Becoming Italian

Author's preface. There are a number of websites selling services to assist in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship by Jure Sanguinus. As I researched this article I noted that many had serious errors with respect to the requirements that must be met in order to qualify. Buyer beware, as with many things, the quality of information and help available online varies widely. Best option for things like this is to go directly to the source. In this case that is the government of Italy, and the best access point for that resource is your local Consulate General of Italy.

I am a proud citizen of these United States of America by birth. I always assumed I would die that way as well. However about six months ago my wife approached me with a very interesting idea. She suggested that I apply to become a citizen of Italy by the principle of jure sanguinus or "right of blood" (aka citizenship by descent). I had never heard of jure sanguinus and, as she first explained it to me, I dismissed the idea as crazy. Me, an Italian citizen? I just did not see how it could be possible. Turns out, it is real, and it is possible, and it is because Italy has favorable laws regarding citizenship, and considers those of Italian descent “family”. Thus, under Italian law, in many cases, this principle can be used by any individual to claim Italian citizenship. You might be asking yourself so what? Why would anyone want to do this? Of course I have some love for my ancestral home, however that alone is not nearly enough of a motivation to go through the effort and expense (at it requires a ton of effort and is quite costly to see all the way through) it would take to obtain Italian citizenship in this manner. The reason is simple, once a person is granted Italian birthright citizenship, they are allowed all of the rights and privileges of those born in Italy and can obtain a European Union passport. Having an EU passport greatly facilitates travel throughout Europe. If you are an avid traveler, or have aspirations to be one someday, an EU passport is worth its weight in gold.

More people than most would suspect probably qualify for Italian citizenship by birth, but just having Italian ancestry alone is not enough. You must prove that citizenship, or more precisely, the right to claim Italian citizenship, was transferred from your Italian-born ancestor to yourself within the Italian Laws. Until Aug. 15, 1992, Italian citizenship was exclusive, and if a person attained citizenship in another country, they had to renounce their Italian citizenship. Children born to Italian Citizens in the USA or other countries that recognize jure solis (by the soil) obtained foreign citizenship due to their place of birth. You must prove that your Italian ancestor was, in fact, an Italian citizen or had the right to claim Italian citizenship when they were born. This blood right citizenship can then be passed onto their future generations.

Fortunately, at least in the USA, becoming an Italian citizen has no impact on one's US citizenship status, if it did this idea would have been a non starter for me. The amount of research and digging into family history that needs to be undertaken in order to complete this process is non trivial. You need to prove that you meet five requirements and when you apply for Italian citizenship by descent, the conditions and requirements must be met by each person in direct lineage. There is no limit in the number of generations, but the relative who immigrated from the country must have died after March 17, 1861 because that is the founding date of the modern country of Italy. The way one "proves" they have met the various requirements is through paperwork, loads and loads of (officially certified and correctly formatted) paperwork eg. birth certificates, death certificates, passenger manifests, etc. Gathering together all the required paperwork, which has taken close to six months in my case, and is still not quite complete is only step one. After that, one has to make their case in the Italian administrative courts and that is where the true fun begins. I am not quite ready for that step yet, but I am close and just yesterday I had some very good news from USCIS (US customs and immigration service). The news was in regards to one particular sticking point in my case, the question of the citizenship status of my great grandfather. There was no doubt he had been born in Italy and was an Italian citizen when he arrived in the United States, but it was not clear if he had ever naturalized to become a US citizen. If he had, and it was prior to a specific cut off date, my hopes of Italian citizenship and an EU passport would be sunk. In any event USCIS just confirmed after an exhaustive search that my great grandfather never naturalized, therefore by default my grandfather, father, and myself are Italian citizens! Need to gather just a few more documents and then can begin the final press with the Italian courts. Gonna be fun.