How does citizenship by descent work?
Italy has some of the most generous citizenship laws in the world. They are based on the concept of Jus Sanguinis or "right of blood". This means that citizenship is passed down through the generations by descent (i.e. through "blood"). This is in contrast to the concept of Jus Soli or "right of soil", whereby a person is automatically granted citizenship of the country they are born in (such as in the U.S. or Canada).
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
It means that you may be an Italian citizen and not even know it! Italy's Jus Sanguinis citizenship laws have no generational limits, so if you have an Italian parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or even great-great(+)-grandparent, you may have Italian citizenship!
THE BASIC RULE
There are a number of rules and important dates to note, but the basic rule of thumb is that to be eligible for Italian citizenship by descent, your Italian ancestor still had to be an Italian citizen when their child (your next ancestor in line) was born (e.g. your Italian grandfather could not have become a citizen of another country before his child, your father, was born).
