Italy has changed its citizenship law, and now people can no longer claim Italian citizenship through their great-grandparents. This change has upset many people around the world who were hoping to become Italian citizens by using their family history.
The new rule, which became law on Tuesday, only allows people to apply for citizenship through their parents or grandparents. This is a big change from the old law, which also allowed citizenship through great-grandparents, according to CNN.
Many people had already spent time and money collecting documents, translating them, and preparing to apply. Now, they are being told they are no longer eligible.
“I submitted all my documents based on my great-grandfather,” said Gina Pace Trucil, an American. “I waited three years for my appointment, spent thousands of dollars, and now they tell me I am not eligible.”
The Italian government says about 80 million people around the world have Italian roots. But now, if your Italian ancestor is a great-grandparent, you must move to Italy and live there to become a citizen and that has also become harder under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government.
Samantha Wilson, who runs a company called ‘Smart Move Italy’, helps people move to Italy. She said the new law is “actually worse than we expected.”
“For many of our clients, this change has shattered their immediate plans of moving to Italy, as well as their long-term dreams,” she said. “It’s also bad news for Italy, because these people wanted to invest in the country and help its economy.”
Wilson added that people should now look into other options, such as Italy’s Digital Nomad Visa, or try to move to Italy and apply for citizenship through residency.
Right now, people must live in Italy legally for 10 years before applying for citizenship. A vote on June 8–9 could change that to 5 years, but if the vote fails, another vote could raise it to 12 years instead.
To apply through residency, people must show they earned a certain amount of money each year, pass a language test, and show they have no criminal record in any country where they’ve lived. These rules do not apply to people applying through ancestry.
For those who already started applying through great-grandparents, Wilson said there might still be hope.
“If clients have already paid for the process, we suggest they continue and defend their rights,” she said. “We hope the constitutional court will rule on this law in the future, but it will take time and money.”
For now, many people’s dreams of becoming Italian have been put on hold or ended altogether.