Italian Citizenship by Descent: An Updated Overview

That's what happened with me.. my Grand Father naturalized before my Father was born so Im out of luck, my Grand Mother never became a US Citizen but they only went through the male side when I applied....

It's a lot easier when your father was still an Italian national at the time of your birth... (But even then it's a pain in the a**.)

Thank you for clarifying. My grandmother was the 6th child, my great grandfather became a US citizen right before she was born. My great grandmother didn't become a citizen until my grandmother was 10 years old, but my grandmother was born before 1948....1926 to be precise. So to have any chance, I need to hire a lawyer? Thanks, again.

😂😂 “Hey, I’m here! Make me Italian!” 😂😂 Hadn’t thought of that one. 👍🏻
Honestly, even though my case was ‘easy’ I found the NY consulate to be very difficult and slow (to say the least) so I obtained many documents in Italy. Was fortunate that my Comune had many services electronically plus friends and family that could assist after I returned to the US.
Conclusion: Strongly consider obtaining docs through your Comune!!

Old world bureaucracy! 🤮
I’m dealing with Hungary right now! 🤮

Thanks so much for this update!

My wife had great success in getting help from a service in Italy to get the documents she needed. The hard part is waiting for the consulate appointment. We have 4 more years to wait as first available we like 5 years out.

I've started collecting documents. I have at least one I have to amend. It is a lot of work. Question: My daughter is over 18. You mention that it is more difficult for her. Does this mean she has to go through the same process I did? Won't there be any benefit in going to the consulate together, or if she applies after her father gets citizenship?

It took me about 3 years to get my and my son’s Dual Citizenship. I used a lawyer in Italy. He took it to the court of Rome because of the backlog of appointments at the Italian embassy. I had to take screenshots of the website saying there were no appointments available for a couple of weeks. What they didn’t tell me at the start of the process was that after the Judge orders that you are citizens, it will take up to another year for all the administrative processes to get to a point where you can accualy get an Italian passport.

I'm going through it now. I hired an Italian attorney. Waiting for one more piece of paper from US. I'm over their with wings on my feet.

I want to marry and settle in Italy can you help me

Just a correction: there's no an Italian citizen by descent, we all are Italians the same as those who were born in Italy, we are Italians, not descendants, because our parents are Italians, that's it, we born in american continent have some difficulties to understand because like here in brazil we get nationality because the place we born, europe is the old continent, things are different

I have Italian heritage and am 100% for encouraging dual-citizenship. Unfortunately, I got all my documents in order but discovered that my father renounced his Italian citizenship when he immigrated to the states. I still do everything I can to encourage our culture and spread our heritage 💕🇮🇹. Your video explains all the situations well- grazie!

I'm going through the process of collecting the necessary paperwork. I have been trying for over a month to get an appointment with the PA Consulate but there are never any openings so that definitely sets the tone for how hard this will be. If I need to go the lawyer route or even just to get an Italian lawyer to look over my completed application before submitting it, I would love to get an idea on how much approximately it might cost me so I can start budgeting now. Can anyone who has used an Italian lawyer give me an idea of what total costs might be for the whole process? I plan to collect all the paperwork, apostilles, and translations myself. I’ve seen some things such as $8-$10k which I hope is not true.

What if your relatives are from Sicily? I believe Sicily merged with Italy about 1861.

It's a shame. We are giving free citizenship to people whose great-grand fathers were by chance Italian in the 19th century. I've met so many people especially from Latin America with Italian citizenship, they have never been to Italy, they don't speak Italian and they don't bother to learn, in general they have a very stereotypical view of Italy as any other foreigner. They use the passport to travel and if they move to Europe they go to work to countries speaking their same language (Spain or Portugal) or to Northern Europe. Meanwhile, we have immigrants who came here as children, did all the schools and university in Italy, speak and act as perfect Italians, and they have tremendous difficulties in becoming citizens.

My wife and 10 year-old son have just become officially recognized as Italian citizens through a judiciary process in Italy. We've chose to follow this way because the Italian consulates in our country, Brazil, are too crowded and we spent several years trying to get an appointment in one of them. We don't regret it. We should have pursued this way earlier. Our lawyer was Maria Stella La Malfa. I recommend her. Encontrei seu canal recentemente e gostei muito!

Marco Permunian is representing me and my family. It's a long process (made longer by the pandemic). Pazienza!

If you are young man under 30 wait, Italian politicians are talking about introducing mandatory miltary service.

That prenotami website is such a pain. Still waiting to “win the online lottery “ for the consulate appointment

Remember that even if people get italian citizenship, italian-americans/canadians/australians/etc. will still be recognized as american by most italians unless you speak italian like a native.

I’ve told to countless people that have grandparents born in Italy that they can apply for the Italian citizenship but they just don’t care

As an Italo-Australian, whose parents are still Italian citizens, but permanent residents here in Australia (they’ve been here since 1970), I was lucky enough to get automatic Italian citizenship because my parents had the nous to register my birth at the local council where they come from.

When I turned 18, all I had to do was make an appointment to go the Italian consulate in my city, bring along my birth certificate, and within a couple of hours, I got my citizenship papers and Italian/EU passport. I must admit, my situation was much easier than some of the horror stories I’ve heard from others.

Why is it so difficult not to mention absurd, that those of us who were born in Italy and naturalized as minors in Canada, for example, not able to reacquire their Italian citizenship? The requirements for getting it back even as a dual citizenship, always ends with having to live in Italy for a year. Frustrating and perhaps discriminating.

You all better rush before the language test will be replaced by that in Arabic 😂

If you’re a “1948 case” what are the chances of ultimately getting citizenship? I don’t want to go through all the work and be disappointed.

I'm dealing with OATS cases right now. Every name on each certificate must match or you have to get an OATS judgment.

Hello this is such a great channel! thank you.]
So my great grandparents were born in Sicily Italy. They both came over to Eli's Island in 1898 or 1899. She was 12 years old he was 22 years old. They met and married here in the states ,United States. Is that too far back for me to be able to get my citizenship in Italy?

I gave up, there is such a backlog at the consulate in NY. I have been waiting for over three years, made the mistake of not doing it when my father asked me to.

I did it DYI and it helped a lot that I spoke and wrote Italian decently.

I did my dual DIY. But then again, mine was somewhat easy - it was thru my father’s line cuz my grandfather came over from Sicily about 1910. However I did & got mine in 2019. Thrilled I have it! Even have my Code Defiancile (sic) 😊

What about war orphans? Or kidnaped ones?

Great video, but one question. Was it legal advice?

Can you make a video regarding the recent law change in Italy regarding júris sanguinus? Apparently now if anyone in the chain was a minor at the time the “root relative” got naturalized, it voids the right to citizenship. I was recently granted citizenship but this law change would have destroyed my case. Thanks!

My grandmother was born 1912 by unnaturalized parents from Italy. I'm good, based on my research and Attorney. I'm a ERV candidate, thus taking 7%.

I applied when i was 17 trought my parents they replied when i was 18 and told me i was not eligible but my sister did get it becauee they were minor now im turning 20 by january do i still have a chance to apply

I guess im an italian citizen lol. My dad was born there

I was able to get my Italian citizenship in just three years using ICA and going through the San Francisco Italian consulate (the consulate that covers part of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, I believe). theron the other hand, my mother, brothers, and nephew, all in Pennsylvania, still haven't been able to get an appointment in Philadelphia despite trying for years, and are now currently suing the Italian government with the help of ICA, since none of them are in a position to move anytime soon. fingers crossed!

Also, important to remember that no matter how you get recognized, the process is only fully done once your documents are transcribed into the Italian comune your ancestor was from. Some comunes take years and years on end, others take days. But guys, if it's your right, if you can do it and if it will make a difference for you, don't let anything stop you!!

My Great Grandfather was from Reggio. He is Italian DNA native Italian. Everything else makes no difference. Italian is Italian. I am therefore also Italian.

I wanted to get the Italian citizenship and passport through my great grandfather on my mother side. It was pretty complicated because of name changes. I ended up getting my Greek citizenship and passport through my dad. My father grew up in Greece and came to the US from Greece in the 70s before having me. Italian would’ve been cool to have though.

How does your lawyer friend think the minor law that passed in October is gonna go? Under the old law my great grandfather was an immigrant and didn’t naturalize until 1939 but grandfather was born in 1928. I would have been okay. New Italian law states that my grandfather had to be 21 now.

Excellent video! Grandma Anna born in Campania never left, had a son there born 1921 who later became a Naturalized U.S. citizen in the 1940s, then I was born in U.S.. That's a broken line, no? Can you explain why in the eyes of the Italian government? I'm still Italian 100%. Both sides all relatives in my family are Italian, all born in Italy. Just my siblings & I were not born there.

Buongiorno!

Acquiring my citizenship as a Brazilian through the judicial means,

I live in the USA and my mom is American, but nothing beats going back to my ancestors' homeland- my ancestors would be proud. Thanks for all the info!!

Why can't I just buy a citizenship with out me doing all the paperwork?

So when my Italian-born great grandfather naturalized in the US, he renounced his Italian citizenship? Therefore cutting of the line of descent to my grandfather who was born after this?