Can you still get Italian citizenship through a great-grandparent after the 2025 law?

For most people, no. If you were born outside Italy, hold another citizenship and had nothing filed by 11:59 pm Rome time on 27 March 2025, Italy no longer recognises citizenship passed down through a great-grandparent or any earlier ancestor. New claims must run through a parent or grandparent who meets one of the conditions in the 2025 law. Great-grandparent cases filed before the cutoff are still judged under the old rules, and Italy’s Constitutional Court upheld the law in 2026.

The short answer

• Filed, booked or in court by 27 March 2025: your great-grandparent claim is assessed under the old rules, with no generational limit.
• Not filed by then: a great-grandparent can’t carry the claim on their own. You qualify by descent only if a parent or grandparent holds, or held when they died, only Italian citizenship, or an Italian parent lived in Italy for two continuous years before you were born.
• If neither fits: the realistic paths are living in Italy and naturalising, the work entry channel for descendants, or another country’s citizenship in your family tree.

The wider rules, worked examples and documents are in our Italian citizenship by descent guide. This page deals only with the great-grandparent question.

What the 2025 law says, word for word

Decree-Law 36/2025 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments by Law 74/2025 of 23 May 2025, added article 3-bis to Italy’s citizenship law (Law 91/1992). It applies to anyone born abroad, even before the law came in, who holds another citizenship. That person “is considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship” unless one of these conditions applies (our translation):

• a) their citizenship is recognised, under the rules applicable on 27 March 2025, following an application “with the necessary documentation” submitted to the consulate or the mayor (comune) by 11:59 pm Rome time on that date;
• a-bis) the same, where the application is filed on the day of an appointment that the office communicated to the applicant by 11:59 pm Rome time on 27 March 2025;
• b) their citizenship is established by a court, under the rules applicable on 27 March 2025, following a court action filed by 11:59 pm Rome time on that date;
• c) “an ascendant of the first or second degree possesses, or possessed at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship”;
• d) a parent or adoptive parent lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child’s birth or adoption.

“First or second degree” means your parents and grandparents. A great-grandparent is a third-degree ascendant, so they can never satisfy letter c), however Italian they were. Note also what the test is not: being born in Italy is not enough. The question is whether that parent or grandparent held no other citizenship.

Letter c) is written in the present tense (“possesses”), with a fallback for someone who has died. Our main guide, following Interior Ministry guidance of 28 May 2025, reads it as applying at the date of your birth, or at the ancestor’s death if that came first. We could not open the official circular to confirm the wording, so check how your consulate applies it. The Los Angeles consulate states that self-declarations are not accepted as proof that someone held no other citizenship, so expect to document it, for example with US naturalisation records. See how to prove an ancestor never naturalised.

Why the great-grandparent no longer works on its own

Walk down a typical line, where the Italian-born emigrant is your great-grandparent:

1. Your great-grandparent was born in Italy. Under the old rules they passed citizenship to their child automatically, as long as they hadn’t naturalised elsewhere first.
2. Your grandparent was usually born abroad, for example in the US, and so held US citizenship from birth as well. At your birth they were a dual citizen, not “exclusively” Italian. Letter c) fails through them.
3. Your parent was born abroad too and also held another citizenship. Letter c) fails, and letter d) works only if your parent had lived in Italy for two continuous years after becoming Italian and before you were born.

So in the common case, nobody in the first two generations above you passes the test, and the law treats you as never having acquired Italian citizenship. The exceptions are real but narrow: a grandparent who was born in Italy and never took another citizenship, or a parent who lived in Italy for two years before your birth. If either fits, your claim is really a grandparent or parent claim, not a great-grandparent one.

If your case was filed before 27 March 2025

Letters a), a-bis) and b) protect three groups, and in each case the old rules apply in full, including no limit on generations:

• Application submitted to the consulate or comune by the cutoff, with the necessary documents.
• Appointment communicated to you by the consulate or comune by the cutoff, with the application filed on that appointment day, even if the day itself came later.
• Court case filed in Italy by the cutoff.

Being on a waiting list, holding a Prenot@mi account, or collecting records does not appear in the law. The protected appointment is one the office communicated to you. A parent’s own filing does not cover an adult child, who is a separate applicant. If you fall between these lines, take advice from an Italian citizenship lawyer before you spend more on documents.

Grandfathered cases still have to meet the old requirements: an emigrant alive on or after 17 March 1861, no naturalisation abroad before the next person in the line was born, and the 1948 rule for women in the line. The courts’ 2026 ruling on the “minor issue”, which matters for many of these older lines, is covered in the main Italy guide.

What the Constitutional Court decided

The Tribunal of Turin asked the Constitutional Court whether article 3-bis was compatible with the Italian Constitution, EU law and international law, focusing on its retroactive reach (“even before” it came into force) and the cutoff conditions in letters a), a-bis) and b). In judgment 63/2026, decided on 11 March 2026, filed on 30 April 2026 and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 6 May 2026, the Court:

• declared the challenges under articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, and under the EU Treaties (article 9 TEU and article 20 TFEU), unfounded;
• declared the challenges based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights inadmissible;
• declared the interventions by individual applicants and associations inadmissible.

The Court’s reasoning is that Parliament has wide discretion to require a genuine link between the citizen and Italy. It left one question open: how to treat people who had not received an appointment within the deadline. That is a reason for affected people to get advice, not a reopening of great-grandparent claims. You may see “March 2026” or “April 2026” in news coverage. Both are correct: March is when the Court decided, April is when the judgment was filed and became public.

Does it help if my parent or grandparent applies first?

Often people ask whether a living grandparent or parent can be recognised first and then pass it on. Under article 3-bis, that rarely helps an adult who is already born:

• A grandparent born abroad would need their own Italian parent (your great-grandparent) to have held only Italian citizenship. Even if they succeed, they will still hold their other citizenship, so letter c) still fails for you.
• A parent who is recognised now can’t go back and live in Italy before your birth, so letter d) is out.

It can still matter in two ways. Recognition proves that someone in your line is an Italian citizen by birth, which is the condition for the two-year naturalisation route below. And it can help any children born to a recognised parent later: article 4(1-bis) lets the parents of a minor whose parent is a citizen by birth declare within three years of the birth, or have the child acquire citizenship after two continuous years’ legal residence in Italy.

Routes still open to great-grandchildren

Naturalisation after two years in Italy (article 9(1)(a))

Italy may grant citizenship to a foreigner whose “father or mother or one of the ascendants in the direct line of the second degree are or were citizens by birth” and who has lived legally in Italy for at least two years. The 2025 reform cut this from three years. For a great-grandchild, the key question is whether your grandparent counts as an Italian citizen by birth. A grandparent born in Italy clearly does. For a grandparent born abroad, article 3-bis applies to them too, so they generally count only if they meet one of its conditions, usually letter c) through your great-grandparent. We have not found official guidance on how prefectures document this for a grandparent who was never recognised, so ask before you move.

This is a discretionary grant, not an entitlement. Article 9.1 requires Italian at level B1 or higher, and the general naturalisation conditions apply. Without a qualifying parent or grandparent, the general residence periods apply instead (ten years for non-EU citizens with no other qualifying link). See language requirements for how B1 is usually proven.

At 18: declaration after two years’ residence (article 4(1)(c))

A foreigner whose parent or grandparent is or was a citizen by birth becomes Italian if, on turning 18, they have lived legally in Italy for at least two years and declare within one year that they want citizenship. This is only useful for teenagers whose families can move to Italy before they turn 18.

Work entry for descendants, outside the quotas

Law 74/2025 added article 27(1-octies) to Italy’s immigration law: descendants of Italian citizens who live abroad and are citizens of a country with large historical Italian emigration can enter Italy for salaried work outside the annual quotas, through the employer-led procedure. A decree of 17 November 2025, published on 24 November 2025, names seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Australia, Canada, Venezuela and Uruguay. The official notices we read don’t say how many generations back “descendant” reaches, so confirm with the consulate. You still need an Italian employer, and the job is a way to start the residence clock, not citizenship itself.

Reacquisition by a living relative (article 17)

People who were born in Italy or lived there for two continuous years, and lost Italian citizenship under the 1912 law (typically by naturalising abroad), can reacquire it by declaration between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027. The consular fee is €250. This helps an Italian-born grandparent who is still alive, and it confirms they were a citizen by birth. The article starts “without prejudice to article 3-bis”, so it does not by itself make you Italian by descent.

Another country in your family tree

Many families with an Italian great-grandparent also have lines from countries without a generational cap. Compare them on our citizenship through great-grandparents page.

Great-grandmothers and the 1948 rule

Before 1 January 1948, Italian women could not pass citizenship to their children, so lines through a woman whose child was born before that date can only be recognised by an Italian court. The 2025 law sits on top of this. A 1948 case through a great-grandmother is viable only if it was filed in court by the cutoff. A new 1948 case now needs a parent or grandparent who meets letter c) or d) as well. Our Italy 1948 rule guide explains the court route.

What to do now

1. Find any proof that something was filed by 27 March 2025: a consulate receipt, an appointment email, or a court filing. If you have one, follow your consulate’s instructions for pending files.
2. Check your grandparents and parents, not just the emigrant. Was any grandparent born in Italy, and did they ever take another citizenship? Get their naturalisation records, or proof there are none.
3. Ask whether a parent lived in Italy for two continuous years before your birth. A historical residence certificate from the comune proves it.
4. If none applies, decide whether living in Italy is realistic, and keep your document chain together. Our document chain guide shows how.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Law 91/1992, current text (Normattiva) (articles 3-bis, 4, 9, 9.1 and 17)
• Decree-Law 36/2025 as converted by Law 74/2025 (Normattiva) (articles 1, 1-bis and 1-ter)
• Constitutional Court, judgment 63/2026 (dates, operative part and headnotes)
• Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles: citizenship by descent (who qualifies, proof of exclusive citizenship, fees)
• Ministry of Labour: entry for work of descendants of Italian citizens (decree of 17 November 2025, list of countries)

Checked against these sources on 24 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and consular practice change; confirm your own case with the competent Italian consulate or an Italian citizenship lawyer before paying fees.