How can I get my Italian dual citizenship?

Question

I was born in Italy, my family are not italian so I can't get it through relatives. I became a US citizen in 1993, so I believe thats when I relinquished my chance to get Italian citizenship. I never lived in Italy. I think it is possible I can get it by paying a fine, but I am not completely sure. The law changed so if you relinquished citizenship before Aug 1992, you have to live in Italy for one year to gain it back. After that date I am not sure. If anyone knows, please help!

Answer 1

Italian citizens by birth who never became naturalized citizens of their adopted country are eligible for an Italian passport. Contact the nearest Italian embassy or consulate for details. If you need to order your birth certificate, you can do so here.

Italian citizens who were naturalized in their adopted country prior to August 15, 1992, implicitly renouncing their right to Italian citizenship, can reinstate it by returning to Italy and residing there for at least one year.

Italian citizens who became naturalized citizens of their adopted country after August 15, 1992, retained their Italian citizenship unless they expressly renounced it. They are required to personally inform the Italian consulate of becoming citizens within ninety days, or when they reach their 18th birthday, otherwise they risk a fine.

Answer 2

It all depends on the nationality of your parents. According to the Italian Nationality Law (Legge 5 febbraio 1992 n. 91) Italian citizenship is acquired by birth on Italian territory only by children born from stateless parents, or of unknown parents, or from parents who couldn't transmit their nationality (such as Brazilian citizens before the last revision of Brazilian nationality law).

That's because Italy's law follows the principle of "jus sanguinis", which means that any child born from an Italian parent, regardless of his/her birthplace, acquires Italian citizenship at birth, while children of both foreign parents born in Italy don't acquire Italian citizenship unless their parents don't recognize them at birth.

However, if your parents came from a country who didn't grant citizenship to children of its nationals born abroad, there could be some chance that you did indeed acquire Italian citizenship at birth. And since you became an US citizen in 1993, after the new Italian nationality law came into force, you didn't lose your Italian citizenship by acquiring your new one.

Contact the nearest Italian consulate and ask to speak to the person in charge of consular issues.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I do  not beleive that you are entitled to Italian citizenship. You already have acquired US citizenship.