Italy Opens Citizenship Pathway for One Category of Foreigners Under Law 63

• Italy enacted Law No. 63 on 15 April 2025, creating a new naturalisation pathway for a specific group of foreign nationals
• The law targets non-Italian family members of victims killed in collapses of national road and highway infrastructure
• Two residency conditions must be satisfied before an application can be considered, and citizenship is not automatically granted

Italy has introduced a new route to citizenship for foreign nationals whose family members died in collapses of national road or highway infrastructure, following the enactment of Law No. 63 on 15 April 2025.

The legislation established the pathway through Article 7, which operates as an extension of Article 9 of Italy's existing citizenship framework under Law No. 91/1992.

It applies specifically to cases where deaths resulted from harmful events caused by the total or partial collapse of roads or highways classified as being of national importance.

Who qualifies under Law No. 63

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The citizenship route is open only to non-Italian family members of the deceased. Those who may qualify include the spouse of the victim, a civil union partner, or an individual who was living with the victim in a registered permanent cohabitation arrangement as recognised under Italian law.

The law does not grant automatic citizenship. Two residency conditions must be met before an application can progress, and final approval remains at the discretion of the relevant Italian authorities.

What the law means in practice

The new provision is narrow in scope, designed to address a specific category of tragedy rather than broaden immigration pathways in general. Its introduction reflects Italy's response to infrastructure disasters that have claimed lives in recent years, with the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa in 2018 widely regarded as one of the events that brought the issue of national infrastructure safety to the forefront of Italian public policy.

By linking naturalisation eligibility to victims of such events, Italy has created one of the more unusual citizenship mechanisms in European law, one rooted in humanitarian recognition rather than conventional residency or ancestry criteria.

Applicants who believe they may qualify under Law No. 63 are advised to consult with Italian legal professionals familiar with citizenship procedures, as the conditions attached to the route and the discretionary nature of approval mean that eligibility is likely to vary considerably between individual cases.

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Italy announces new citizenship rules for ancestry applicants

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that Italy had made changes to its citizenship-by-descent programme.

Under the new rules, adult applications for citizenship recognition submitted by people residing abroad will, from January 1, 2029.

Source: YEN.com.gh