On October 13, 2025, Italy’s Chamber of Deputies approved a comprehensive reform bill that fundamentally restructures how consular services operate worldwide. The legislation, formally known as Bill A.C. 2369-A (“Disposizioni per la revisione dei servizi per i cittadini e le imprese all’estero”), passed with 144 votes in favor, 87 against, and 5 abstentions, and now moves to the Senate for final approval.
For descendants of Italian emigrants seeking citizenship by blood, this represents the most significant administrative change in decades. Starting January 1, 2028, the consular Italian citizenship applications process as it has existed for generations will effectively end.
The End of Consular Citizenship Processing
The most dramatic change in the reform removes citizenship recognition applications from Italian consulates entirely. Instead of working with your local consulate, adult applicants will submit their documentation by mail to a new centralized office in Rome: the Servizio per la Ricostruzione della Cittadinanza Italiana (Service for the Reconstruction of Italian Citizenship), a director-general level office within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI).
Consulates will retain only two limited functions:
- Confirming the maintenance of citizenship for people who are already recognized as Italian citizens.
- Processing Italian citizenship applications for minor children whose parents have already been recognized as Italian citizens.
How the New System Will Work
Under the approved legislation, Italian citizenship applications will function as follows.
Submission
Applications must be sent by postal mail, with original paper documents. No digital submission will be accepted. The government’s stated justification for this paper-only requirement is to ensure document authenticity and prevent system overloads during the initial implementation phase.
Communication
Once received, all correspondence between the Rome office and the applicant will occur via email. Even non-certified email addresses are acceptable.
Processing Time
The law sets a deadline of 24 to 36 months for processing applications from the date the completed application is received.
Third-Party Services
MAECI may contract with specialized operators to handle mail receipt, digitization, and archiving of documents. Costs for these services will be paid by applicants, in addition to the existing €600 consular fee for Italian citizenship applications.
The Transition Period: 2026-2027
The reform won’t happen overnight. During 2026 and 2027, consulates will continue accepting Italian citizenship applications, but with severe restrictions. Each consulate may only accept as many new applications as they successfully completed in the previous year, with a minimum of 100 applications per consulate.
This means consulates that processed 150 citizenships in 2025 can accept only 150 new Italian citizenship applications in 2026. High-volume consulates in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and the United States—where backlogs already stretch years—will face immediate practical limits on new cases they can accept.
Restructuring AIRE: New Integration and Penalties
The reform also modernizes Italy’s registry of citizens living abroad, known as AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero). The changes aim to integrate AIRE more closely with Italy’s national population registry (ANPR) and address longstanding issues with data synchronization between municipalities and consulates.
Key changes to AIRE include the following.
Penalties for Non-Registration
Building on sanctions already introduced in the 2024 Budget Law,
the reform reinforces fines of €200 to €1,000 per year for those who fail to register with AIRE, up to a maximum of five years.
These penalties apply per person, not per household, meaning a family of four could face fines of up to €20,000 if unregistered for five years.
Automatic Communication
When someone returns to Italy, their municipality will automatically notify both the consulate and the Ministry of Interior about the change, reducing administrative gaps.
Clearer Eligibility Rules
The law clarifies who must register with AIRE, establishing specific guidelines for categories like military personnel, diplomats, and teachers serving abroad.
Return of Dual Legalization
In what many view as a step backward, the reform officially restores the practice of “dual legalization” (doppia legalizzazione) for foreign documents.
Documents must first be validated by local authorities in the country where they were issued, then authenticated again by the Italian consulate in that country.
The government argues that this solves practical verification problems, but critics note that it adds extra steps and costs to an already complex process.
Passport and Identity Card Changes
The legislation modernizes document issuance procedures, as well.
Electronic Identity Cards Abroad
Citizens registered with AIRE can now request Italy’s electronic identity card (Carta d’Identità Elettronica, or CIE) directly from any Italian municipality, following procedures jointly established by the Ministry of Interior and MAECI. Previously, obtaining Italian ID cards from abroad was significantly more complicated.
Travel Validity
The identity card will be valid for international travel unless there are legal restrictions preventing the holder from leaving Italy, in which case the card will be marked “not valid for leaving the country” (non valida ai fini dell’espatrio).
Funding and Staffing
To support the new centralized structure, the Italian government has committed substantial resources.
Personnel
MAECI will hire 87 new employees over the next three years, including 2 director-generals, 30 officials, and 55 assistants.
Budget
More than €8 million annually through 2028 will be allocated to maintain the new system.
Fee Redistribution
The €600 fee for Italian citizenship applications will be redistributed as follows:
- 50% to consulates, intended to help reduce existing backlogs and strengthen local staff.
- 25% to MAECI’s personnel fund.
- 25% to the operation of offices and structures abroad.
Widespread Criticism from Advocacy Groups
The reform has generated intense opposition from organizations representing Italians abroad and from opposition political parties.
The General Council of Italians Abroad (CGIE), which provided formal testimony during parliamentary hearings, expressed serious concerns in its official opinion, issued in August 2025. The CGIE warned that centralization risks dispersing critical administrative expertise built up over decades at consulates. The requirement to mail original paper documents from countries that issue only digital certificates creates obvious practical problems for authenticity and reliability.
Perhaps most significantly, the CGIE noted that the reform introduces discretionary criteria and undefined quotas for processing Italian citizenship applications, effectively limiting what should be a subjective right based on law. The organization questioned whether placing this function within the Foreign Ministry makes sense, suggesting the Ministry of Interior might be more appropriate given its existing responsibility for citizenship matters.
Italian unions representing Foreign Ministry workers also raised concerns. The CGIL labor union pointed out that requiring applicants to pay for third-party services on top of the €600 administrative fee raises equity issues. As the union noted, this risks making citizenship recognition a matter of wealth rather than legal right—a system based on “diritto di censo” (census-based rights) rather than rule of law.
Opposition lawmakers have been equally vocal. Deputy Toni Ricciardi of the Democratic Party called the reform “an attack on Italians abroad and their rights,” while Deputy Fabio Porta warned the legislation “risks representing a real tombstone for the rights of Italians abroad.”
Context: This Reform Follows Major Citizenship Restrictions
This administrative restructuring comes on the heels of Italy’s controversial 2025 citizenship reform (Decree-Law No. 36/2025, converted into Law No. 74/2025), which dramatically restricted eligibility for citizenship by descent.
That earlier reform limited recognition to those with a parent or grandparent who was exclusively an Italian citizen, effectively ending the unlimited generational transmission that had characterized Italian citizenship law for over a century.
The combination of substantive restrictions on eligibility and procedural centralization has created significant uncertainty for millions of descendants worldwide who hoped to reclaim Italian citizenship.
What Happens Next?
The bill now moves to Italy’s Senate, where it can be amended before final approval. If passed without major changes, the law will take effect in 2025, with progressive implementation through 2028.
The centralization represents a fundamental philosophical shift in how Italy views its relationship with diaspora communities. For over a century, Italian consulates have served as the primary connection point between the Italian state and its emigrant communities. They’ve developed deep expertise in evaluating foreign documents, understanding local legal systems, and serving as accessible representatives of the Italian government.
The new system replaces that localized, relationship-based model with a centralized bureaucratic structure in Rome. Proponents argue this will create consistency and efficiency through economies of scale. Critics worry it will create distance, reduce accountability, and burden applicants with logistical challenges—particularly those in countries with unreliable postal systems.
For descendants currently considering Italian citizenship applications, the message is clear:
If you want to work with your local consulate under the current system, the window is closing. By 2028, that option will no longer exist.
Written by Daniel Atz, Citizenship.EU Founder.
Sources
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