Introduction:
The applicant sought judicial confirmation of Italian citizenship as a direct descendant of an Italian-born woman who emigrated and never relinquished her citizenship. The Ministry of the Interior did not appear in the proceedings. The Court reviewed the documentary evidence, procedural requirements, and legal standards governing citizenship by descent
Outcome:
The Court upheld the petition in full, declaring the applicant an Italian citizen from birth and ordering the competent civil registry office to complete all registrations, transcriptions, and annotations. The Court also ordered the Ministry to pay legal costs, noting that administrative inefficiencies cannot shift the financial burden onto a party forced to litigate to obtain recognition of a fundamental right
Challenge:
The applicant faced the well-documented issue of extremely long consular delays, with processing times often extending 5–10 years, making the administrative route impracticable. Even without proof that a consular application had been formally initiated, the Court held that such systemic delays constitute a violation of the applicant’s substantive interest and justify resorting to judicial protection.
Action:
The petitioner established uninterrupted descent through properly translated and apostilled certificates. Relying on Supreme Court precedent (the 2022 “twin rulings”), counsel demonstrated that citizenship acquired iure sanguinis is permanent and imprescriptible, and may only be lost through explicit renunciation. The Court found no interruptive events and confirmed that the ancestor’s citizenship passed validly through the generational line.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.