Italy ruling tells millions with Italian roots they have lost the right to citizenship | CNN
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Italy’s Constitutional Court has signaled support for a controversial law restricting citizenship by descent, a move that could block millions of people abroad from claiming Italian nationality.

Since Italy became a country in 1861, there has been a surefire way to know who is and isn’t an Italian citizen: look at their parents.

The first page of the civil code, published in 1865 as the rulebook to Europe’s newest country, declared that a child born to an Italian citizen was an Italian citizen.

This founding tenet of the Bel Paese now looks set to change — ending diaspora dreams of returning to the mother country, and meaning that Italians who move abroad risk denying citizenship to their descendants.

On Thursday the Constitutional Court said it would rule in favor of the government and its controversial 2025 law that restricted citizenship for those born abroad. The law — issued last March via emergency decree — had been challenged by four judges, who questioned its constitutionality.

  • Spitefire@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    I think if the decision had been going forward instead of backward, I would have felt better about it. Saying any descendents born after 2025 will not have assumed citizenship is very different than saying “Lol, your citizenship wasn’t real.”

    Now I feel like the fact that I decided to learn Italian and work out an emigration plan before applying bit me in the ass. I should have started the process 15 years ago when I was as you say.