At the heart of the dispute was whether a child born outside Italy ceased to be an Italian citizen when the Italian parent acquired the citizenship of another country while the child was still underage.
The issue became particularly significant after the Ministry of the Interior instructed consulates and municipalities in October 2024 to take the position that such children had lost Italian citizenship. As a result, thousands of citizenship applications around the world were subsequently refused or placed on hold on that basis.
What the Court Decided
The Court of Cassation distinguished between two fundamentally different circumstances.
Children born abroad to an Italian parent in countries that apply the ius soli principle — including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Australia before 1986 — acquired the foreign citizenship automatically at birth. Because they were dual citizens from birth, they did not lose their Italian citizenship when their Italian parent later naturalized abroad while they were minors. Under this interpretation, they could lose Italian citizenship only if they personally renounced it after reaching adulthood.
The position was different for children who possessed only Italian citizenship and subsequently obtained a foreign nationality as a consequence of their parent's naturalization. In those circumstances, the child lost Italian citizenship together with the parent.
The practical distinction can therefore be summarized simply: a person who was a dual citizen from birth did not lose Italian citizenship as a result of the parent's naturalization while the person was a minor.
The ruling applies regardless of whether the naturalizing parent was the father or the mother. A second judgment, No. 24184/2026, issued several days later, confirmed the same principle.
Ministry Directs Consulates to Follow the New Interpretation
The Ministry of the Interior subsequently acted on the Court's decision. On August 10, 2026, it issued Circular Prot. No. 65050, replacing the restrictive guidance introduced in October 2024 and instructing consulates and municipalities to follow the Court's interpretation.
At the time of writing, however, the new circular has not been published through the Ministry's official channels. Consular offices may therefore require several weeks to incorporate the new guidance fully into their procedures.
Applicants Previously Refused May Seek a Re-Examination
Those whose citizenship applications were rejected solely because of the “minor issue” under the October 2024 guidance may now request that their original applications be reviewed again. Importantly, this route does not require the applicant to initiate court proceedings.
Several points are particularly relevant.
The request must be submitted to the same authority that originally rejected the application, even if the applicant has since moved to another location.
The re-examination will be conducted according to the legal framework that applied when the original application was submitted.
This can be significant for applications filed before March 27, 2025. The restrictions introduced through Italy's 2025 citizenship reform will not apply to the re-examination of those earlier applications.
Important Limitations
The Court's ruling does not resolve every case involving a minor's acquisition of foreign citizenship. As with Italian citizenship by descent generally, the specific circumstances remain decisive.
The protection established by the ruling applies to individuals who acquired their foreign citizenship automatically at birth under ius soli. Those who obtained another nationality by a different route, including derivatively as a result of their parent's naturalization, remain subject to the previous loss rule.
The issue also concerns parental naturalizations that took place between July 1, 1912, and August 15, 1992. Once the current citizenship legislation entered into force in August 1992, an Italian citizen's naturalization abroad no longer resulted in the loss of Italian citizenship.
For new applications, the ruling does not remove the generational restrictions introduced by Law No. 74/2025. Applicants must still meet the applicable requirement involving a parent or grandparent born in Italy, or qualifying parental residence in Italy. The Court's decision addresses an obstacle affecting the transmission of citizenship; it does not expand the permitted line of descent.
The Court also left open situations governed by specific international treaty provisions. Those provisions must therefore be examined in relation to the country in which the relevant naturalization took place.
In practical terms, the person's birth certificate becomes particularly important because it must establish that the foreign citizenship was acquired at birth.
What the Ruling Means for Applicants
For families affected by the “minor issue,” from the Americas to Australia, the decision marks the end of a lengthy period of uncertainty over how these cases should be treated.
Applications rejected since October 2024 specifically on this ground may warrant a new review, while cases that have been placed on hold should be able to move forward under the new interpretation.
For new cases involving an Italy-born parent or grandparent, the ruling also restores a degree of predictability to an area of citizenship practice that had become increasingly uncertain. The decision does not change the rules governing the generational line itself, but it removes a significant obstacle that had prevented some applicants from relying on that line of descent.
If you're planning to obtain a residence permit, invest in a country's economy, or purchase foreign real estate, we invite you to a consultation with our company. During a personal online meeting, we'll discuss your questions in detail and create a step-by-step action plan for you.