There have been two important recent developments in the law relating to Italian citizenship applications.
The first change concerns applications for recognition of citizenship via descent which must be made via the Italian Courts (as opposed to applications made via the Consulate).
Previously, all Court applications of this kind were to be lodged with the Civil Court of Rome, regardless of where the Italian-born ascendant lived or where the applicant is resident. This created an enormous amount of work for the Roman Courts, which resulted in long delays in proceedings and therefore a decision as to whether Italian citizenship would be recognised.
Since 22 June 2022, the law in this respect has changed and the Court of the Town where the Italian-born ascendant (from whom the applicant is claiming uninterrupted lineage) was born now has jurisdiction to rule on the recognition of Italian citizenship is the Court. For example, if you are claiming Italian citizenship on the basis of uninterrupted lineage from your great-grandmother who was born in Turin, the Claim will now have to be brought before the Court of Turin rather than the Court of Rome as previously.
Hopefully this will be a positive change in helping to reduce a backlog of work and, especially if dealing with a smaller Court, the proceedings may conclude sooner and therefore a decision can be reached in less time.
The downside is that those Judges may not have the experience to deal with such applications, and, as a result, could potentially rule unjustly on Court-presented applications.
The second important change relates to citizenship applications made on the basis of marriage to an Italian national. The law currently states that if the Italian spouse of the applicant dies after the application has been lodged but before Italian citizenship is granted to the applicant, then the applicant no longer has the right to claim Italian citizenship.
In a Court Order of the Italian Constitutional Court of 26 July 2022 (n.195), the Courts ruled this law to be unconstitutional as it is in violation of the Italian Constitution, claiming, among other points, that applicants are prejudiced by the amount of time that the Italian administration allows itself to come to a decision regarding Italian citizenship.
Given that this is such a recent development, it remains to be seen how it will affect future applications. However, this is a welcome decision by the Italian Courts as Judges specifically mentioned the considerable period that can pass between an application being lodged and a decision made, during which time anything could happen which could prejudice the applicant.
We will of course keep you updated on any future developments in this respect, but at this stage it appears that if you have applied for Italian citizenship on the basis that you are married to an Italian citizen, but your spouse has sadly passed away before a decision has been made as to your citizenship, it would be unconstitutional not to grant you Italian citizenship.
