Today, we want to dive into a peculiar (but not unusual) scenario: cases where citizenship could not be transmitted through men and which involve Italian-born female ancestors or female ascendants in the Italian line who have the right to Italian citizenship.
1948 is a break line in Italian history, and consequentially, in its citizenship system. 1948 was indeed a good year for democracy in Italy, since this was when our constitution went in force. The 1948 Constitution granted all women civil rights, including the right to vote and to transmit Italian citizenship to their children.
Because of the peculiarities of Italian laws on citizenship, there are basically two ways to apply for Italian citizenship by descent:
A – through an Italian Consulate or an Italian municipality (administrative procedure);
B – through a judicial proceeding (lawsuit).
If your case allows you to apply for citizenship through an Italian Consulate or an Italian municipality, meaning via the “traditional” way (Case “A”), then it generally means your Italian line (starting from your Italian-born ancestor) is comprised of males or, if there is a woman, that her child was born after January 1, 1948.
The key element of this process is that none of your ascendants (either man or woman) can be born before 1948 when inheriting the right to Italian citizenship from a woman. In other words, children born after 1948 do acquire a mother’s Italian citizenship, while their older siblings, born before 1948, do not.
No worries, it is a bit confusing, so here are a couple of examples:
CASE 1: GGF, GM, F, APPLICANT (It is possible to apply via the Italian consulate or at an Italian municipality)
If your great-grandfather was born in Italy in 1890, emigrated to the US in 1915, never naturalized a US citizen (or did, but after your grandmother was born), your grandmother was born in 1929, and your father was born in 1949, then you’re good to go the administrative way (either through an Italian Consulate or an Italian Municipality).
This is because your grandmother was able to pass Italian citizenship on to your father since he was born after January 1, 1948.
CASE 2: GGF, GM, F, APPLICANT (you must enforce your right to Italian citizenship in court in Italy)
If, in a different scenario, the same great-grandfather of yours was born in 1890, emigrated to the US in the 1920s, never naturalized (or did after your grandmother was born), your mother was born in the 1920s, but your father was born in 1947, then you would NOT be eligible to apply for Italian citizenship through an administrative process. This is because your grandmother could not validly pass Italian citizenship to your father back in 1947.
According to the 1912 Italian citizenship law, Italian citizenship could only be transferred from the father to his children, and the mother was not considered able to transfer citizenship jure sanguinis (by right of blood) to her children because women were considered to be legally inferior to men.
This scenario is in fact the basis for the above-mentioned Case “B,” leading you to claim Italian citizenship through a judicial proceeding in Italy (no worries, your presence will not be required in court if you engage our services—unless you wish to be present!).
While consular and municipal officials are bound by the letter of the law and can grant citizenship only to the descendants of females whose children were born after 1948, since the Court of Rome led the way with its famous 2009 ruling, judges now in most cases rule in favor of those people who wish to claim citizenship through a female ancestor whose child was born before 1948.
For more information on the legal basis for 1948, please visit our dedicated page (1948 CASES).
MAIN CASES IN WHICH ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY CLAIMED THROUGH A FEMALE ANCESTOR
The primary scenarios for trial cases to achieve citizenship are the following:
- WHERE YOUR ITALIAN-BORN MALE ASCENDANT BECAME A US CITIZEN BEFORE HIS CHILD WAS BORN IN THE US
This is a frequent scenario that comes up.
This applies to cases where an Italian-born ancestor emigrated and acquired foreign citizenship before his child (who is also part of the applicant’s Italian line of descent) was born. In the case the child in question was born before 1948, a petition may be filed at court in Italy, through which the petitioner claims his/her right to be granted Italian citizenship through his female Italian-born ascendant—typically, the spouse of his early-naturalized Italian-born ancestor.
The same applies if you don’t actually have an Italian male ascendant but only an Italian woman ascendant who immigrated from Italy to the US alone–in other words, a woman is the origin of your kinship line, and she married an American born man.
This case is very rare though, since Italian families used to arrange overseas marriages because they wanted their daughters to marry men of Italian descent—mainly because of cultural and religious reasons (Italian’s being primarily Catholic), but also because women rarely spoke a foreign language.
- WHERE YOUR KINSHIP STARTS WITH AN ITALIAN-BORN MALE ASCENDANT, BUT YOU HAVE ONE OR MORE FEMALE INTERMEDIATE ASCENDANTS BORN IN THE US
This applies to cases where an Italian-born ancestor emigrated and never acquired foreign citizenship or acquired foreign citizenship AFTER his child was born.
If one of your intermediate ascendants, born in your country, is a woman and her child was born before 1948, then your case can only be successful in court in Italy.
- WHERE YOUR ITALIAN FEMALE-BORN ASCENDANT NATURALIZED INVOLUNTARILY TOGETHER WITH HER HUSBAND
For instance, in the US, women started being able to make autonomous decisions about their citizenship only with the approval of the “Cable Act” (ch. 411, 42 Stat. 1021, “Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act“) on September 22, 1922.
Before 1922, women in the US could not acquire (nor loose) citizenship other than through their husband. In fact, prior to that date women followed the status civitatis of the man they married and automatically acquired US citizenship via the marriage when the husband was a US citizen.
Based on the Italian Constitutional Court judgment n. 87 of 1975 and of the Italian Supreme Court judgment n. 4466 of 2009, women who acquired a foreign nationality “involuntarily and automatically” because of marriage retain their Italian citizenship, and they are therefore able to transmit it to their children.
Therefore, an Italian woman who automatically acquired citizenship through her husband, according to the aforementioned decision, would not have lost her original Italian citizenship (as she did not willingly renounce it) and could validly transfer it to subsequent generations.
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If you identify your case with one of the above examples of case law and are seeking to apply for Italian citizenship by descent, you will need a competent and experienced lawyer practicing in Italy to bring your case to the attention of the court.
Luckily for you, ICA employs the best citizenship professionals in Italy, including not only licensed attorneys who have won numerous cases but also experts in Italian citizenship law.
If you wish to learn more about how to file a claim for Italian citizenship before an Italian court, get in touch with us to obtain a free preliminary assessment.
Even if the above cases are the main ones, there may be slightly different variants. Contact us if you are unsure whether your case can be presented in court.
