Maternal Line Citizenship Cases
If you are applying to become an Italian citizen through your maternal lineage, you can contact us for a free consultation.
In 1912, as stated by the Italian citizenship law, children – regardless of where they were born – could only inherit Italian citizenship through their fathers. Therefore, those with an Italian father were immediately regarded as Italian citizens. On the other hand, children who had Italian mothers were not granted Italian citizenship.
The 1912 law was reviewed in 1983 by the Italian Constitutional Court and was subsequently declared unconstitutional due to the gender inequality it highlighted. As a consequence, Italian citizenship is now granted to descendants of both Italian men and women born after 1st January 1948.
Before 1948, women who married non-Italian men suffered from discrimination, and lost their citizenship because of their spouses.
In order to be considered, citizenship applications need to be forwarded to the Italian Court (judicial route), rather than to the Consulate (administrative route). This means that, if you can and wish to apply through the administrative route, your Italian ancestry must be linked to men rather than women.
If, instead, your ancestry is linked to Italian women, their children’s birth date must be after 1st January 1948. Should the children’s DOB precede 1948, then your case might be addressed as a “1948 case”. This not only means you will need to move forward with your application through the Italian judicial system, but that you will also require the help of an experienced Italian lawyer.
How does the Maternal Line before 1948 work?
To demonstrate how the Maternal Line before 1948 works, let’s take the following scenario as an example:
- - Your Italian great-grandfather was born in 1900.
- - He moved to Australia in 1920, at 20 years old, though he never acquired the Australian citizenship.
- - Your great-grandfather’s daughter (your grandmother) was born in 1925, and her daughter (your mother) or her son (your father) was born before 1948.
- translation and legalisation/apostille of documents.
- recovery of Italian certificates such as birth, marriage certificates, etc.
- correction of incorrect information in certificates.
In the above case, you would not be able to progress with your Italian citizenship application through the administrative route, especially without the help of an Italian lawyer whose expertise is in citizenship applications.
How do I apply for an Italian citizenship if I have maternal ancestry only?
You will need to choose an Italian lawyer who is experienced in dealing with citizenship applications. You can contact Luxury Law about your case to find out about any possible application routes available for you. We offer full legal assistance throughout the application process, from the preliminary stages to the outcome of your citizenship application.
What do I need for my court proceeding if I’m applying for Italian citizenship through Maternal Line?
If you are applying to become an Italian citizen through your maternal lineage, you will also have to provide information about your father and maternal grandfather. This is essential to demonstrate that your female ancestors maintained their citizenship and did not lose it by marrying a non-Italian.
Luxury Law will also assist you with the preliminary stage of documents collection, including: