Introduction:
In this case, the Court of Palermo examined an application filed by foreign descendants of Italian emigrants seeking recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. The applicants reconstructed their family line through official civil-status documentation and demonstrated that their Italian ascendant emigrated to the United States without ever becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. The applicants further explained that recognition through the administrative route had become impracticable because of lengthy waiting times at the competent consular authority, leading them to seek judicial recognition of their citizenship rights.
Outcome:
The Court granted the application and declared that the applicants have been Italian citizens since birth. It ordered the Ministry of the Interior, through the competent Civil Status Registrar, to carry out all registrations, transcriptions, and annotations required by law, including any communications to the competent consular authorities. Litigation costs were left to the applicants.
View the Judgment:
PALERMO 04.27.2026
Challenge:
The central issue concerned the application of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, which introduced significant restrictions on citizenship recognition for persons born abroad who also hold another nationality. The Court examined whether the applicants met any of the exceptions expressly provided by the new legislation. The Court found no evidence that an administrative application accompanied by the required documentation had been submitted before the deadline established by the reform. It also noted that screenshots taken from the website of the competent consulate were insufficient to prove that a valid application had actually been filed. Likewise, the judicial proceedings had been initiated after the deadline established for judicial actions under the new law.
Action:
Despite the absence of evidence satisfying the exceptions based on timely administrative or judicial filings, the Court found that the applicants qualified under a different statutory exception. The documentary evidence demonstrated that an ascendant within the first or second degree had possessed exclusively Italian citizenship and had never acquired U.S. citizenship through naturalization. On this basis, the Court concluded that the applicants fell within the scope of the exception expressly preserved by the 2025 reform and therefore remained entitled to recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis. The Court accordingly recognized their citizenship status from birth and ordered the necessary civil-status registrations.
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