Official legal timeline and current procedural status
Scope of this article: this is the technical timeline. It explains what each official instrument did and separates enacted law, constitutional review and the EU preliminary-reference stage. It does not predict an applicant’s result.
| Date | Instrument | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 28 March 2025 | Decree-Law 36/2025 | Introduced Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992 and new limits affecting recognition by descent. |
| 23 May 2025 | Law 74/2025 | Converted the decree with amendments. The enacted text, not headlines or drafts, is the starting point. |
| 30 April 2026 | Constitutional Court Sentenza 63/2026 | Addressed the Turin referral and explained the constitutional framework, including the distinction between an already established status and a bar to acquisition. |
| 23 July 2026 | Constitutional Court Ordinanza 147/2026 | Suspended the joined constitutional proceedings and referred EU-law questions concerning Article 3-bis to the Court of Justice. |
| After the order | CJEU register and procedure | The EU court must process the preliminary reference. No final EU judgment or automatic cancellation of Law 74/2025 should be assumed. |
Cut-off: reviewed 10 September 2026. Check the linked official registers for later procedural steps.
Italian citizenship by descent is moving through one of those seasons when the law, the courts, and several thousand family folders all seem to be speaking at once. The most important development is the Italian Constitutional Court’s Ordinanza no. 147/2026: the Court paused its constitutional review of the Tajani citizenship restrictions and referred the EU-law questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
That does not magically restore the pre-2025 rules. It does mean the European Court will examine whether Italy’s new limits are compatible with EU citizenship rights. For an American with an Italian grandparent or great-grandparent, the practical message is simple: understand the current rule, identify any exception, and prepare your records while the courts do their very Italian thing—move carefully, with paperwork.
Quick answer: what changed?
Law no. 74 of May 23, 2025 converted Decree-Law no. 36/2025 and added Article 3-bis to Law no. 91/1992. In broad terms, the rule limits recognition by descent for people born outside Italy who already hold another citizenship, unless a statutory exception applies. The Court’s Ordinanza no. 147/2026 suspended the pending constitutional case and sent questions about Articles 9 TEU and 20 TFEU to the CJEU.
The referral is not a final judgment. The law remains the starting point for applications today, while the European question works its way through Luxembourg and eventually back to Rome. Your documents cannot hurry the judges, but they can keep you from starting from zero later. That is a small victory, but Italian bureaucracy has taught us to appreciate small victories.
What the Tajani citizenship law actually does
Article 3-bis addresses people born abroad who possess another citizenship. It says that, in the situations covered by the provision, the person is considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship unless one of the listed conditions is met. The language is unusually consequential because it reaches people born before the rule entered into force.
The conversion law took effect on May 24, 2025. The official text of Article 3-bis sets out the relevant cut-off as 11:59 p.m. Rome time on March 27, 2025. That is the date that appears repeatedly in the transitional exceptions. If your family story contains a filing, a court case, or an appointment around that date, do not rely on a group-chat screenshot. Save the original confirmation, receipt, email headers, and every official attachment.
The main exceptions
The statute includes several routes that can preserve a claim. They include a recognition application with the necessary documents submitted to the competent consulate or mayor by the March 27 deadline; an appointment communicated by the competent office by that deadline; a judicial application filed by that deadline; an Italian-only first- or second-degree ascendant; and certain cases where a parent or adoptive parent lived in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child’s birth or adoption.
“First or second degree” is not a phrase to interpret by vibes. Map the line precisely and check which person the law is describing. A grandparent may be decisive in one analysis and irrelevant in another. The family tree is not decoration; it is the legal diagram.
What Ordinanza 147/2026 means
The Constitutional Court decided Ordinanza no. 147/2026 on June 9, 2026 and deposited it on July 23, 2026. With Judge Giovanni Pitruzzella as reporting judge, the Court suspended the joined constitutional proceedings and referred preliminary questions to the CJEU rather than deciding the challenge immediately.
The questions concern whether the restriction in Article 3-bis is compatible with the status of EU citizenship protected by Articles 9 of the Treaty on European Union and 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The issue is not simply whether Italy has authority over nationality. Member States define their citizenship rules, but EU law can matter when a nationality decision affects the rights attached to EU citizenship.
The referral therefore creates a new procedural stage. The CJEU will interpret EU law. The Italian Constitutional Court will then resume its own case and apply that interpretation to the national constitutional questions. Until those stages are complete, headlines claiming that the Tajani Law “vanished” or that everyone can immediately file under the old rules are getting ahead of the paperwork.
Think of it as a pause button, not an undo button. The court stopped to ask a European question; it did not press rewind on every application.
How Sentenza 63/2026 fits into the story
Before the referral, the Constitutional Court decided Sentenza no. 63/2026 in a case originating in Turin. The decision rejected the principal constitutional challenge in that proceeding. Its reasoning included the distinction between a person who already holds a legally established citizenship status and a person who has not yet obtained formal recognition.
Ordinanza 147/2026 does not erase Sentenza 63/2026. It opens a different procedural path with an EU-law question. Both documents matter, and they answer different questions. When you read an online summary, check whether it is discussing the Turin judgment, the later referral, or the law itself. Otherwise, a correct sentence from one stage gets accidentally used as an answer to another stage. Legal timelines are not famous for being user-friendly.
What happens next in Luxembourg and Rome?
The CJEU process usually includes registration, translation, written observations, and sometimes an oral hearing. An Advocate General may issue non-binding conclusions, although the procedure and timing depend on the case. There is no guaranteed date that an American applicant can safely put on a calendar.
After the European answer, the Constitutional Court will resume the suspended constitutional proceeding. The eventual domestic effect could be broad, narrow, or somewhere in between. The Court might reject the challenge, identify a compatibility problem, or require a more proportionate way to apply the restriction. A court decision is allowed to be complicated. It does not have to fit neatly into a “win” or “lose” graphic.
Three realistic scenarios
Scenario one: the restriction is incompatible with EU law. Italy may need to revise or disapply the rule to the extent identified by the European decision. People currently excluded could gain a new route, depending on the exact language.
Scenario two: the restriction survives. The law would retain strong support against this particular EU-law challenge. Individual questions about exceptions, dates, and implementation could still remain.
Scenario three: a proportionality solution. The CJEU might accept a national role in defining citizenship while requiring safeguards, transitional protection, or an individualized look at the consequences. That kind of outcome would make a well-documented file especially valuable.
What this means for Americans with Italian ancestry
American applicants often start with a family story: a great-grandfather from Sicily, a grandmother from Abruzzo, or a box of records that has moved from basement to attic for three generations. The court does not see the story first. It sees names, dates, places, naturalization events, and certified records.
Start by identifying the last person in your line who was born in Italy. Then document every link to you. For U.S. records, check the state or county issuing office, not only a genealogy website. For the Italian ancestor, identify the correct comune and request the civil record in the form the relevant authority accepts. If you need an Italian birth or marriage record, you can use the Italian records request service as one practical option for locating and requesting documents.
Naturalization is often the turning point. A Certificate of Non-Existence, Certificate of Naturalization, USCIS file, census record, or court record may help establish what happened and when. Do not assume that one database entry settles every spelling variant. A name can cross an ocean, change a vowel, and still expect you to prove it is the same person.
A practical seven-step plan
- Draw the complete line. List the Italian-born ancestor, every parent-child link, and every relevant date.
- Mark the March 27, 2025 question. Look for filings, appointments, court submissions, and official communications before the deadline.
- Test the statutory exceptions. Check Italian-only first- or second-degree ascendants and the residence exception without assuming one automatically applies.
- Order missing records. Request Italian and U.S. birth, marriage, death, and naturalization documents from the proper authority.
- Build an inconsistency sheet. Record every variation in names, dates, and places before translating or apostilling.
- Preserve proof. Keep PDFs, emails, receipts, certified copies, translations, and appointment confirmations in a backed-up folder.
- Monitor the official proceedings. Follow the Constitutional Court, the Gazzetta Ufficiale, and the CJEU rather than relying on viral summaries.
This preparation does not guarantee recognition. It gives you a file that can respond quickly if the legal landscape changes. That is the goal: readiness, not fortune-telling.
What to avoid
Do not treat a pending referral as a promise that every restriction will disappear. Do not pay for translations before checking whether a document has an error that will require a new copy. Do not send original records to an unknown intermediary. Do not choose a comune because a stranger online called it “easy.” And do not build a legal strategy from a screenshot with the date cropped out.
If the family line is complicated, if a maternal-line court case may be involved, or if the March 27 deadline could apply, a qualified Italian lawyer can help analyze the facts. An attorney should explain the uncertainty, not sell a guaranteed result.
Frequently asked questions
Did the Constitutional Court send the Tajani Law to the CJEU?
It referred EU-law questions connected to Article 3-bis and suspended the related constitutional proceeding while the CJEU considers the preliminary reference.
Is Law 74/2025 cancelled?
No. The referral does not itself repeal the law. Applications must still be assessed under the framework currently in force and the instructions of the competent consulate, comune, or court.
Should I wait before requesting records?
Start with a low-cost inventory of existing records and an assessment of whether a current route applies. Confirm the receiving authority’s requirements before ordering certified copies, translations or apostilles. A pending court reference is not a reason to buy documents speculatively.
Can an American apply under the old rules today?
Not automatically. The outcome depends on the law, the relevant exception, the date of any filing, and the authority handling the case. Get a fact-specific assessment before spending heavily.
Does an Italian ancestor make me automatically eligible?
Not by itself. Eligibility depends on the complete line, transmission rules, naturalization history, documentation, and the current legal framework.
Practical next steps while the case is pending
The referral matters, but it is not a final ruling and it does not switch the pre-2025 system back on. If you may fit a current exception, map the family line, preserve evidence of every filing or appointment date, and ask the competent authority or a qualified Italian lawyer how the enacted rule applies to your facts. If the restriction blocks the route today, monitor the official court registers and avoid spending money on claims that assume a result the judges have not issued.
Preparation can still be useful without becoming speculation. Build a chronology, identify missing civil and naturalization records, and keep every document in a traceable file. For a broader explanation of the 2025 reform, read our Tajani Law guide. When you are ready to assemble evidence, the guide to requesting Italian certificates explains how to identify the right Comune and record format.
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