The decision is final: in a sweeping move to reduce the volume of dual citizenship applications, the Italian Parliament has enacted a law that effectively shuts the door on millions of Italian Americans and Italian descendants around the world.
Moving forward, only the children or grandchildren of Italian citizens will be eligible to apply for dual citizenship. Great-grandchildren, and all who come after them, no longer qualify.
On March 28, 2025, the Italian government issued an emergency decree known as the “Citizenship Package.” Championed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the measure took immediate effect. Parliament confirmed the law on May 20, making the restrictions permanent.
The new law does not affect those who have already acquired dual citizenship or who submitted their applications on or before the March 27 cutoff. Many who have spent years collecting, translating and notarizing documents now find themselves at a dead end.
According to Italy’s Interior Ministry, over 80 million people worldwide are of Italian descent, and more than 60,000 legal cases remain pending related to citizenship applications.
Government officials claim the move is necessary to restore order to an overwhelmed system, citing concerns about fraud and improperly submitted documentation, though such issues have been reported in countries like Argentina and Brazil — not the United States.
Those who are now ineligible can only obtain Italian citizenship by moving to Italy and applying through residency, a multi-year process that has become even more difficult due to stricter visa requirements for non-European Union citizens.
“For Italian Americans, the path to dual citizenship is an almost sacred journey,” said ISDA National President Basil Russo. “It’s a painstaking, yearslong and expensive process — a way to reconnect with our roots, with the people and places who built our culture at home and abroad. Closing the door on this process is a regrettable and mistargeted solution to a problem we didn’t create.”