Italy has until May 27 to vote restrictions on citizenship for descent

The Italian Parliament has until May 27 to decide on the Decree-Law, known as ‘Tajani Decree’, which can dramatically restrict access to Italian citizenship for Italian descendants worldwide, including millions of Brazilians.

The text, which has been in force since March 28, needs to be converted into law to become permanent and imposes new rules that limit automatic recognition of Italian citizenship ius sanguinis Only to children and grandchildren of Italians born in Italy.

In practice, if the decree is approved without changes, descendants of Italians who immigrated to Brazil between 1850 and 1890 will lose the right to administrative recognition of citizenship. The impact will be greater for Brazilians whose families have been judicially recognized and who can now only seek Italian citizenship through lawsuits, a more expensive and time consuming process.

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The decree-law temporarily suspended the processing of new requests for citizenship in the Italian consulates and communication (City Halls) in Italy, awaiting the final decision of the Parliament. The text also provides for other rigid changes, such as the requirement that pregnant foreign women have at least two years of proven residence in Italy so that their children can obtain citizenship.

For experts, the decree represents a break with the concept of citizenship as an acquired right.

If approved as it is, the decree will bring three main changes:

• Limited administrative recognition: Italian citizenship will be restricted to children and grandchildren from Italians born in Italy.
• Exclusion of judicially recognized descendants: Even if parents’ citizenship has been recognized, children born outside Italy will not be entitled to administrative recognition.
• Rigid rules for pregnant women: Foreign women will need two years of residence in Italy so that their children are entitled to citizenship.

The vote is scheduled for May 14 and 15. With the Italian Parliament controlled by the Government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, which follows a nationalist agenda, there is little expectation that the text undergoes changes.

For the descendants of Italians, especially those who live outside Europe, change represents a significant barrier to the right of citizenship, transforming what was an administrative process into a legal dispute.