OPENING OF TERMS FOR THE REACQUISITION OF ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR FORMER CITIZENS
SCOPE OF APPLICATION
The new article 17, paragraph 1, of law no. 91/1992, as amended by law no. 74/2025, establishes the reacquisition of Italian citizenship in the presence of the following requirements:
1. the applicant must have been born in Italy or have been resident in Italy for at least two continuous years;
2. the applicant lost citizenship before August 15, 1992 in one of the following cases:
a) voluntarily acquired a foreign citizenship before August 15, 1992 and established his/her residence abroad (article 8, number 1°, of law no. 555/1912);
b) having acquired a foreign citizenship without his/her own volition, has renounced Italian citizenship and has established his/her residence abroad (Article 8, number 2°, of Law No. 555/1912);
c) being a minor, unemancipated child of the person who has lost citizenship, had a common residence with the parent and has acquired the citizenship of a foreign State (Article 12 of Law No. 555/1912).
The new Article 17, paragraph 1, of Law No. 91/1992, does NOT apply in favor of:
– former citizens born abroad who have not been resident in Italy for at least two consecutive years;
– those who lost citizenship after August 15, 1992 (for any reason);
– those who lost citizenship for having accepted employment from a foreign government or for having entered the military service of a foreign power, and persists in doing so despite the Italian Government’s order to abandon the employment or service within a set time limit;
– those who have not exercised the option provided for in Article 5, second paragraph, of Law No. 123/1983 (minor child, including adoptive, of a citizen father or citizen mother who, in the case of dual citizenship, could opt for only one citizenship within one year of reaching the age of majority and did not do so).
HOW TO REACQUIRE ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP
Those who have lost Italian citizenship may reacquire it by signing a declaration of intent to reacquire Italian citizenship. The declaration may be submitted between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027.
In this first phase, it will be necessary to book an appointment for Reacquisition of Citizenship on the Prenot@mi Portal.
Procedure for the declaration of intent to reacquire Italian citizenship.
Before making the declaration, the interested party must:
- identify themselves using a valid identity document issued by the authority of the country of current citizenship (e.g. Australian Passport);
- demonstrate, with complete and authentic documentation:
a) their complete personal details (via birth certificate, which in the case of those born abroad must be presented in the forms required for transcription in Italy, legalized (apostilled) and translated);
b) only for those born abroad, residence in Italy for at least two consecutive years (via historical certificate of residence);
c) previous possession of Italian citizenship (via historical certificate of citizenship);
d) the reason for the loss of citizenship (via documentation suitable for demonstrating the acquisition of foreign citizenship and, in the cases provided for, the renunciation of Italian citizenship: Australian naturalization certificate – documentation issued by foreign authorities must be appropriately legalized (apostilled) and translated);
e) the effective date of such loss of Italian citizenship (generally, via the documentation referred to in paragraph d).
To prove the above, it will NOT be possible to use the substitute declarations referred to in Articles 46 and 47 of the Presidential Decree. December 28, 2000, no. 445;
3. pay the consular fee of 250 euros at the Consular Office.
The declaration of intent to reacquire citizenship must be made by the interested party in person before the employee of the Consular Office delegated to exercise civil status functions, who must personally receive the declaration. The presence of witnesses is not required.
Effects of the declaration of intent to reacquire Italian citizenship.
From the day after the declaration, the former citizen reacquires Italian citizenship. The declaration of reacquisition does not have retroactive effect: from the day of loss of citizenship (for naturalized foreigners the day after the voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship) until the day on which the declaration of reacquisition is presented, the interested party is considered a foreigner for all legal purposes.
The reacquisition of citizenship entails the reacquisition of rights and obligations inherent to citizenship status, including:
1) the obligation to register with AIRE;
2) the obligation to update one’s civil status (for example, by providing the marriage certificate, the documents with which previous marriages were dissolved, etc.);
3) the right to be registered on the electoral rolls;
4) the right to obtain a passport and identity card, by making an appointment on the Prenot@mi Portal.
PLEASE NOTE: Attention is drawn to the fact that the reacquisition of citizenship by a person residing abroad no longer automatically entails the acquisition of citizenship by the minor child living with the person, if resident abroad. For such acquisition (so-called communicatione iuris) it is now necessary for the minor child to live with the parent who reacquires citizenship in Italy for at least two years prior to the reacquisition. Therefore, children (minors or, even more so, adults) residing abroad and born before the parent’s reacquisition of citizenship do not acquire Italian citizenship by virtue of said reacquisition. However, if the parent was originally an Italian citizen by birth, the child born before the reacquisition may acquire Italian citizenship by residing in Italy (Article 4, paragraph 1, letter c, or Article 9, paragraph 1, letter a, of Law No. 91/1992).
Finally, since the parent who reacquires citizenship is no longer a citizen by birth, but is a citizen by another title (the reacquisition), it is NOT possible to present, on behalf of the minor children of those who reacquire Italian citizenship, the declaration of intent to acquire citizenship for the “benefit of the law” (see Registration of birth certificates (minor children) ).