New blood citizenship rules have been announced recently
RECIFE, PE (Folhapress)-The Deputy Breedie and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Antonio Tajani, said on Sunday (30) that changes in the rules of Italian citizenship by blood rights are intended to avoid fraud.
“We want to say enough to fraud and force our consulates to deal with false citizens or people who want to become Italian citizens just to have a passport, not because they are linked to Italy. We are not willing to sell citizenship, because being Italian is a serious thing,” the chancellor said in an event in Florence.
The new blood citizenship rules were announced on Friday (28). From now on, for these cases, only the citizenship of the descendant who is the son or grandson of a citizen born in Italy will be recognized.
The rules are valid for new requests submitted since Friday. The reform is part of a decree-law, approved by the government ministers. Nothing changes to those who already have the Italian passport, but it is not yet clear whether or not the standard affects the transmission of citizenship to those who already have the document but was born outside Italy.
In theory, it would be a limitation for those who still need to have this right recognized. The text of the government statement is not the version that will be processed in the legislature.
“The decree concretely alters the situation, because it predicts that the Italian-descendant born abroad will be automatically italian citizen only for two generations,” said Tajani, on Friday. “Since midnight in Italy, citizenship can no longer ask for old rules.”
The measure means a change in the 1992 Citizenship Law, which did not provide for generations for blood rights. For the minister, it was an “excessive opening”, in contrast to the other regulations in force in the European Union.
The main impact should be on descendants living in Brazil and Argentina, who received millions of emigrated Italians from the end of the 19th century. In Brazil alone, a contingent of 1.4 million arrived from 1870 to 1920. It is estimated that today there are 30 million descendants in the country, as well as over 800,000 Italian citizens (expatriates or double citizenship).
In 2023, at least 61,300 citizens were recognized for blood to descendants. With almost 42 thousand, Brazilians accounted for 68.5% of cases -the highest beneficiaries. The cases refer to proceedings by judicial and administrative means (via Italian municipalities), without accounting for the consulates.
Another reason, said the minister, is that those interested in recognizing Italian citizenship would have no interest in using the right to reside in the country, but to circulate more easily by the European Union and enter the United States without a visa.
In recent years, the theme of Blood Right Citizenship (Ius Sanguinis, in Latin) has entered the public and political debate on changes in legislation, considered old. Tajani, President of the Praça Italy Party of Centro-right, is the main advocate in the government of Giorgia Meloni of the restriction to the Ius Sanguinis.
In order not to lose effectiveness, the text of the decree must be converted into law, within 60 days, by Parliament, where the government has a majority in the House and Senate.
In addition to blood law, by 1992, it is possible to become an Italian citizen for time of residence in the country -from outside the European Union can place the request after ten years legally living in Italy.
Penys resident in the country who have obtained citizenship can transmit it to children under 18. Young people born in Italy of foreign parents – and residents without interruption in the country – can also become Italian when they turn 18.
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