Curious about how to apply for Italian citizenship by descent maternal line? First, it is necessary to identify whether your case is really by maternal line. Therefore, check if in your line of transmission of Italian citizenship there is a woman whose child was born before 1948.

For example:

Italian ancestry line:

• Great-great-grandfather 1880
• Great-grandmother 1915
• Grandfather 1939
• Father 1955
• Applicant 1980

Step by step:

1. Identify the first woman on the transmission line: in this case the great-grandmother;
2. Check the date of birth of the son or daughter of this woman: in the case in question it would be the grandfather, born in 1939;
3. As the grandfather was born before 1948, the procedure will be through maternal line (it is only possible to apply for recognition of maternal Italian citizenship by court).

Italian citizenship by descent maternal line since the 1948 Constitution

Before January 1st 1948, Italy was a kingdom and only male parents passed on citizenship to their descendants.

The citizenship of Italian women, foreseen in the Italian Civil Code of 1865 and later modified by Law no. 555/1912, was linked to the one of her husband, that is, in addition to not transmitting her own citizenship to her descendants of her, the Italian woman who married a foreigner lost Italian citizenship and acquired her husband’s citizenship.

After this date, with the promulgation of the Constitution of the Italian Republic in 1948, which recognized equality between men and women, the right to transmit citizenship was extended to women. This right, however, was not retroactive. Under Italian law, a woman in the line of transmission of citizenship, whether at the beginning or in the middle of the line of descent, can only transmit citizenship to children born after 01/01/1948.

In 1975, the Constitutional Court, with ruling no. 87 of April 16, 1975, declared the unconstitutionality of Article 10, item 3 of Law no. 555/1912, where it provided for the loss of citizenship of Italian women who married foreigners, who acquired citizenship from their husband regardless of their will as a result of the marriage and lost their own nationality. With this sentence, women who had been deprived of their nationality as a result of marrying a foreign citizen before January 1, 1948 were able to regain citizenship if they made a statement on this matter.

In 1983, the Constitutional Court issued another sentence declaring the unconstitutionality of Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Law no. 555/1912, which did not provide for the transmission of Italian citizenship to the children of Italian women. This same decision also declared unconstitutional the Article 2, paragraph 2 of this law, as it determines the prevalence of the father’s citizenship in the transmission of the child’s status civitatis. From that sentence on, women married to foreigners finally began to transmit Italian nationality to their children.

However, as the principle of equality could not go back to dates prior to the promulgation of the 1948 Constitution, sons/daughters born before January 1, 1948 to an Italian mother and a foreign father remain unable to apply administratively for recognition of Italian citizenship.

In 2009, the Corte di Cassazione, with ruling no. 4466, determined the re-acquisition of Italian citizenship for the descendant of an Italian woman who married before 1948 and would have lost Italian citizenship. With this sentence, the Court of Cassation established favorable jurisprudence on the relationship of affiliation with the transmission of the status of citizen to the children of Italian women, which would have been their right if there had been no discriminatory law.

Even with the jurisprudence favorable to the recognition of Italian maternal citizenship for descendants of women who were born before 1948, such a case is not provided for by Italian law. As a result, the Italian Consulates and Municipalities do not accept administrative requests for this type of citizenship. To obtain it, it is necessary to file a lawsuit in Italy with the Court of Rome, the judicial domicile of Italians and their descendants residing abroad.

The advantage for those who want to apply for this citizenship is that the presence of the interested party in Italy is not necessary. This is a lawsuit filed against the Ministero dell’Interno and follows a special rite. Currently, the average term is from 6 months to 2 years to obtain the Italian citizenship with this procedure.

What documents are required for the process of Italian citizenship?

• Power of attorney for an “avvocato” in Italy;
• All the documentation that proves the descendants: birth certificates (in some cases the baptism certificate is valid), marriage certificates (of all marriages) of all people in the line of descent and death certificate of the Italian ancestor – if found;
• Certificate of Negative Naturalization (CNN) of the Italian ancestor with the relative authentication.

Important: CERTIFICATES NEED TO BE ANALYZED and eventually rectified in case of errors and contradictions.

Subsequently, they require the so called Apostille and they need to be translated by a sworn translator.

Learn more about the necessary steps to acquire citizenship in Italy:

Cavalcanti de Albuquerque Law Firm facilitates bureaucratic practices and dispute resolution across boarders. This group of professionals operate in a number of countries including Italy and Brazil.

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