Italy's Law 74/2025: How the New Rules Reshape Citizenship by Descent

Italy has enacted its most significant citizenship reform in decades. Law 74/2025 came into force on 24 May 2025 after President Sergio Mattarella's signature, converting the earlier emergency Decree-Law 36/2025, widely known as the Tajani Decree, into permanent legislation. For the millions of Italian descendants worldwide, especially in the Americas, it changes the long-standing assumption that jus sanguinis flows down through generations almost without limit.

What the Law Restricts

The reform moves Italy away from its historically liberal approach to citizenship by blood. Citizenship is no longer automatically transmitted to every descendant of an Italian emigrant; the new framework requires demonstrable, concrete ties to Italy. The government justified the change by citing the need to condition automatic transmission on real connections rather than indefinite inheritance by people with no link to the country.

The New Pathways for Children Born Abroad

• Residence: an Italian parent who also holds another citizenship must have lived in Italy for at least two consecutive years before the child's birth.
• Exclusive citizenship: the Italian parent holds only Italian citizenship and no other.
• Grandparent rule: a grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship at the time of the child's birth, or, if deceased, held only Italian citizenship at death.
• Statelessness: the child would not otherwise acquire any other citizenship, which does not apply where the child is born in a birthright-citizenship country like the United States or Brazil.

The Cutoff Date Problem

The law draws a sharp line around late March 2025. Applications filed before 27 March 2025 fall under the prior regime, while those submitted from 28 March 2025 onward face the new restrictions, with no transition period. That retroactive, abrupt break has drawn the heaviest criticism, with Italian legal commentators describing it as a reversal of the country's longstanding legal tradition and, in some commentary, a form of mass legal disinheritance.

For US applicants, the practical upshot is that many tenuous great-grandparent and beyond claims that once worked may no longer, and the rules continue to face legal challenge inside Italy. Because gathering Italian records can take years, anyone exploring this should understand where they stand under the current law before investing. This is general information, not legal advice. To check how the new rules affect your case, run the free eligibility check to see your path.