Updated July 2026 — Avv. Irene Damiani, Damiani & Damiani International Law Firm, Palermo (Italy)
With ruling no. 24045 of 26 July 2026, the Joint Sections (Sezioni Unite) of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation definitively resolved the so-called “minor issue”: a minor child who acquired the foreign citizenship at birth by jus soli did not lose Italian citizenship when their parent naturalized as a foreign citizen during the child’s minority (Article 7, Law 555/1912). Citizenship was lost only by a minor who held exclusively Italian citizenship and acquired the foreign one derivatively through the parent’s naturalization (Article 12). The Court also confirmed that the 2025 reform (Article 3-bis, Law 91/1992) does not apply to judicial applications filed before 27 March 2025.
Why this ruling matters
For years, the minor issue was the single biggest legal obstacle in Italian citizenship by descent cases, especially for descendants of Italians who emigrated to jus soli countries: the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Canada. Following a 2020 interpretation adopted by the Italian administration, consulates and some courts held that when an ancestor naturalized while their child was still a minor, that child lost Italian citizenship — breaking the line of transmission and disqualifying entire family branches.
The conflict turned on two provisions of the 1912 Citizenship Law (Law no. 555/1912): Article 7, which protects children born abroad, and Article 12, which provides for loss of citizenship by minor children upon the parent’s foreign naturalization. The First Civil Section referred the question to the Joint Sections with interlocutory orders nos. 20122 and 20129 of 18 July 2025; the hearing took place on 14 April 2026. Ruling no. 24045/2026 (President D’Ascola, Reporting Judge Pazzi), published on 26 July 2026, decided an emblematic case: the denial of citizenship recognition to minors descending from an Italian-born woman who had naturalized in Venezuela.
The four principles of law established by the Joint Sections
1. The 2025 reform does not affect court cases filed before 27 March 2025. Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, introduced by Decree-Law 36/2025 (converted into Law 74/2025), does not apply — by express legislative provision — to judicial applications for the ascertainment of citizenship status filed before 27 March 2025, which remain governed by the previous legislation.
2. A minor who was a dual citizen from birth keeps Italian citizenship (Article 7). A non-emancipated minor, born abroad to an Italian citizen (father or mother) in a country where citizenship is acquired at birth by jus soli, is a dual citizen by law from birth and retains Italian citizenship even if the Italian parent naturalizes or loses their citizenship — unless an international treaty provides otherwise, or the person formally renounces upon reaching adulthood.
3. Article 12 applies only to minors who held exclusively Italian citizenship. Only a non-emancipated minor holding solely Italian citizenship could lose it as a consequence of the naturalization of the parent they resided with, where the foreign law allowed the minor to acquire that citizenship derivatively (not at birth).
4. Maternal and paternal lines are fully equal. The equal treatment of mothers and fathers — established by Constitutional Court rulings no. 87/1975 and no. 30/1983 — applies not only to the transmission of citizenship at birth, but also to the consequences of a parent’s loss of citizenship on the child.
What this means in practice
Example 1 — United States. US-born children of Italian citizens, who acquired American citizenship at birth by jus soli, did not lose Italian citizenship when their parent voluntarily naturalized as a US citizen during their minority. The line of transmission remains intact — even where consulates or lower courts had previously rejected the case on minor issue grounds.
Example 2 — Brazil and the Great Naturalization. Minor children of Italian citizens who were involuntarily naturalized through Brazil’s Great Naturalization did not lose Italian citizenship. The involuntary naturalization of the parent does not break the jus sanguinis chain toward the descendants.
What the ruling does not decide
The Joint Sections have closed the interpretive question on Articles 7 and 12 of the 1912 law — a clarification that applies to every genealogical line. However, for applications filed after 27 March 2025, the fate of the 2025 reform itself is still pending: with order no. 147/2026, the Italian Constitutional Court referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union the question of whether Article 3-bis is compatible with Articles 9 TEU and 20 TFEU. Applicants who file now will directly benefit from a favorable CJEU ruling; if the CJEU upholds the reform, damages claims and applications to the European Court of Human Rights would remain available.
Damiani & Damiani International Law Firm, based in Palermo with offices and partners in the United States, Argentina, Brazil-facing jurisdictions and Spain, represents descendants of Italian citizens in judicial citizenship proceedings — including cases previously blocked by the minor issue.
The Italian citizenship family tree template (example).pdf
FAQ
What is the “minor issue” in Italian citizenship by descent? The minor issue is the legal question of whether a minor child of an Italian citizen lost Italian citizenship when the parent naturalized as a foreign citizen. Based on a restrictive reading of Articles 7 and 12 of Law 555/1912, Italian consulates and some courts treated the line of transmission as broken, rejecting thousands of applications from descendants in the US, Brazil, Argentina and other jus soli countries. With ruling no. 24045 of 26 July 2026, the Joint Sections of the Supreme Court held that a child who was a dual citizen from birth retained Italian citizenship despite the parent’s naturalization.
What did the Italian Supreme Court decide in ruling no. 24045/2026? The Joint Sections established four principles: the 2025 citizenship reform does not apply to court cases filed before 27 March 2025; a minor born abroad with dual citizenship from birth (Italian by descent, foreign by jus soli) kept Italian citizenship even if the parent naturalized (Article 7, Law 555/1912); only a minor holding exclusively Italian citizenship could lose it through the parent’s naturalization (Article 12); and mothers and fathers are treated equally, both for transmission of citizenship and for the effects of its loss. The ruling resolves a conflict in Italian case law that had lasted since 2022.
My great-grandfather naturalized while my grandfather was a minor. Is my case now viable? If your grandfather was born in a jus soli country (such as the United States, Brazil or Argentina) and therefore held that country’s citizenship from birth, the Joint Sections’ answer is favorable: he did not lose Italian citizenship when his father naturalized, and the line of transmission to you remained intact. Your overall eligibility still needs to be assessed case by case, taking into account the 2025 reform, the date of any court filing, and the pending referral of the reform to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Does the ruling help descendants affected by Brazil’s Great Naturalization? Yes. Minor children of Italian citizens who were involuntarily naturalized through Brazil’s Great Naturalization did not lose Italian citizenship, because the parent’s naturalization was not voluntary and, in any event, children who were dual citizens from birth are protected under Article 7 of Law 555/1912 as interpreted by the Joint Sections. This is one of the most consequential clarifications for Italian-Brazilian families, one of the largest communities of citizenship-by-descent applicants worldwide.
Is the minor issue resolved for new court cases filed after the 2025 reform? The interpretive question is resolved for all genealogical lines, whenever the case is filed. However, applications filed after 27 March 2025 remain subject to the 2025 reform (Article 3-bis, Law 91/1992), whose validity is now before the Court of Justice of the European Union following Constitutional Court order no. 147/2026. Applicants who file now will directly benefit from a favorable CJEU decision; if the Court upholds the reform, those cases would be dismissed, with damages claims and ECHR applications remaining as residual remedies.
