On 20 January 2025 Italy’s Constitutional Court declared admissible the abrogative referendum proposing a reform in obtaining Italian citizenship on the grounds of residence. This has been opposed by Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government.
The referendum will be held between April and June 2025 and will aim to reduce the number of years of the continual legal residence requirement in Italy from ten to five years for non-EU nationals before they are able to apply for Italian citizenship. Once citizenship is granted, the adult’s citizenship will be passed onto the new Italian citizen’s children.
Under the current 1992 legislation, all non-EU nationals are required to be legally resident in Italy for ten years before they can apply for citizenship. Children born in Italy to foreigners can currently only apply for Italian citizenship on the condition that they have continuously resided in Italy from birth until they turn 18 years old.
