Great-grandparent cases are still possible, but they now require a much tighter legal review. The 2025 reform introduced by Decreto-legge 28 March 2025, n. 36, later converted into Law 23 May 2025, n. 74, added article 3-bis of Law 91/1992 and changed how many foreign-born applicants with another citizenship are assessed.
The key principle today: the citizenship chain still matters, but older assumptions about unlimited transmission through remote ancestors are no longer safe on their own. In many cases the file must also fit one of the statutory exceptions now highlighted by article 3-bis.
Why Great-Grandparent Cases Need Extra Review After 2025
For years, applicants often relied on the shorthand that Italy had “no generational limit”. That shorthand is no longer enough. For many people born abroad who also possess another citizenship, article 3-bis now places the focus on whether the case falls within the statutory exceptions recognized after the 2025 reform.
In practical terms, claims through great-grandparents or earlier ancestors now require more than a lineage chart. You need to test the chain against the current legal framework, including whether a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship or whether another qualifying exception applies.
How the Lineage Chain Works
The chain must flow through every generation without a break. Each person in the chain must have held Italian citizenship when their child (the next link) was born. The chain breaks at naturalisation (when someone became a citizen of another country before the next generation was born) — not at death.
Every link in the chain above must be documented. For a 4-generation chain, that means gathering birth certificates, marriage certificates, and — critically — naturalisation (or lack thereof) records for at least four ancestors.
The Naturalisation Rule — Where the Chain Breaks
Italian citizenship is automatically lost when a person naturalises as a citizen of another country. The critical question in any jure sanguinis claim is: did the Italian ancestor naturalise before or after the next generation was born?
- If your great-grandparent was born in 1895, emigrated to the U.S. in 1910, and naturalised in 1920 — and your grandparent was born in 1918 — the chain is intact (grandparent was born before the 1920 naturalisation).
- If your grandparent was born in 1922 — after the 1920 naturalisation — the chain is broken at that link.
- If your ancestor never naturalised (died as an Italian citizen), the chain flows to every subsequent generation automatically.
Watch out for unknown naturalisations: Many Italian immigrants naturalised quietly, without informing family. The Naturalisation Index at USCIS and the U.S. National Archives contains federal naturalisation records from the 1790s onwards. Always verify before assuming the chain holds.
Documents Needed for a 4+ Generation Chain
For each generational link, you will typically need:
- Birth certificate (with official translation and apostille if not Italian)
- Marriage certificate (if the citizenship passes through marriage)
- Naturalisation records showing the ancestor did NOT naturalise — or, if they did, the exact date
- Death certificate (if the ancestor is deceased)
For the Italian side of the chain, you will also need the original birth record from the Italian municipality (Comune), the AIRE registration if the ancestor registered abroad, and any available emigration records.
Dealing with Very Old Records
For ancestors who emigrated in the 1870s–1890s, U.S. vital records may be scarce or non-existent. Many states did not require birth registration until the early 1900s. In these cases:
- Church baptismal records can serve as a proxy for birth certificates in many jurisdictions
- Ship passenger manifests (available via Ancestry and Ellis Island archives) establish arrival dates
- Italian parish records (kept at diocese archives or digitised through LDS resources) often contain birth information that pre-dates civil registration
- Italian civil records (Stato Civile) have been kept since 1866 in northern Italy and 1870 in the south
The 1948 Rule and Great-Grandparent Claims
If citizenship in your chain passes through a woman who was born before January 1, 1948, the standard administrative process cannot recognise your claim. This is the "1948 Rule" — a legal consequence of pre-1948 Italian law, which did not allow women to transmit citizenship to their children.
In these cases, applicants must file a judicial claim in Italian civil court to have their citizenship formally recognised. This route takes longer (typically 2–4 years) and requires Italian legal representation, but it is fully established in case law and routinely succeeds.
Example: Your great-grandmother was born in Italy in 1890, emigrated, married an American, and had your grandfather in 1915 — before she could have naturalised. If she never naturalised and was the Italian link, the 1948 Rule applies because she is female and the transmission passes through her before 1948. A judicial claim would be required. See our 1948 Rule article for details.
