Italian Family Traditions

Italian Citizenship by Descent: What Every Italian-Canadian Needs to Know After the 2025 Law Change

If your grandparents came from Italy, you may have assumed the door to Italian citizenship was open. In March 2025, Italy changed the rules overnight — and millions of descendants found out they no longer qualify. Here is what happened, what it means for you, and what you can still do.

⏱ 8 minute read

---

---

Table of Contents

• What is ius sanguinis?
• What changed in 2025 — the Tajani Decree explained
• Do you still qualify? The eligibility test
• What documents you need
• How to apply from Canada — Montreal and Toronto
• If you no longer qualify — what you can still do
• Why this matters beyond the passport
• FAQ

---

My grandfather came from Calabria. He arrived in Montreal in the 1950s, became a Canadian citizen, raised his family in Saint-Michel, and lived the rest of his life in this country. He never went back. But he never stopped being Italian either — not in the kitchen, not in the garden, not in the cantina in the basement, not in the way he spoke about the village he had left behind.

For decades, that connection — the blood connection, the unbroken line from a child in Calabria to a grandfather in Montreal to a grandchild born in Canada — meant something legal as well as personal. It meant that if you could prove the lineage, Italy would recognize you as a citizen. Ius sanguinis. Right of blood. The principle that citizenship passes through generations regardless of where those generations happened to be born.

In March 2025, Italy changed that. Overnight, without warning, the rules that had governed Italian citizenship by descent for over a century were rewritten. Millions of people who had been planning to apply — or who were already in the process — found out that they no longer qualified. Or that the rules had been fundamentally altered. Or that the clock was running out on a window they had not realized was closing.

This post is for Italian-Canadians in Montreal, Toronto, and across Canada who need to understand what happened to Italian citizenship by descent, where they stand, and what they can do. It is not legal advice — for that, you need a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer. But it is the clearest explanation of a complicated situation that your family’s heritage deserves.

---

What is ius sanguinis?

The principle is simple: Italian blood carries Italian citizenship, regardless of where in the world you were born.

Ius sanguinis — Latin for “right of blood” — is the legal principle that citizenship is determined by descent from a citizen parent rather than by place of birth. Italy has used this principle as the foundation of its citizenship law since national unification in 1861.

In practical terms, it meant this: if you could prove an unbroken line of descent from an Italian-born ancestor who was an Italian citizen, Italy would recognize you as an Italian citizen too — regardless of how many generations had passed, regardless of where you were born, and regardless of whether you spoke a word of Italian.

The key law was Law 555/1912, which established the foundation of Italian citizenship by descent. A later law — Law 91/1992 — allowed Italians to hold dual citizenship, meaning you could become an Italian citizen without giving up your Canadian passport. That combination made ius sanguinis one of the most attractive citizenship pathways in the world for Italian diaspora communities across North America, South America, and Australia.

---

What changed in 2025 — the Tajani Decree explained

One decree, issued overnight, ended a citizenship right that had existed for over a century.

On March 28, 2025, the Italian government issued Decree-Law No. 36/2025 — known as the Tajani Decree after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani — fundamentally restructuring Italian citizenship by descent. It went into immediate effect. On May 24, 2025, it was converted into Law No. 74/2025 after parliamentary approval.

The change was significant. Italian Dual Citizenship summarizes it plainly: before May 24, 2025, Italian citizenship by descent had no generational limitations. After May 24, 2025, it does.

Rule	Before March 27, 2025	After May 24, 2025
Generational limit	No limit — could claim through great-great-grandparents and beyond	Maximum two generations back — parent or grandparent only
Ancestor’s citizenship	Ancestor must not have naturalized before passing citizenship to next generation	Italian parent or grandparent must have held only Italian citizenship at time of death
Female line	Children of Italian mothers born before 1948 required court proceedings	Same restriction remains — court route still available
Application cost	€300	€600 — doubled, with further increases expected
Who processes applications	Italian consulates abroad	Future centralized office planned — consulates still processing for now
Grandfather clause	N/A	Applications filed or appointments confirmed before March 27, 2025 assessed under old rules

The bottom line: the law officially ends the right to claim Italian citizenship through great-grandparents. It now limits automatic recognition to two generations — only those with an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy can apply.

For many Italian-Canadians whose connection to Italy runs through a great-grandparent who arrived in Montreal or Toronto in the early 1900s, this means the door has closed — at least for the straightforward ius sanguinis route.

---

Do you still qualify? The eligibility test

The answer comes down to one question: is your Italian-born ancestor your parent or grandparent — or is it someone further back?

Here is the clearest way to understand whether you still qualify for Italian citizenship by descent under the new rules. Work through these questions in order:

If your connection to Italy runs through a grandparent who came to Canada in the early 20th century and became a Canadian citizen before your parent was born — that naturalization may have broken the chain. Italian Dual Citizenship explains that if an ancestor naturalized while their child was still a minor, it disrupts the transmission of citizenship to that child and all future generations.

This is the most common complication for Italian-Canadians. Many grandparents who arrived in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s became Canadian citizens before their children were born — or when their children were young. That timing matters enormously and is case-specific. A qualified Italian citizenship lawyer can assess your specific family timeline.

---

What documents you need

The paperwork is the same as before — what changed is who is allowed to submit it.

If you qualify for Italian citizenship by descent under the new rules, here is what you will need to gather. The documentation requirements have largely remained the same as before the 2025 changes — the eligibility criteria changed, not the paperwork.

Document	What it proves	Where to get it
Italian ancestor’s birth certificate	That your ancestor was born in Italy	Municipality in Italy where they were born — request via the Italian consulate or directly
Birth certificates for each generation	The unbroken line from Italian ancestor to you	Vital statistics offices in each country — in Canada, provincial vital statistics
Marriage certificates for each generation	Connects the family line	Same as above
Death certificates where applicable	Documents the line where ancestors have passed	Same as above
Naturalization records or proof of non-naturalization	Critical — proves whether or when your ancestor became a citizen of another country	In Canada: Library and Archives Canada holds naturalization records. IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) for more recent records.
Your Canadian passport and birth certificate	Proves your identity and citizenship	You already have these
Apostille on foreign documents	Certifies the documents are authentic for use in Italy	In Canada: Global Affairs Canada handles apostille certification
Certified translations	All non-Italian documents must be translated into Italian by a certified translator	Find a certified Italian translator through the Italian consulate’s approved list

The naturalization records are the most critical and the most commonly overlooked. In Canada, your Italian ancestor’s naturalization date is the piece of information that often determines whether the citizenship chain is intact or broken. Library and Archives Canada holds naturalization records going back to the early 1900s and is searchable online. This is often the first place to look.

For records research and document gathering, a good Italian genealogy research guide is the most practical tool for understanding how Italian civil records work, what to request from Italian municipalities, and how to navigate the document trail from a Canadian starting point.

---

How to apply from Canada — Montreal and Toronto

Book your consulate appointment now — before you have all your documents. The wait list is the longest part.

In Canada, Italian citizenship applications are handled through the Italian consulates. There are two that serve the majority of Italian-Canadians:

Consulate	Serves	Contact
Consulate General of Italy — Montreal	Quebec and Atlantic provinces	consmontrealestero.esteri.it
Consulate General of Italy — Toronto	Ontario and western Canada	constoronto.esteri.it

Here is the application process step by step:

1. Assess your eligibility — work through the questions above, ideally with a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer before investing time and money in document gathering
2. Gather your documents — complete the full document package for every generation in the line
3. Get apostilles and certified translations — all documents must be apostilled and translated into Italian
4. Book a consular appointment — through the online booking system at your consulate. Be aware that wait times for appointments can be months to years long — the Montreal and Toronto consulates are heavily backlogged
5. Submit your application — at the appointment, bring all original documents and certified copies
6. Pay the fee — currently €600 as of 2025, up from €300 previously
7. Wait for processing — processing times vary but can take 1-3 years

Important note on wait times: The backlog at Italian consulates in Canada is significant. If you have not yet booked an appointment, do so as early as possible regardless of where you are in the document preparation process. The appointment booking and the document preparation can happen in parallel.

---

If you no longer qualify — what you can still do

The ius sanguinis door may have closed — but Italy has not locked the building.

If the new two-generation limit means you no longer qualify for Italian citizenship by descent, you are not out of options. Italy has several alternative pathways.

Alternative pathway	Who it’s for	Requirements
Citizenship by residency	Anyone willing to live in Italy	If you have a parent or grandparent who was an Italian citizen by birth, you can now apply after 2 years of legal residence in Italy (reduced from 3 for this group)
Citizenship by naturalization	Anyone willing to live in Italy long-term	10 years of legal residence in Italy. 5 years if the 2025 referendum on residency reduction passed.
Reacquisition — born in Italy	Those born in Italy who lost citizenship under the 1912 law	Make a declaration between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027. No residency requirement under the new rules.
Court route — judicial path	Pre-1948 maternal line cases, or those blocked by consulate delays	Petition an Italian civil court. Courts frequently rule in favour of applicants when the consular path is blocked
Citizenship by marriage	Those married to an Italian citizen	After 2 years of marriage and legal residence in Italy, or 3 years abroad

---

Why this matters beyond the passport

An Italian passport is an EU passport. But for most Italian-Canadians, that is not actually the point.

Italian citizenship by descent is not only about travel or a European passport. For Italian-Canadians it is about something harder to name — the legal recognition of a connection that has been real in every other way for generations.

My grandfather came from Calabria. He was Italian before he was Canadian, and he remained Italian in every way that mattered to him — the food, the language, the traditions, the specific way he understood the world — for the rest of his life. The ius sanguinis principle was the legal expression of that continuity. It said: the blood does not break. Wherever your family went, Italy still knows who you are.

For many Italian descendants abroad, this law erases more than paperwork. It threatens identity, legacy, and a deeply personal connection. As one Italian parliamentarian put it during the debate: “Children and grandchildren of Italian emigrants will now be told: you are not Italian enough to deserve your grandfather’s citizenship.”

That is the weight of what happened in March 2025. Not just a legal change but a statement about what Italy considers the boundaries of its community — and who falls inside them and who does not.

If you have been putting off exploring your eligibility, the time is now. The window for applications under the old rules has closed for new applicants. The window under the new rules is narrower. And the document gathering process — the birth certificates, the naturalization records, the apostilles, the translations — takes longer than most people expect.

Start with the naturalization records. Start with Library and Archives Canada. Find out when your ancestor became a Canadian citizen and whether that timing preserved or broke the chain. That one date is often the entire answer.

For how to research your Italian family history more broadly — finding the village, accessing Italian civil records, understanding what documents exist — this connects to everything we have documented about Italian-Canadian heritage and what families carried after immigration. And for how to record and preserve the family knowledge that makes this research possible, read how to record family stories before they’re lost — because the information you need for a citizenship application is often sitting in the memory of an older relative who has not been asked the right questions yet.

---

He came from Calabria. He raised his family in Montreal. He never stopped being Italian. For decades, Italian law agreed with him — the blood carried the citizenship, generation to generation, regardless of where life had taken the family. In March 2025, that changed. If your grandfather’s story sounds like his, start the research now. The documents take time. The window does not stay open forever.

---

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Italian citizenship law is complex and highly case-specific. For advice on your individual situation, consult a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer or contact the Italian consulate in Montreal or Toronto directly.

---

This post connects to Italian-American and Italian-Canadian traditions after immigration — the broader story of what families carried and what they preserved. For the Italian naming traditions that make genealogy research possible, read about onomastico and Italian name days — understanding the naming patterns helps identify records. And for how to preserve the family history knowledge that citizenship research depends on, read how to record family stories before they’re lost.

---

---

FAQ

What is ius sanguinis?

Italian citizenship by descent — ius sanguinis, Latin for “right of blood” — is the legal principle that Italian citizenship passes from a citizen parent rather than by place of birth. It is the foundation of Italian citizenship law since 1861 and means that descendants of Italian-born ancestors can claim Italian citizenship regardless of where they were born. Since Law 91/1992 allowed dual citizenship, this has meant that Italian-Canadians could obtain an Italian passport without giving up their Canadian one. The 2025 law changes have significantly restricted who qualifies.

What did Italy’s 2025 law change for Italian-Canadians?

Before March 27, 2025, there was no generational limit on Italian citizenship by descent — you could claim through a great-grandparent or beyond, provided you could prove an unbroken chain. After May 24, 2025 (when Law No. 74/2025 came into force), the limit is two generations. You must now have an Italian-born parent or grandparent to qualify. Applications filed or appointments confirmed before March 27, 2025 are still processed under the old rules. Applications filed after that date follow the new, more restrictive criteria.

Can I still apply if my great-grandparents came from Italy?

Under the new rules, no — not through ius sanguinis. The two-generation limit means great-grandparents no longer qualify as the basis for a citizenship claim. However, alternative pathways remain: citizenship by residency in Italy (2 years if you have Italian grandparent ancestry), the court route for specific blocked cases, and reacquisition options for those born in Italy who lost citizenship. If your application was filed or your appointment was confirmed before March 27, 2025, your case may still be assessed under the old rules.

How do I find out if my Italian ancestor naturalized before passing citizenship to my parent?

In Canada, naturalization records are held by Library and Archives Canada and are searchable online at bac-lac.gc.ca. More recent records are held by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada). The key date is when your ancestor formally became a Canadian citizen relative to when their children were born. If they naturalized before their child was born, the citizenship chain may be broken. If they naturalized after, the chain may be intact. This is the most important piece of research for any Italian-Canadian exploring ius sanguinis eligibility.

Where do I apply for Italian citizenship in Canada?

Through the Italian consulate that covers your province. For Quebec and Atlantic Canada: the Consulate General of Italy in Montreal at consmontrealestero.esteri.it. For Ontario and western Canada: the Consulate General of Italy in Toronto at constoronto.esteri.it. Book an appointment through the consulate’s online system as early as possible — wait times are significant. The application fee is currently €600.

What if I can’t get a consular appointment in Canada?

There is a judicial alternative. Italian civil courts — in Venice, Rome, Florence, and other cities — can adjudicate ius sanguinis claims when the consular path is blocked or impractical. This route is particularly used for pre-1948 maternal line cases and for applicants facing extreme consular delays. Courts frequently rule in favour of applicants. This requires engaging an Italian lawyer who specializes in citizenship cases, and the process takes place in Italy, but it is a legitimate and frequently successful route when the consular path is unavailable.

Is Italian citizenship worth pursuing for Italian-Canadians?

For those who qualify for Italian citizenship by descent, yes — for multiple reasons. An Italian passport is an EU passport, giving the right to live, work, and study anywhere in the European Union without a visa. It is one of the most powerful passports in the world for travel. But beyond the practical benefits, for Italian-Canadians who grew up with Italian family traditions, language, and identity, the citizenship is also the legal expression of a connection that has been real in every other way for generations. The 2025 law changes have narrowed the window but not closed it entirely for those with Italian parents or grandparents. If you qualify, the process is worth starting now.

---