Two important dates that affect your eligibility for Italian citizenship by descent. PART 1: July 1, 1912
JANUARY 16, 2023 | BY NATOSHA FORTINI
When determining eligibility for Italian citizenship by descent, we often tout the “golden rule”: in order for you to be eligible for Italian citizenship, your last Italian ancestor born in Italy could not have become a citizen of another country before their child was born. And while this is true in a lot of cases, determining your eligibility is really a lot more complex.
In PART 1 of this two-part blog, let’s take a look at the 1912 law.
July 1, 1912
A new Italian citizenship law took effect on July 1, 1912 which has implications for people whose ancestor(s) may have naturalized as a citizen of another country before this date. This explanation can get a little hairy, so stay with me and I’ll make it as simple as I can.
When talking about this law, we’re going to break it up into 2 sections: Pre-1912 naturalizations and and post-1912 naturalizations.
Pre-1912 Naturalizations
Before July 1, 1912, if an Italian man became the citizen of another country, not only did he lose his Italian citizenship, but so did his wife and all his unemancipated minor children through derivative naturalization (so unemancipated in this situation means children under the age of 21 who are still under the care of their of the father).
This 1912 law applied whether or not the children were Italian born or born outside of Italy. So, typically when determining eligibility, we ask if the parent was still Italian when their child was born, and if so, everyone down that line would be eligible for Italian citizenship. But this is not true in cases where the father naturalized prior to July 1, 1912, when his child was a minor. Pre-1912 naturalizations of fathers treat minor children born in Italy and outside of Italy the exact same way.
Regardless of whether that child was born in Italy or outside of Italy to a father who was still an Italian citizen, if that father became a citizen of another country before July 1, 1912 while that child was a minor, the minor child lost their Italian citizenship with the father, no matter if they were born in Italy or outside of Italy. The citizenship line was broken.
The only way a child could retain their Italian citizenship if their father naturalized as a citizen of another country prior to July 1, 1912, is if that child was over the age of 21 at the time of their father’s naturalization, or if the child was under 21, they had to be emancipated from their father (for example, if they were already married before the age of 21).
Post-1912 Naturalizations
Now we’re going to talk about post-1912 naturalizations and we’re going to further split this group into two sections:
a) those children who were born in Italy and were minors when their father naturalized, and
b) those children who were born outside of Italy and were minors when their parent(s) naturalized
Children born in Italy
For children born in Italy who then immigrated with their family to a new country: even if their father became the citizen of another country after July 1, 1912, if that child was an unemancipated minor at the time their father naturalized, the citizenship of the minor Italian-born child was not protected and they also lost their Italian citizenship when their father naturalized. In this case, the citizenship line is broken.
Children born outside of Italy
For children born outside of Italy in jus soli countries (this means countries where the child was automatically granted citizenship of that country by virtue of being born there, e.g. Canada, the US, and the UK, etc.):
If the father naturalized *after* July 1, 1912 while their child born outside of Italy was still a minor, then that child’s Italian citizenship was protected, meaning that the child retained their Italian citizenship and was able to pass it on. This is what allows many people with Italian ancestry to be eligible today. For children born on or after January 1, 1948, this also pertains to the naturalization of mothers while their child was a minor.
Whew! That was a lot of info! While it can be overwhelming and feel like a bit of a brain pretzel, it’s super important to understand how these laws may affect your eligibility for Italian citizenship by descent.
If you’re still having trouble understanding the 1912 law, join me live for Citizenship Mondays on January 23rd, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET. I’ll be going through the 1912 law in depth and covering examples of the different scenarios. It’s simple – the video streams live right to my Facebook group! Not a member yet? Join HERE.
Do you have females in your citizenship line?
If you have females in the Italian citizenship line you’re tracing, stay tuned for PART 2 next week when I cover the “1948 Law” as it relates to citizenship transmission through females.