Introduction:
The plaintiffs, all descendants of an Italian-born citizen who emigrated to Mexico, requested recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis. Their case was supported by extensive genealogical documentation, including apostilled civil status records.
Outcome:
On December 12, 2024, the Court of Catania declared the petitioners Italian citizens and ordered the Ministry of the Interior to update the civil records accordingly. Legal costs were fully offset due to the complexity and evolving jurisprudential context.
Challenge:
The plaintiffs had faced repeated obstacles in accessing the administrative recognition process through consular channels. Furthermore, parts of the lineage passed through women before key constitutional reforms, raising potential issues under historical laws that blocked maternal transmission of citizenship.
Action:
The Court upheld recent Constitutional Court and Supreme Court decisions (notably no. 87/1975, 30/1983, 4466/2009), recognizing citizenship as a permanent, imprescriptible status. Since the maternal passages in this case occurred after the Italian Constitution came into force, no temporal barrier applied. The judgment emphasized that administrative delays and discriminatory legal history cannot undermine a rightful claim when documentation and family lineage are proven.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.