenship.
The filter reads, in substance: a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of five conditions applies. Two things follow from the wording alone. If you were born abroad and hold no citizenship other than Italian, Art. 3-bis does not reach you. And the article is not written as a loss of citizenship: the Constitutional Court described the mechanism as a preclusione originaria all'acquisto, an exclusion at the point of acquisition rather than a revocation.
There are two dates, and they do different work. Decreto-Legge 36 of 28 March 2025 was converted with amendments by Legge 74 of 23 May 2025, and Art. 3-bis has been in force since 24 May 2025. Separately, 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025 is the moment by which a claim had to be already lodged for the previous law to govern it. That is a filing deadline, not a commencement date. The two are close together and easy to merge, and they answer different questions.
Art. 3-bis
If none of these applies, the statute treats the person as never having acquired Italian citizenship. They are alternatives: one is enough.
(a)
A claim was lodged with a consulate or a comune by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025.
(a-bis)
The competent office had communicated an appointment to the applicant by that same moment, and the claim is lodged on the day of that appointment.
(b)
A judicial claim was filed by that same moment.
(c)
A first- or second-degree ancestor (a parent or a grandparent) possesses, or possessed at the time of their death, exclusively Italian citizenship.
(d)
A parent or adoptive parent was resident in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption of the child.
Where UK cases turn
The common description of the reform is “a two-generation limit”. That is a summary of the reach, and it is not the test. The old test asked one thing: was the chain unbroken, meaning had the Italian ancestor naturalised somewhere else before the next person in the line was born? That question still has to be answered. Condition (c) adds a second one. Did the parent or grandparent hold only Italian citizenship?
The statute does not say on what date. Its words are “possesses, or possessed at the time of their death”. The Ministry of the Interior's Circolare 26185 of 28 May 2025, written for the civil registrars of the comuni, supplies one: for recognition by descent the requirement has to hold on the date the applicant was born. If the parent or grandparent died before that birth, the question is what they held when they died.
Take a grandparent born in Italy who became British in 1980, ten years after your parent was born. The chain is unbroken, as it was under the old test. On the circular's reading, condition (c) then depends on your own date of birth.
You were born in 1978
On that day the grandparent held only Italian citizenship. Condition (c) applies, on the circular's reading.
You were born in 1985
On that day the grandparent was British as well. Condition (c) does not apply, and the next question is condition (d).
The circular instructs the comuni. The citizenship pages of the London, Manchester and Edinburgh consulates repeat the statute's words and give no date, so nothing they publish tells us how a consulate will read a file where the grandparent became British after the applicant was born. The post can say, in writing.
The circular also says what a file has to prove. The applicant has to show that the parent or grandparent held no other citizenship, and a self-declaration is not enough. It gives negative citizenship certificates and attestations of non-renunciation as examples. Edinburgh publishes separate pages for the parent and for the grandparent who possesses exclusively Italian citizenship, and which documents are asked for varies by post.
Condition (d) is a separate route. A parent who lived in Italy for two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before you were born opens the route on its own terms: no exclusivity requirement, and no counting of generations. The circular asks for a historical residence certificate from the comune. If (c) does not apply, (d) is the next question.
Corrected on 7 October 2026. This page used to say that a grandparent who also became British does not satisfy condition (c) whenever that happened. The Ministry's circular measures it on the applicant's date of birth, and this page now says so.
Decision tree
Start at the top. The conditions are alternatives, so the first one that holds is enough. Whichever it is, the line of descent still has to be unbroken.
QUESTION
Were you born outside Italy, and do you hold a citizenship other than Italian?
YES: OPEN
Art. 3-bis does not reach you. Your position is governed by Art. 1 and by the rules in force at each birth in the line.
QUESTION
By 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025, had a claim been lodged with a consulate or comune, an appointment been communicated to you by the office, or a court case been filed?
YES: OPEN
Conditions (a), (a-bis) or (b). Your position is judged under the law as it stood before the reform. Get written confirmation from the office holding the file.
QUESTION
On the day you were born, did a parent or grandparent hold only Italian citizenship? If they died before you were born, did they hold only Italian citizenship when they died?
YES: OPEN
Condition (c), measured as Circolare 26185 instructs. The absence of any other nationality has to be documented; a self-declaration is not accepted.
QUESTION
Did a parent or adoptive parent live in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before you were born or adopted?
YES: OPEN
Condition (d). No exclusivity requirement and no generation count. Italian residence records are the evidence.
NO: CLOSED
No condition in Art. 3-bis applies. The statute treats you as never having acquired Italian citizenship. Naturalisation by residence and the pre-1948 court route are separate questions with separate answers.
Old test, new test
| Until 23 May 2025 | From 24 May 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| The question asked | Was the chain of transmission unbroken? | Is the chain unbroken, and does one of the five conditions in Art. 3-bis apply? |
| Generational reach | Unlimited | Parent or grandparent, under condition (c) |
| Grandparent who also became British | Chain intact if they naturalised after the next birth | Condition (c) applies if they were still only Italian on the applicant's date of birth (Circolare 26185) |
| Parent resident in Italy two continuous years | Not a route of its own | Condition (d), a route in its own right |
| Claim lodged by 23:59 Rome, 27 March 2025 | Not applicable | Judged under the previous law, conditions (a), (a-bis), (b) |
| Born abroad holding no other citizenship | Not applicable | Art. 3-bis does not apply at all |
| Evidence of the ancestor's other nationality | Naturalisation record, if any | Documented absence of any other nationality; self-declaration not accepted |
Common questions
Under the test that applied until May 2025, that chain held: the grandparent was still Italian when your parent was born. The chain still has to hold, and Art. 3-bis adds a question. Condition (c) asks whether the parent or grandparent holds, or held at their death, exclusively Italian citizenship. The statute gives no date for that. The Ministry of the Interior's Circolare 26185 of 28 May 2025 tells the comuni to look at the day the applicant was born. If you were born before 1980, your grandparent was then only Italian and condition (c) applies on that reading. If you were born after, it does not, and the next question is condition (d), the residence route through a parent. The UK consulates' pages repeat the statute's words and give no date, so ask the post in writing.
The judicial route for births before 1 January 1948 still exists through Court of Cassation, Sezioni Unite 4466/2009. Anyone who did not file by 27 March 2025 is in untested territory: Sentenza 63/2026 examined the retroactive wording of Art. 3-bis and conditions (a), (a-bis) and (b), and did not address those cases specifically. This is court work. Speak to an Italian avvocato registered with the bar before spending money on it.
Conditions (a) and (a-bis) cover an application filed with a consulate or a comune, or a confirmed appointment, by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025. Condition (b) covers a judicial filing by the same moment. Those positions are judged under the law as it stood before the reform. Confirm in writing with the office holding your file which of the three it has recorded.
That is the reacquisition window in Art. 17 of Law 91/1992 as amended. It is for people who were Italian and lost it under Law 555/1912 (arts. 8 and 12), and who were born in Italy or lived there for at least two continuous years. They can make a declaration to reacquire between those two dates. It is a separate provision from Art. 3-bis and does not cover descendants who fall outside it. There is no language or culture test in the text of the article.
Naturalisation by residence is a separate process, an application to the Prefettura, and Art. 3-bis does not touch it. The qualifying period depends on your nationality and on your family ties to Italy. It is a different service from anything on this site, and we would rather point you at the right office than sell you the wrong thing.
The contributo for recognition is 600 EUR per adult applicant. It was set at 300 EUR in 2014 and raised to 600 EUR with effect from 1 January 2025 by Legge 207/2024. A child who is still a minor on the day their application is filed is exempt, and the exemption turns on the filing date rather than the date the office gets to it. For a family with children approaching eighteen, the order of filing changes what is paid.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2025 | The contributo for recognition rises from 300 EUR to 600 EUR per adult applicant (Legge 207/2024). Minors at the date of filing remain exempt. |
| 27 March 2025, 23:59 Rome | Cut-off. A claim already lodged with a consulate or comune, a confirmed appointment, or a judicial filing, is judged under the previous law. |
| 28 March 2025 | Decreto-Legge 36/2025 published in Gazzetta Ufficiale Serie Generale n. 73. |
| 23 May 2025 | Legge 74/2025 converts the decree with amendments (Gazzetta Ufficiale Serie Generale n. 118). |
| 24 May 2025 | Art. 3-bis in force. |
| 28 May 2025 | Circolare 26185: what a file has to prove about exclusively Italian citizenship. |
| 25 June 2025 | The Tribunale ordinario di Torino refers Art. 3-bis to the Constitutional Court. The order is published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 17 September 2025. |
| 1 July 2025 | The Art. 17 reacquisition window opens. |
| 18 July 2025 | Cassation orders 20122 and 20129 refer the minor-child question to the Sezioni Unite. |
| 11 March 2026 | The Constitutional Court decides. The challenges, limited to the retroactive wording and conditions (a), (a-bis) and (b), are declared partly inadmissible and partly unfounded. |
| 30 April 2026 | Sentenza 63/2026 deposited in chancery; published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 6 May 2026. ECLI:IT:COST:2026:63. |
| 12 May 2026 | Cass. 13818/2026 published: consular delay that prevents you filing at all is enough to give you standing in court. First Section, not the Sezioni Unite, and not about the minor question. |
| 23 July 2026 | Constitutional Court order 147/2026 deposited. On references from Mantova and Campobasso, the Court asks the Court of Justice of the European Union whether EU law precludes a provision like Art. 3-bis. Taken from the Court's own summary; we have not yet filed the full text. |
| 26 July 2026 | Reported date of Sezioni Unite judgment 24045/2026 on the minor-child question. We have not obtained the text. |
| 31 December 2027 | The Art. 17 reacquisition window closes. |
One answer we have not read. Where an ancestor naturalised abroad while their own child was still a minor, it has been contested whether that child lost Italian citizenship under Art. 12 of Law 555/1912 or kept it under Art. 7. The Sezioni Unite were asked to settle it in July 2025, and a judgment numbered 24045/2026 is now reported as having done so. We have not obtained its text, so we do not say what it holds. Cass. 13818/2026, which is sometimes cited for this point, is a different case: a First Section ordinance about standing. We have read that one. If your line contains a naturalisation while the next person was a minor, ask an Italian avvocato who has read the Sezioni Unite judgment before you decide anything.
What 13818/2026 does decide is worth knowing on its own. The Court held that standing to go before a judge exists not only where recognition is refused or delayed, but also where impediments, difficulties or delays prevent the application from even being submitted to the administration, because that leaves the person's status uncertain. For anyone who cannot get in front of a consulate at all, that is a live holding rather than a technicality.
SOURCES AND VERIFICATION
Scope. This page is about Art. 3-bis and who it reaches, on the administrative route through a consulate or a comune. It is not about court proceedings: the pre-1948 maternal line, and any challenge to a refusal, are work for an Italian avvocato. It does not cover naturalisation by residence in Italy, which is a different application to a different office. General information, not legal advice.
What the label means. “Read” means we hold the document and have read it. “Reported” means a secondary source describes it and we have not read the primary text: we will not use it to tell you what it says. “Not held” means the route rests on that judgment but we do not have a copy, and we say so rather than imply otherwise.
Art. 3-bis L. 91/1992, coordinated text
Inserted by Decreto-Legge 28 marzo 2025 n. 36, converted with amendments by Legge 23 maggio 2025 n. 74. In force 24 May 2025. Gazzetta Ufficiale Serie Generale n. 73 for the decree, n. 118 for the conversion. The five conditions on this page are summarised from this text.
READ · 22 July 2026 · Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana
Legge 5 febbraio 1992, n. 91, arts. 1 and 17
Citizenship by descent, and the reacquisition window. Published in Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 38 of 15 February 1992; in force 16 August 1992, which is the date the loss-of-citizenship rule changed.
READ · 21 July 2026 · Gazzetta Ufficiale, per-article endpoints
Corte Costituzionale, Sentenza 63/2026
ECLI:IT:COST:2026:63. Referred by the Tribunale ordinario di Torino by an order of 25 June 2025, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 17 September 2025. The questions were limited to the words that make the article retroactive and to conditions (a), (a-bis) and (b). Decided 11 March 2026, deposited 30 April 2026, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 6 May 2026. The challenges were declared partly inadmissible and partly unfounded.
READ · 5 August 2026 · Corte Costituzionale
Ministero dell'Interno, Circolare 26185 of 28 May 2025
Operating instructions on Law 74/2025 for the civil registrars of the comuni, copied to the foreign ministry. It gives the date on which condition (c) is measured, the applicant's date of birth, and says what a file has to carry as evidence under conditions (c) and (d). This is where the rule that a self-declaration is not enough comes from.
READ · 5 August 2026 · Ministero dell'Interno, Dipartimento Libertà Civili e Immigrazione
Corte di Cassazione, Prima Sezione Civile, ordinanza 13818/2026
Sometimes cited as the Sezioni Unite ruling on the minor question. It is not. It is a First Section ordinance on interesse ad agire, camera di consiglio 4 March 2026, published 12 May 2026: where consular impediments or delays stop you even filing, you may go to court without a prior application.
READ · 21 July 2026 · Corte di Cassazione, Prima Sezione Civile
The Sezioni Unite decision on the minor question
Referred by interlocutory orders 20122 and 20129 of 18 July 2025 (Art. 12 against Art. 7 of Law 555/1912). A judgment numbered 24045/2026 is reported as deciding it. We have not obtained its text, so we do not say what it holds.
REPORTED, NOT VERIFIED · Corte di Cassazione, Sezioni Unite
Corte Costituzionale, Ordinanza 147/2026
ECLI:IT:COST:2026:147. On references from the Tribunale di Mantova and the Tribunale di Campobasso, the Court suspended the proceedings and asked the Court of Justice of the European Union whether Arts. 9 TEU and 20 TFEU preclude a provision like Art. 3-bis. Deposited 23 July 2026. Taken from the summary on the Court's site on 7 October 2026; we have not yet filed the full text.
REPORTED, NOT VERIFIED · Corte Costituzionale
Citizenship pages of the London, Manchester and Edinburgh consulates
Each repeats the statute's wording for condition (c), a parent or grandparent who holds or held at death only Italian citizenship, and attaches no date to it. London's page adds that self-declarations of holding no other citizenship are not accepted.
READ · 11 September 2026 · Italian consular posts in the United Kingdom
Corte di Cassazione, Sezioni Unite 4466/2009
The judgment the pre-1948 maternal line is understood to rest on. We name it because the route does, not because we have read it: we have not been able to obtain the text through any open channel. Anyone relying on it should take it from an avvocato who has.
NOT HELD · Corte di Cassazione, Sezioni Unite
Consular fee schedules for citizenship recognition
The 600 EUR contributo per adult applicant, and the exemption for a child who is still a minor on the day their application is filed. Read from the ministry and consulate fee pages rather than from the budget law itself.
READ · 23 July 2026 · Ministero degli Affari Esteri and UK consular posts
Rules change. This page was last read against its sources on 15 August 2026. A consulate can ask for more than it publishes, and practice moves before the text does. Get written confirmation from the office that will receive your file, and keep the reply.
Provenance. For every source marked “read” we keep a dated copy with the file's hash. If a link moves or a page disappears, we can tell you which version we relied on and the day we read it.
OTHER GUIDES
A NOTE
This guide is for information. Pratica provides administrative services, not legal advice. For matters that require court proceedings (including the 1948 maternal line) consult an Italian lawyer.
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