Introduction:
The applicants sought judicial recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis as direct descendants of an Italian citizen from the Molise region who emigrated to Canada and never naturalized. The claim was filed after the 2025 legislative reform on citizenship litigation and evidentiary requirements. The Ministry of the Interior did not enter an appearance. The proceedings were handled exclusively on documentary evidence, with the Public Prosecutor issuing a favorable opinion.
Outcome:
The Campobasso Court upheld the application and declared the applicants Italian citizens, ordering the Ministry of the Interior and the competent Civil Status Registrar to carry out all required registrations, transcriptions, and annotations in the civil status registers, as well as the necessary communications to the competent consular authorities. Legal costs were fully offset between the parties.
Challenge:
The case addressed a growing structural obstacle affecting citizenship applicants abroad: the inability to access administrative recognition due to the lack of available consular appointments and exceptionally long waiting lists. The Court held that this creates an objective uncertainty regarding the start and conclusion of the administrative procedure, effectively amounting to a denial of the applicants’ rights and justifying access to judicial protection.
Action:
The legal team reconstructed the entire genealogical line through certified civil status documentation, proving uninterrupted descent and the absence of any loss or renunciation of Italian citizenship by the Italian ancestor. Relying on Supreme Court Joint Sections principles, counsel demonstrated that applicants must prove the acquiring fact and the transmission line, and that the updated statutory framework introduced in 2025 was fully satisfied.
Notable procedural feature:
A key aspect of this proceeding is its exceptional efficiency: the case was filed after the 2025 Decree and concluded with a favorable judgment within approximately five months, demonstrating how properly documented jure sanguinis claims can be resolved in a streamlined timeframe even in post-reform litigation.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.