How to Apply for Italian Citizenship – Court Cases and Recent News

To apply for Italian Citizenship you no longer necessarily require the involvement of the Court of Rome.

The Court of Rome used to be the only competent jurisdiction in Italy to deal with cases of Citizenship by descent (Jure Sanguinis) in Italy.

As per the new law dated 22.06.2022, for plaintiffs residing abroad, the territorially competent court is that of the town of birth of the Italian father, mother, or ancestor. Therefore, all proceedings related to determining the status of Italian citizenship Jure Sanguinis will not necessarily take place in Rome, unless the ancestor was born within Rome‘s jurisdiction.

This is established by clause 36 – article 1 of the Italian reform law of the civil process n. 206 of 26.11.2021, which entered into force on 24.12.2021 and that regulates the competent jurisdiction.

In fact, as clause 36 establishes, “when the plaintiff resides abroad, disputes concerning the ascertainment of the status of Italian citizenship are assigned according to the place of birth of the father, mother, or ancestor of Italian citizens”.

The subsequent clause 37 establishes that said regulation enters into force from day 180 since the law became effective (24.12.2021). This makes 22.06.2022 day 180, and therefore marks the enforcement of the regulation itself.

What changes if citizenship cases are handled by other Courts? (Court proceedings Jure Sanguinis)

There are some pro and cons that might arise due to this change. On the one hand, the Court of Rome will be released from citizenship appeals coming from all over. Consequently, court proceedings Jure Sanguinis might be faster when finalising processes and therefore granting the citizenship to the plaintiffs in a shorter period of time. On the other hand, it is unknown how other courts will face new citizenship requests.

Our clients have recently expressed their concerns about this new law, particularly regarding potential wrongful decisions issued by courts that lack previous experiences in handling citizenship applications.

We wish to clarify that if you have a good lawyer specialised in citizenship applications by Jure Sanguinis, the above-mentioned risk is essentially non-existent. Moreover, Italian courts will simply follow the law and, should all requirements to obtain the Italian citizenship be met, said citizenship will indeed be granted. We therefore deem this concern unfounded.

In any case, it is not certain that, because of this new law, the legal problems due to procedural delays will be solved.

The most disadvantaged courts, depending on the number of appeals, could take even longer to issue a verdict, while others could proceed faster than an extremely busy Roman court.

Do you need a lawyer in the local area where the proceeding will take place?

You do need a lawyer, but not necessarily in the local area and jurisdiction where the case will take place. Italian lawyers can handle cases throughout the national territory and not only within their district. Moreover, in Italy, since 1.01.2017, there is an electronic administrative process in place that allows any lawyer in any location to file documents and consult files without leaving their own office.

Therefore, even the filing of the appeal for citizenship by Jure Sanguinis can be comfortably carried out from any city in which your lawyer resides.

If you think that it will be easier and less expensive to find a citizenship lawyer in the city where the proceeding will take place, you might be wrong. The citizenship application is quite a tricky one, despite many people believe the opposite. Hence, your aim should be to find an expert lawyer regardless of the area where their main office is based. Furthermore, there are not many soliticitors specialised in this matter, and this is one more reason to find one whose expertise is in citizenship law.

Luxury Law assists clients throughout the entire Italian territory and, regardless of where the competent Court is located, we operate nationwide to guarantee the best legal assistance.

Contact us for further info!