My parent lived in Italy before I was born. Does that count for anything?
It can be a gate on its own. Condition (d) of article 3-bis recognises a claim where a parent or adopter resided in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child's birth or adoption, and it does not ask anything about exclusivity of citizenship.
It is the least discussed part of the 2025 reform and the one most likely to be missed by a family that assumes the exclusivity test is the only way in.
1. A parent or adopter
First degree only. A grandparent's residence in Italy does not satisfy this condition, however long it lasted.
2. Two continuous years of residence in Italy
Continuous, not cumulative. Two separate stays of a year each are not the same thing as two years without a break, and the evidence is a residence history from the comune rather than travel memories.
3. Sitting in the right window
The two years must come after that parent acquired Italian citizenship and before your birth or adoption. Residence in Italy before the parent held citizenship does not count, and residence after your birth does not either.
The question to answer for yourself
If the answer is yes, condition (d) is the gate your file would use, and the exclusivity questions on the other page stop being your problem. If the answer is no, this gate is closed and the file goes back to condition (c).
What proves it
- A certificato storico di residenza from the comune where the parent lived, showing the registration and deregistration dates. This is the document the whole condition turns on.
- Evidence of when citizenship was acquired, because the two years must fall after that date, not before it.
- Your own birth record, to close the window at the other end.
The residence certificate is requested from the comune's civil registry office. Families often discover the gap here: the period is remembered but never formally registered, and only registration produces the certificate.
Who this gate tends to reach
- Children of a parent who was recognised as Italian and then actually moved to Italy for a while before the child was born.
- Families where a parent studied or worked in Italy for a couple of years in their twenties and registered as a resident.
- Lines that fail the exclusivity test because every ancestor naturalised, but where a parent later reconnected with Italy in person.
It is a residence test, not an ancestry test, which is why it can rescue a line that looks dead when read only through condition (c).
Two cautions
- The chain still has to hold. Condition (d) is an additional gate, not a replacement for the older transmission rules between your parent and you.
- Registration is the proof, not presence. A family memory of two years in Italy that never reached a comune's registry is very hard to turn into a certificate afterwards.
- Article 3-bis(1)(d) of Law 91/1992, inserted by Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted by Law 74 of 23 May 2025, in force 24 May 2025: a parent or adopter who resided in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring citizenship and before the birth or adoption.
- Interior Ministry circular of 28 May 2025, on the proof required, including the certificato storico di residenza and the requirement that the residence be continuous and fall within the stated window.
One next step
Ask the parent in question, or the family member who would know, one question: were you ever registered as a resident in an Italian comune, and for how long. If the answer is anything other than a flat no, write to that comune for a certificato storico di residenza before assuming your line is closed.
Run the free check, which asks about this gateTwo minutes, no email.