Everything changed on March 29, 2025. If you’re a naturalized Italian citizen or planning to become one, what worked for your friends last year won’t work for your kids today. The new Italian citizenship law just made it significantly harder for minor children to automatically gain citizenship—and most parents have no idea.

Here’s what you absolutely need to know if your child’s future Italian citizenship is on the line.

Who are Italian citizens by “acquisition”?

These are people who acquired Italian citizenship not through descent, but through:

• Naturalization (art. 9, Law 91/1992)
• Acquisition by legal benefit (art. 4, Law 91/1992)
• Marriage (art. 5, Law 91/1992 or art. 10, Law 555/1912)
• Residence as a minor with a naturalized parent (art. 14, Law 91/1992)

How does a minor child acquire citizenship when their parent becomes an Italian citizen?

Before the reform with Legislative Decree 36/2025 converted into Law 74/2025

Automatic acquisition through cohabitation. According to article 14 of law 91/1992, a minor who was living steadily with the parent who acquired Italian citizenship through the above methods (naturalization, marriage, or reacquisition) would automatically acquire Italian citizenship themselves at the moment the parent took the oath.

Basic conditions:

• The child had to be a minor
• They had to be living steadily with the parent at the time that parent acquired citizenship

In these cases, the only formality to follow was transcribing their birth certificate at the municipality of residence or registering with AIRE (Registry of Italians Residing Abroad).

After the reform: requirements for minor children to acquire citizenship following the new law DL 36/2025- Law 74/2025

Starting from March 29, 2025, the date when Legislative Decree 36/2025 came into effect, for Italian citizenship to be passed to minor children, simple cohabitation at the time of the parent’s oath is no longer enough.

Article 14 of law 91/1992, as modified by the new 2025 citizenship law, states that a minor child acquires Italian citizenship only if they have been residing legally and continuously in Italy for at least two years at the moment when the parent becomes a citizen (date of the oath).

Key points of the new Italian citizenship law no. 74/2025

Stable and effective cohabitation between parent and minor child remains a requirement, but the law has introduced an additional constraint: legal and continuous residence in Italy for at least two years at the time the parent acquires citizenship.

Example:

Tommaso moves to Italy from Great Britain, leaving his wife and newborn son Jacob behind. After 10 years he acquires citizenship through residence. His son Jacob, who is now 10 years old, cannot acquire citizenship through his father because he stayed living in Great Britain and hasn’t completed the two years of residence in Italy required by the 2025 reform.

The Ministry Circular of May 28, 2025

The recent Ministry Circular of May 28, 2025 clarified the timing of how this citizenship rule applies to children:

• If the parent acquired or reacquired citizenship by May 23, 2025, the previous rules apply
• If the parent acquires or reacquires citizenship starting from May 24, 2025, the cohabiting child must have been resident in Italy for at least two years before the parent’s naturalization. In any case, the cohabitation requirement must still be verified.

The conflict between Article 3-bis and Article 14: the block for children born abroad

There’s serious uncertainty about Italian citizenship for children born abroad. According to the new article 3-bis, the automatic transmission provided by article 14 seems to be limited almost exclusively to Italian citizenship for those born in Italy or residing here for a long time.

Article 3-bis of law 91/1992 overrides article 14 of law 91/1992, which means that before applying article 14, at least one of the conditions provided by article 3-bis must be verified if the minor was born abroad and has foreign citizenship.

Therefore, in cases where:

• the minor was born abroad,
• holds another citizenship,
• and the parent who acquired Italian citizenship has NOT completed at least two years of continuous residence in Italy after acquiring citizenship and before the child’s birth or adoption (in this case, citizenship transmission would happen through jure sanguinis – by blood),

it’s not possible to grant Italian citizenship to the minor under article 14 of law no. 91/1992.

If your child was born abroad and has another citizenship, the risk of citizenship denial for them is very high, unless they meet the new two-year residence requirements established by Law 74/2025. However, we’re waiting for a clarifying circular from the Ministry.

To understand if this restriction applies to your child’s citizenship application, you need to look at the date of the oath:

• Until March 27, 2025: the previous rules apply (cohabitation is enough)
• From March 28 to May 23, 2025: Legislative Decree 36/2025 applies: if the parent wasn’t born in Italy, or wasn’t resident as an Italian citizen two years before the child’s birth – the child doesn’t acquire citizenship
• Starting from May 24, 2025: Law 74/2025 applies. For Italian citizenship for minor children born in Italy, two years of legal residence and cohabitation are required, keeping in mind the barrier of article 3-bis for those born abroad.

FAQ on Italian citizenship for minor children of naturalized parents