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Citizenship by lineage (Ius Sanguinis)

Decree Law No. 36 of March 28, 2025, was converted with amendments into Law No. 74 of May 23, 2025, effective May 24, 2025.

The conversion law reforms Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992, the new full text of which is available at the following link

Attention is drawn, in particular, to the new Article 3-bis:

Notwithstanding Articles 1, 2, 3, 14 and 20 of this law, Article 5 of Law No. 123 of April 21, 1983, Articles 1, 2, 7, 10, 12 and 19 of Law No. 555 of June 13, 1912, and Articles 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 of the Civil Code approved by Royal Decree No. 2358, a person who was born abroad even before the effective date of this article and holds another citizenship shall be considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of the following conditions is met:

  • a) the citizen status of the interested party is recognized, in compliance with the regulations applicable as of March 27, 2025, following an application, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the competent consular office or mayor no later than 11:59 p.m., Rome time, of the same date;
  • a-bis) the status of citizen of the person concerned shall be recognized, in accordance with the regulations applicable on March 27, 2025, upon application, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the competent consular office or mayor on the day indicated by appointment communicated to the person concerned by the competent office no later than 11:59 p.m., Rome time, on the same date of March 27, 2025;
  • b) the citizen status of the interested party is judicially established, in compliance with the regulations applicable on March 27, 2025, as a result of a judicial application filed no later than 11:59 p.m., Rome time, of the same date;
  • c) a first or second degree ascendant possesses, or possessed at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship;
  • d) a parent or adopter has been resident in Italy for at least two continuous years subsequent to the acquisition of Italian citizenship and prior to the date of birth or adoption of the child.

– – –

Therefore, under the new Law No. 91 of 1992, an Italian citizen iure sanguinis (from birth) is recognized:

  • the applicant born in Italy on any date;
  • the applicant who has Italian citizenship exclusively, i.e., who neither has nor can have any other citizenship;
  • the applicant who falls into one of the cases listed in points (a), (a-bis), (b), (c) and (d) of Article 3-bis

– – –

In light of the new law it is clarified that:

1) Only applications submitted before March 27, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Italian time, accompanied by the necessary documentation, follow the previous law

“Submitted” applications are defined as:

  • Delivered to the Consular Office counter before the above date and time;
  • Sent by mail with tracking of date and time before the above deadline;
  • Sent by mail without date and time tracking, and received by the Consular Office before the above deadline;
  • Received on Fast-It before the deadline indicated above.

2) Only applications, accompanied by the necessary documentation, submitted to the Consular Office on the day indicated by appointment made and communicated to the interested party by the competent office by 11:59 p.m., Rome time on March 27, 2025 follow the previous regulations

“Appointment communicated to the interested party by the competent Office” means the confirmation by e-mail received by the interested party from the Prenot@mi portal or from the institutional e-mail address of the Section of the Consular Office competent for the application.

3) In all other circumstances, the new regulations shall apply to applications.

– – –

Please remember that:

  1. Those born BEFORE January 1, 1948 can be recognized as Italian citizens EXCLUSIVELY BY PATERNAL LINE.
  2. Those born AFTER January 1, 1948 can be recognized as Italian citizens BY MATERNAL OR PATERNAL LINE.
  3. The applicant may apply for recognition starting from parents or grandparents who are still Italian citizens. The applicant must therefore demonstrate that the parent and/or grandparent have not lost (or renounced) Italian citizenship.
  4. If the ascendants (grandparent, parent) have voluntarily acquired another citizenship before the birth or during the minor age of the subsequent descendant born abroad, and in any case before 08/15/1992, they have automatically lost Italian citizenship and interrupted the line of descent (articles 7, 8, 12 L. 555/1912, “Circolare” of the Italian Ministry of the Interior no. 43347, 03/10/2024).

Please note:

  • ONLY those who are legally and permanently resident in Montreal’s consular district can apply for recognition of citizenship by lineage at this Consulate General;
  • the Italian citizenship by lineage process does NOT apply to the minor child of an Italian citizen; please refer to the “Civil Status” section for the registration of the act of birth of a minor.

Procedure to follow:

  1. Book an appointment in person through the Prenot@mi Please note that, if more members of the same family intend to apply for citizenship, every person over the age of 18 will have to schedule their own appointment and to apply individually.
  2. Make sure to possess all the following documents, which you will have to provide on the day of the appointment.

Please note:

  • All documents must be submitted in original and will not be returned.
  • Please note that any discrepancies (e.g., names, surnames, places, dates, etc.) in the documentation submitted will not be accepted. Therefore, please ensure certificates are corrected accordingly.
  • The Citizenship Office reserves the right to request additional documentation if the available information is deemed insufficient for a proper evaluation of the citizenship application.
  • The search for documentation is the sole responsibility of the applicant.

List of documents to be submitted:

  1. Estratto dai Registri della nascita con annotazioni marginaliobtained from the birth registries of the Italian ancestor recently issued by the Italian municipality of birth. In case both grand-parents or parents were born in Italy the Estratto dell’atto di nascita will have to be presented for both of them. The potential Italian passport, the stamp or “Immigrant reçu” / “Landed immigrant” slip, and other certifications issued in Italy are optional but it is recommended to submit them to complete the information regarding your ancestor.
  2. Birth certificates of all descendants in direct lineage to the ancestor of Italian citizenship; if such documents have been issued by other Consular Districts, they must be accompanied by an apostille/legalization and translation in Italian declared as compliant by the consular Representation where the certificate has been produced;
  3. Marriage certificate of the Italian ancestor who emigrated abroad and marriage certificates of his / her descendants in direct lineage; if such documents have been issued by other Consular Districts, then they have to be accompanied by an apostille/legalization and translation in Italian declared as compliant by the consular Representation where the certificate has been produced;
  4. Death certificate of the ancestor of the Italian citizen and of his / her descendants in direct lineage; if such documents have been issued by other Consular Districts, then they have to be accompanied by an apostille/legalization and translation in Italian declared as compliant by the consular Representation where the certificate has been produced;
  5. Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, containing the full date of naturalization (day, month, year). If the Italian ancestor was never Canadian, their ‘Carte de résident permanent / Permanent Resident Card’ must be provided. Alternatively, a ‘Recherche dans les dossiers de la citoyenneté / Search of Citizenship Records’ must be requested (please refer to https://www.cic.gc.ca/), to be legalized with an apostille from Global Affairs Canada. When requesting documents for women, please ensure the request is made using both their maiden and married surnames. In case both grand-parents or parents were born in Italy the documentation concerning the Canadian citizenship will have to be presented for both of them.
    Note: The Canadian Citizenship Certificate in wallet-size card format is NOT accepted, as it does not provide the exact date of Canadian naturalization.
  6. Civil status documents (birth, marriage, divorce) of the applicant for the recognition of Italian citizenship, accompanied by the apostille/legalization and translation in Italian by one of our certified translators. In order to know the exact documents to be presented, please see the list at the bottom of the page;
  7. Applicant’s valid passport and proof of residence (i.e. provincial driver’s license, residential utility bills, etc.);
  8. Application for recognitionof Italian citizenship by descent;
  9. AIRE registration form;
  10. The payment of the consular fee for the request for recognition of Italian citizenship ( 7b of the Table of consular rights) must be carried out at the moment of the application at the Consulate desk in Canadian dollars and in cash. This fee is non-refundable, regardless of the outcome of the application. Applications presented with the complete documentation will be processed in the following 24 months. At the end of the verification, the Consulate General will send a communication via email to the applicant on the outcome of the recognition request.

Note relating to birth, marriage / civil union, death documents referred to numbers 2), 3), 4), 6): all civil status documents have to be presented with Apostille and translation in Italian. For documents issued in Quebec, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Justice of Quebec. For information regarding apostilles on documents issued by the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nuvavut, please refer to Global Affairs Canada.

Translation from English/French into Italian of civil status acts have to be made by one of the official translators of this Consulate: Elenco Traduttori Ufficiali – Consolato Generale d’Italia di Montreal (esteri.it)

Birth

Marriage / Civil Union

Divorce

To register a divorce in Italy, kindly follow the instructions on this page.

Death

For civil status documents produced by other Canadian provinces or other countries, it is necessary to contact the competent consular offices for the territory.