Italy’s Supreme Court Scrutinizes Citizenship Rule That Disqualified Millions of Descendants

Italy’s highest court scrutinizes the 'minor issue' rule as families challenge the 2025 law stripping millions of Italian citizenship rights.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 16, 2026, 9:49 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from CNN and The Local Italy

The United Sections Address the ‘Minor Issue’

The highest civil authority in Italy, the United Sections of the Corte di Cassazione, has formally begun evaluating the legality of a 2024 government directive that has paralyzed thousands of citizenship applications. This specific legal hurdle, known as the "minor issue," was codified in an October 2024 ministerial circular. It stipulates that if an Italian parent naturalized in another country while their child was still underage, the transmission of Italian citizenship was effectively severed. This interpretation has primarily targeted descendants in the United States and Brazil, where birthright citizenship is common, leading to sudden disqualifications for those who had already invested years and significant financial resources into their recognition claims.

A Direct Challenge by the Italian Diaspora

The court’s current focus involves three specific cases of descendants from the United States and Venezuela who saw their citizenship requests rejected at the trial and appellate levels. Among these is a Venezuelan plaintiff whose brother was granted citizenship before the October 2024 rule change, creating a paradoxical situation where one sibling is recognized as Italian while the other is legally barred. Attorneys representing these families argued before the Supreme Court that citizenship is a permanent right acquired at birth that cannot be lost involuntarily or through the actions of a parent. The Procuratore Generale, acting as an advisor to the bench, issued a non binding but influential opinion in favor of the plaintiffs, supporting the view that citizenship transmission should remain intact.

The Impact of the 2025 Legislative Reform

While the current Supreme Court hearing focuses on the 2024 circular, it takes place against the backdrop of the "Tajani Decree," an emergency measure converted into Law 74/2025 in March of last year. This law introduced a strict two generation limit on jure sanguinis claims, effectively ending the right to citizenship for great grandchildren and more distant descendants of Italian emigrants. Furthermore, the 2025 reform moved to restrict dual citizenship for those born abroad, a move the government claims is necessary to manage overburdened consulates and curb "passport shopping." Despite these justifications, the law has been met with fierce resistance from inter...