Italian Citizenship - New requirements to register the birth of minor children

Decree-Law No. 36/2025 of March 28, 2025, converted into law on May 24, 2025 (Law 74/2025), introduced additional requirements regarding the recognition of citizenship for minor children of Italian citizens. The request to register in Italy the birth in a foreign country of an Italian Citizen’s minor child is a request for the recognition of Italian citizenship in favour of the minor child. With the new law, Italian citizenship is passed from parent to child, for up to two generations, on the condition that the Italian parent has never renounced their citizenship.

Under the new provisions, an Italian citizen automatically transmits citizenship to a minor child born abroad, and may therefore register the child’s birth in Italy, if one of the following conditions is met:

1. A parent (including adoptive) or grandparent possesses – or must have possessed at the time of death – exclusively Italian citizenship (i.e., they do not have and cannot have any citizenship other than the Italian one) at the time of the minor’s birth;

2. A parent (including adoptive) who is an Italian citizen has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years, after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption of the minor;

3. The minor does not have and cannot acquire any other citizenship.

In certain specific cases, as provided by clause 4, paragraph 1-bis of Italian Citizenship Act No. 91/1992 and clause 1-ter of Decree-Law No. 36/2025 as converted into law, minor children born abroad to an Italian citizen who does not automatically transmit citizenship (i.e., who doesn’t satisfy one of the three requirements listed above) may acquire Italian citizenship in two situations, subject to a €250 contribution payable to the Italian Ministry of Home Affairs in Rome:

A. -In the first case [Art 4, comma 1-b, b DL 91/1992], the following requirements must be met SIMULTANEOUSLY:

1. At least one parent is an Italian citizen by birth (even if they hold another citizenship);

2. Both parents submit a declaration of intent to acquire Italian citizenship WITHIN ONE YEAR FROM THE CHILD’S BIRTH.

B. -The second case [Art.1, comma 1-ter, DL 36/2025] is a TRANSITIONAL PROVISION and applies when ALL of the following requirements are met:

1. The applicants are minor children (i.e., individuals who had not yet turned 18) as of May 24, 2025 ;

2. The applicants are children of an Italian citizen by birth who was recognized as Italian following an administrative or judicial application submitted by 11:59 p.m. (Rome time) on March 27, 2025, or based on an application submitted following an appointment booked by that same date;

3. The parents of the minor children must submit a declaration of intent to acquire Italian citizenship by May 31, 2026.

If the individual, who was a minor on May 24, 2025, reaches the age of majority in the meantime, the declaration must be submitted personally by them by the same date.

The two new cases described above represent a solution for Italian citizens who do not meet the legal requirements set out in clause 3-bis of the Italian Citizenship Act No. 91/1992, and constitute an acquisition of citizenship by operation of law. The minor who benefits from this is not considered an Italian citizen by birth or iure sanguinis, but rather from the day following the parents’ declaration, in accordance with clause 15 of Italian Citizenship Act No. 91/1992.

Contact us to know how to submit the declaration and the documentation that need to be provided.