If you aspire to live abroad, Italy is a great destination. The best part about immigration to this country is that it offers diverse routes for citizenship. An Italian bloodline qualifies you for citizenship by descent. All you need to do is validate your ancestral roots in the country, and you can claim your citizenship through an administrative process. But it has a fair share of hoops to jump, so collaborating with an expert is the best option. You can connect with the team of Italiancitizenshipbydescent.com to ease the journey with qualified guidance. Let us explain how your bloodline can lead you to the Italian citizenship road.

Know the eligibility requirements

Before applying for citizenship by descent, you must know whether you qualify for it. You have to follow the eligibility norms to decide. Here are the requirements that make you eligible for the descent route:

  • You must be born to a parent who is an Italian citizen or has the right to the country’s citizenship “jure sanguinis”. An adopted individual also qualifies, provided the adoption happened when they were a minor. 
  • Your Italian-born ascendant was alive and an Italian citizen after 1861 (the year of formation and unification of Italy).
  • Your ancestors never gave up their citizenship by naturalization in another country. Even if they naturalized, it happened after the birth of their child next in line. 

Understand the exception for the maternal line

While an Italian heritage qualifies most applicants, there is an exception for those claiming through the maternal line. If your only Italian parent is a woman and you were born before 1948, you will not qualify. The strange part is that your sibling from the same mother but born after 1948 is eligible. Likewise, you will be an exception if your ancestral line goes through a woman who gave birth before 1948 to a child in your direct bloodline in Italy. The country’s law was discriminatory against women as they couldn’t pass on citizenship to their offspring before 1948. The government took a step and introduced the 1948 Rule that allows applicants to claim citizenship by descent through a judicial process. 

Validate your bloodline 

Once you are sure about your eligibility, you must set the stage before going ahead with the application. Essentially, you will have to validate your Italian roots to get your claim accepted. It is possible only if you can get the documentary proof from the commune of your ancestor. It includes certificates of births, deaths, and marriages of the ancestors in line. Apart from these Italian documents, you will also require proof of and naturalization in the foreign country. You will have to get the non-Italian documents translated and legalized to make them valid.

Once you have all the evidence of your Italian bloodline, you are all set to go ahead with the application process. The best option is to seek the help of an expert who can guide you about eligibility, exceptions, and document gathering. Covering these steps is as good as completing half the process.