MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Italy tightens citizenship rules to curb 'commercialization'

The decision comes amid a surge in citizenship applications. According to Tajani, the number of Italians abroad has increased by 40% in the past decade—from 4.6 million to 6.4 million.

Italy’s government has approved a reform to restrict automatic citizenship by descent, citing concerns over the growing number of requests—especially from Latin America—and what officials described as the “commercialization” of Italian nationality.

“Citizenship cannot be a tool to travel to Miami with a European passport,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said during a press conference following the Cabinet meeting that adopted the changes.

Under the new decree, automatic Italian citizenship through the principle of ius sanguinis—citizenship by descent—will now be limited to only two generations born abroad. That means individuals will only qualify automatically if they have a parent or grandparent born in Italy.

The government is also preparing legislation requiring Italian citizens born and living abroad to demonstrate an active connection to Italy by exercising civic rights or duties at least once every 25 years.

The decision comes amid a surge in citizenship applications. According to Tajani, the number of Italians abroad has increased by 40% in the past decade—from 4.6 million to 6.4 million—with South America seeing the largest growth. In Argentina, recognized Italian citizenship cases jumped from 20,000 in 2023 to 30,000 in 2024. Brazil and Venezuela also saw significant increases.

Italy currently faces a backlog of over 60,000 pending citizenship applications, while estimates suggest that more than 80 million people worldwide could claim Italian descent under existing rules.

Tajani also warned about abuses in the system, stating that in recent years Italy had revoked citizenship from individuals, including five members of Hezbollah, who had obtained it through fraudulent means. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen abuses that go beyond any real interest in our country,” he said.

As part of the reform, citizenship requests must now be filed with a dedicated office under the Foreign Ministry, instead of at consulates, which have been overwhelmed by demand.

“This reform is about protecting those who genuinely want to be Italian abroad,” Tajani concluded.