For those who have Italian ancestors and are interested in the subject or dream of recognising their Italian citizenship, I’m going to explain what I learned when I went through the process and give you as much detail as possible.
The most important thing to understand is exactly that. Anyone with Italian ancestors is Italian. This concept is called jus sanguinis (a Latin expression meaning ‘blood right’)
Outside of Italy, the administrative process of recognising citizenship can be requested directly from the Italian Consulate or Embassy, but the process can be lengthy because there are many descendants of Italians scattered around the world. In Brazil, for example, it can take more than ten years.
There is also the administrative alternative of establishing residence in Italy and carrying out the process there, presenting your case to the Prefecture of the municipality (Comune, in Italian) in which you will be living. The timing for this process varies, but it can take from 2 to 5 months (some cases can take more than a year). During this time, you must live in Italy and apply for a permit to remain in Italy so that you can legally wait for your citizenship to be formalised.
There is also a judicial route, in which you request it via a lawyer to the Italian court in the region where your ancestor comes from and this process can also be done without leaving your country of residence. When I had my citizenship recognised, this process also took a long time, but recently it seems to have become more agile and there is a consensus in the area that it is currently the most practical via for those who don’t have the immediate aim of living in Italy.
Which was not my case. I decided to do the process in Italy not because of the time, not because of the cost, but because I didn’t want to just ‘get my passport’ and rush back to Brazil. What I really wanted was to live in Italy, so my decision on which process to choose was truly clear.
I moved here in 2019, had my Italian documentation finalised in 2020 and have been living here ever since, fulfilling my Italian dream.
But that’s just an overview, I’ll go into more detail. Follow along!