What citizenship by descent means
Italy recognises citizenship jure sanguinis, meaning "by blood": if you have an Italian ancestor who passed the right down without ever losing it, you can claim it too, no matter where you were born. It isn’t a privilege, it’s a right, but one you have to prove with documents.
The key point isn’t how far back the family tree goes, but whether the chain of transmission was never broken: an ancestor naturalised in another country before the descendant was born may have broken the right. We tell you upfront whether your case holds.
The documents you’ll need
The application is built on a chain of certificates linking you to the Italian ancestor: birth, marriage and death certificates for each generation, with no gaps. Every foreign certificate must be officially translated and legalised with an apostille to count in Italy.
The most common mistake is a name spelled differently from one record to another: "Gjon" on one certificate, "Giovanni" on another. Discrepancies must be fixed with rectification documents before the file is submitted, otherwise the application comes back.
How we handle it, remotely too
We help you rebuild the chain of documents, gather the certificates in Albania and Italy, translate and legalise them correctly and prepare the file by the book. Most steps we handle by phone or WhatsApp, with lawyer Ejona Dajcaj.
We don’t promise timelines that aren’t up to us: we give you a realistic picture of the path, the documents and the timing, so you start informed and with no surprises at the end.
Questions
- Is there a limit to how many generations I can go back?
- There’s no fixed generation limit: what matters is that the chain of transmission wasn’t broken, for example by an ancestor’s naturalisation before the descendant was born. We assess the case from the start.
- Do I have to come to Italy for the application?
- Many steps are done remotely: gathering documents, translations, legalisations. Only some stages may need you or an authorised person in person, and we tell you in advance.