On March 28, 2025, the Council of Ministers adopted the so-called “citizenship package,” i.e., a set of legislative measures aimed at changing the current system of citizenship. 

The aim is to keep firm the principle of ius sanguinis, i.e., one of the ways of obtaining Italian citizenship for foreign nationals, according to which a foreign individual has the right to obtain the citizenship of a state by descent or filiation, going, however, to limit its applicability, allowing only those individuals who boast an effective connection with the Italian state to become its citizens, thus avoiding a “commercialization” of the Italian passport. 

Decree-Law March 28, 2025, No. 36 initiates these changes by providing that Italian-descendants born abroad will hold citizenship for only two generations. Indeed, it is necessary to have at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy to be an Italian citizen by birth. 

However, kinship is not enough, as additional, and more stringent changes have been introduced: foreign citizens born and residing abroad who desire Italian citizenship will have to maintain a real link with Italy over time, exercising the rights and duties of a citizen at least once every 25 years. 

Still on the subject of citizenship, on June 8 and 9 this year Italian citizens are called to the polls to cast their vote on a question of enormous relevance to the migrant community present in Italy, which to date is reported to consist of about 2,500,000 people. The referendum is proposed as a tool aimed at reducing from 10 to 5 years of legal residence in Italy required to apply for Italian citizenship, which once obtained would automatically become transmissible to one's sons and daughters who are minors. In addition to the time requirement, the others already stipulated by current law remain unchanged, namely knowledge of the Italian language, adequate income, no criminal record, and compliance with tax obligations.

This referendum aims, among others, to bring Italy in line with major European countries that already provide a system marked by greater multi-ethnicity of the citizen population.