Country guide · Italy

Does Italy allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Citizenship-by-Descent.com·Last reviewed November 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

Yes. Italy has allowed dual citizenship since 16 August 1992, so you can be Italian and American at the same time, and nobody claiming by descent is asked to give up a US passport. The catch is new. Since 2025, holding another citizenship is exactly what triggers Italy’s limit on descent claims. Under Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is treated as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless an exception applies. So Italy still tolerates your second passport, but for many Americans that passport is now the reason a claim fails. The EU Court of Justice has been asked whether this rule is lawful, and that case was still undecided on 6 November 2026.

The short answer

  • Italian who becomes American today: stays Italian (Article 11).
  • Italian who became American before 16 August 1992: generally lost Italian citizenship, if they acted voluntarily and lived abroad.
  • American naturalising in Italy: neither Article 5 (marriage) nor Article 9 (residence) makes giving up US citizenship a condition.
  • American claiming by descent, filed by 27 March 2025: judged under the old rules, and keeps US citizenship.
  • American claiming by descent now: keeps US citizenship, but needs a parent or grandparent who held only Italian citizenship, or a parent who lived in Italy for two continuous years before the birth.
  • Born in Italy, or born abroad with no other citizenship: Article 3-bis doesn’t apply to you.

How Italy got here

Italy’s rules swung from losing citizenship on naturalisation, to allowing dual citizenship, to limiting it for people abroad. Each period still applies to the ancestors who lived under it.

  • Before 1 July 1912: the 1865 Civil Code. The Interior Ministry treats this as a separate period. Parents who naturalised abroad up to 30 June 1912 are still handled under the Cassation’s earlier reading, as explained below.
  • 1 July 1912: Law 555/1912. Article 8 ended Italian citizenship for anyone who voluntarily took a foreign citizenship and settled abroad. Article 7 was the exception that matters to emigrant families: an Italian born and living in a country that also claimed them by birth kept Italian citizenship, and could give it up only as an adult. Dual citizenship from birth was therefore allowed. Dual citizenship by choice was not.
  • 1975 and 1983: women. Constitutional Court judgments 87/1975 and 30/1983 struck down the rules that took citizenship from an Italian woman who gained her foreign husband’s citizenship through marriage, and that stopped mothers passing citizenship to their children. Our 1948 rule guide covers what that means for older lines.
  • 16 August 1992: Law 91/1992. Article 11 replaced the old approach: a citizen who holds, acquires or reacquires a foreign citizenship keeps Italian citizenship. Article 17 gave people who had lost it a window to reclaim it, extended in the end to 31 December 1997.
  • 28 March 2025: Decree-Law 36/2025. It added Article 3-bis, with a cutoff of 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025. Parliament converted it with changes through Law 74/2025, in force on 24 May 2025.
  • 2026: the courts. The Constitutional Court rejected a challenge from the Turin court, the Joint Sections of the Cassation settled the “minor issue”, and the Constitutional Court then sent a separate question to the EU Court of Justice.

Why a second passport now matters

Article 3-bis doesn’t take citizenship from anyone for holding a second passport. In judgment 63/2026 the Constitutional Court said it is not a revocation but an “original bar” on acquiring citizenship, which reaches back to birth. The court also noted that a loss or revocation hits a status already officially acquired, while Article 3-bis affects the status of people who had never been officially recognised.

The law applies to someone born abroad, including before it took effect, who holds another citizenship. It doesn’t apply if any one of these is true:

  • Filed in time (a). A complete application reached the consulate or mayor by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025.
  • Appointment in time (a-bis). You applied on an appointment date that the office had given you by that same deadline.
  • In court in time (b). Your own court case was filed by that deadline.
  • An “only Italian” parent or grandparent (c). One of them holds, or held at death, exclusively Italian citizenship.
  • A parent who lived in Italy (d). A parent or adopter lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after becoming Italian and before your birth or adoption.

The Constitutional Court left one question open: whether people who had started the process but had no appointment by the deadline can be treated differently from those who did. It wasn’t raised in that case, so the point is unresolved rather than decided against them.

What “only Italian” means

This test is where dual citizenship does the most damage. The Interior Ministry’s circular 26185 of 28 May 2025 sets the date at the event that gives rise to citizenship. For a descent claim, that’s your birth. If the parent or grandparent had already died, it’s the day they died. Three consequences follow:

  • A US-born parent who was both Italian and American fails it, because they held two citizenships.
  • A grandfather who naturalised in the US before you were born fails it too. If he did so before 16 August 1992 he no longer held Italian citizenship at all, and after that date he held two.
  • The exception doesn’t rescue a broken line. The circular says it works only if the line of transmission stayed intact.

You carry the burden of proof. The circular says your own statement isn’t enough, and that officials may ask for certificates that no other citizenship was held, along with other records, translated and legalised. In court, Decree-Law 36/2025 also requires the claimant to prove that no cause of non-acquisition or loss exists, and rules out sworn statements and witness evidence unless the law says otherwise.

How Italian citizenship can be lost today

Taking another citizenship isn’t on the list. These are the routes that remain in Law 91/1992:

  • Renunciation (Article 11). You may renounce if you live abroad or move abroad. Italy’s embassy in Washington asks for proof of another citizenship and AIRE registration, and lists a payment of 250 euros as well as a consular fee.
  • Ignoring an order to leave a foreign post (Article 12(1)). This covers foreign public jobs and offices, posts with international bodies Italy doesn’t belong to, and foreign military service. Citizenship is lost only if the Italian government orders you to leave and you miss the deadline.
  • Serving an enemy state (Article 12(2)). This covers working or serving for a state at war with Italy without being obliged to, or voluntarily taking its citizenship. Citizenship ends when the war ends, and Article 13(2) bars reacquiring it.
  • Revocation (Article 10-bis). Citizenship gained under Articles 4(2), 5 or 9 can be revoked after a final conviction for offences listed there, if the person has or could get another citizenship. Citizenship by birth isn’t on that list.
  • Revoked adoption (Article 3(3)). Where the adoption is revoked because of the adopted person’s conduct, they lose Italian citizenship if they have or regain another.

What descendants claiming by descent need to know

Article 1 still says the child of a citizen father or mother is a citizen by birth. Dual citizenship history decides whether that chain reached you. Work through it in this order:

  1. Did you file by 27 March 2025? If so, the rules in force on that date apply, and the next step is the older history. A parent’s filing doesn’t cover an adult child, because these exceptions turn on the person’s own application.
  2. If not, is there an Article 3-bis exception? Check parents and grandparents only. Article 3-bis(c) reaches first and second degree ascendants, so a great-grandparent can’t satisfy it.
  3. Did anyone in the line naturalise before 16 August 1992? Compare the date with the next person’s birth. If the naturalisation came first, Italian citizenship didn’t pass to that child. Our guide on USCIS naturalisation records shows how to find the date.
  4. Was the next person a minor when their parent naturalised? In judgment 24045 of 26 July 2026, the Joint Sections of the Cassation held that a child born abroad in a country that gave them citizenship by birth was a dual citizen from birth and kept Italian citizenship when the parent naturalised. Article 12 of the 1912 law reaches only a child who held Italian citizenship alone. The court also said the same goes when the citizen parent is the mother.
  5. Check the dates of that ruling. The Interior Ministry’s circular of 10 August 2026 applies it to parents who naturalised between 1 July 1912 and 15 August 1992. For parents who naturalised by 30 June 1912, the ministry still follows the earlier Cassation order 454/2024 until the court says otherwise. People refused only on the old reading can ask for a review of their original application rather than filing a new one, so a pre-deadline application stays outside Article 3-bis.

The routes and documents are in our Italian citizenship by descent guide. To prove the negative, see how to prove an ancestor never naturalised.

Children of Italians born abroad

Being recognised as Italian doesn’t mean your US-born children are. A child born abroad who also holds US citizenship falls under Article 3-bis like anyone else, so a parent’s dual citizenship can stop the line one generation on. Three provisions matter:

  • Article 4(1-bis). A foreign minor whose father or mother is a citizen by birth becomes Italian if the parents or guardian make a declaration and either the declaration is filed within three years of the birth, or the child then lives legally in Italy for two continuous years. The 2025 text said one year; the current text says three.
  • The transitional deadline. For children who were minors on 24 May 2025 and whose parent is a citizen under Article 3-bis(a), (a-bis) or (b), the declaration can be filed until 23:59 Rome time on 31 May 2029. Law 26/2026 moved that date from 31 May 2026.
  • Article 4(1-ter). A child who becomes Italian this way may renounce as an adult if they hold another citizenship. The circular says it’s an option, not a duty.

Parents who are themselves naturalising or reacquiring citizenship should also read Article 14. Since 2025 a minor child follows them only after two continuous years of legal residence in Italy, or from birth if under two. The ministry’s circular of 24 July 2025 adds that a child born abroad with another citizenship also needs the parent to meet the two-year residence test in Article 3-bis(d).

If you or a parent lost Italian citizenship

A living person who lost citizenship under the 1912 law has two main routes back. Neither lists giving up US citizenship as a condition.

  • Article 17, until 31 December 2027. Anyone born in Italy, or who lived there for at least two continuous years, and who lost citizenship under Article 8(1) or (2) or Article 12 of the 1912 law, reacquires it by a declaration made between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027. A declaration at a consulate costs 250 euros.
  • Article 13, by moving to Italy. You reacquire citizenship by declaring it and taking up residence within a year, or automatically after a year’s residence unless you expressly renounce.

Reacquiring doesn’t rewrite history. Under Article 15, it takes effect the day after the conditions are met, so it doesn’t make an adult child retroactively Italian. The embassy in Washington also warns that it doesn’t automatically carry a cohabiting minor child with it.

Without a claim by descent, Article 9(1)(a) lets a foreigner with a parent or grandparent who is or was a citizen by birth apply for naturalisation after two years’ legal residence in Italy. That’s a discretionary grant, not a right.

Pending and upcoming changes

Case C-816/26, Picuso: pending at the EU Court of Justice

In order 147/2026, deposited on 23 July 2026 in cases from the Mantua and Campobasso courts, the Constitutional Court suspended the cases and asked the Court of Justice whether Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union preclude a rule like Article 3-bis. The question is aimed at the bar on people born abroad, including those born before the law took effect, who hold another citizenship. The Official Journal published the reference on 3 November 2026.

Don’t read this as a sign that the law is about to fall. The Constitutional Court said it still believes its judgment 63/2026 was in line with EU case law, and that it referred the question out of loyal cooperation and because the EU court has the last word on EU law. Until there is a ruling, Article 3-bis applies, and neither outcome should be assumed.

Bill C. 2698: a proposal, not law

Filed in the Chamber of Deputies on 13 November 2025, this private member’s bill would add an Article 3-ter letting descendants up to the second degree acquire citizenship by application. It wasn’t in Law 91/1992 on 7 November 2026.

Law 11/2026: enacted, starts in 2029

This one has passed. From 1 January 2029, applications for recognition by adults living abroad go to a central office in the Foreign Ministry instead of consulates, with a yearly cap for the first two years. Until then, each consulate’s yearly intake of adult applications is capped at the number of cases it closed in the year before the law took effect.

The American side

Italian rules only settle your Italian status. On the US side, the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual says Americans who naturalise abroad or take a routine oath of allegiance don’t automatically lose US citizenship, and that an intent to keep it is presumed. Under 8 U.S.C. 1481, US nationality is lost only through a voluntary act done with the intention of giving it up. That covers an American recognised by descent, and an American who naturalises in Italy and swears the Article 10 oath.

The Manual also says the US doesn’t encourage dual nationality, and that the other country has a predominant claim on you while you’re there. For more on the American angle, see European citizenship by descent for Americans.

Practical steps

  1. Write down every citizenship. For each parent and grandparent, list every citizenship held on the day you were born, or on the day they died if that came first. Our document chain guide covers the paperwork.
  2. Find the naturalisation dates. Compare each one with the next birth in your line, and with 1 July 1912 and 16 August 1992.
  3. If a parent is alive and lost citizenship, check Article 17 before 31 December 2027.
  4. If you were refused on the minor issue, ask the office that refused you about a review under the August 2026 circular.
  5. If you have a young child, diary the three-year limit in Article 4(1-bis) from the day of the birth.
  6. Watch Case C-816/26 before paying for a claim that depends on its result.

To check whether you have a claim, use our free citizenship by descent checker. For how Italy compares with other countries, see dual citizenship by descent, country by country.

Frequently asked questions

Does Italy allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Yes. Article 11 of Law 91/1992 says an Italian who holds, acquires or reacquires a foreign citizenship keeps Italian citizenship. So an Italian who naturalises in the US stays Italian, and a person who is Italian and American can hold both. The harder question since 2025 is whether someone born abroad with another citizenship counts as Italian at all.

Do I have to give up my US citizenship to claim Italian citizenship by descent?

No. Nothing in Law 91/1992 asks for that. But Article 3-bis, added in 2025, says a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is treated as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless an exception applies. The exceptions are an application, confirmed appointment or court case by 27 March 2025, a parent or grandparent who held only Italian citizenship, or a parent who lived in Italy for two continuous years before your birth.

My grandfather became a US citizen before 1992. Did he lose Italian citizenship?

Very likely. Article 8 of the 1912 law ended Italian citizenship for anyone who voluntarily took a foreign citizenship and lived abroad, and that rule ran until 15 August 1992. What matters for your line is whether the next person in it was born before he naturalised. Since July 2026, a child who was a dual citizen from birth doesn’t lose Italian citizenship just because a parent naturalised under the 1912 law during their childhood.

My parent is a dual Italian and US citizen. Does that help me?

Not under the “only Italian” exception, because that needs a parent or grandparent who held exclusively Italian citizenship. The Interior Ministry looks at the date of your birth, or the date of the ancestor’s death if they died first. It can still help in two other ways: if your parent lived in Italy for two continuous years after becoming Italian and before your birth, or if you are still a minor and your parent is a citizen by birth.

Is the 2025 law final?

Not entirely. The Constitutional Court rejected one challenge in judgment 63/2026, but on 23 July 2026 it asked the EU Court of Justice whether Article 3-bis is compatible with EU citizenship rules. That is Case C-816/26, Picuso, and it was undecided on 6 November 2026. Article 3-bis stays in force while the case runs.

Can I lose Italian citizenship by serving in the US military?

Not simply by serving. Under Article 12, you lose it if you keep serving a foreign state, or keep a foreign public post, after the Italian government formally orders you to leave and the deadline passes. Separately, an Italian who serves an enemy state in wartime without being forced to, or voluntarily takes its citizenship, loses Italian citizenship when the war ends.

I’m Italian and my children were born in the US. Are they Italian?

Not automatically, if they hold US citizenship and no Article 3-bis exception applies. If you are a citizen by birth, you can make a declaration for a minor child within three years of the birth. Children who were already minors on 24 May 2025, and whose parent was recognised under the 27 March 2025 protections, have until 23:59 Rome time on 31 May 2029.

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 6 November 2026, when Case C-816/26 was undecided. Statutes, judgments and circulars were read in Italian and the translations are ours. The Constitutional Court’s own website showed a captcha that day, so its rulings were read in the Gazzetta Ufficiale instead. The 1912 law is quoted from the Cassation judgment, and the State Department’s public dual nationality page refused automated access. Only Italian consulates, comuni and courts can decide your case; confirm with the consulate for your area before you act.