Citizenship clarification

[raynor]

Hi everyone, I've got some questions about whether or not I and my family qualify for Italian citizenship. I've found bits and pieces of information from looking around this board, but there are still some things that I'm confused about.

My great-great-grandfather was born in Italy in about 1859, and came to American in 1888. He was naturalized in 1905, but his children were all born in America before then. The rule about women not being able to pass citizenship isn't an issue, but I do fall under the jurisdiction of the Chicago consulate. I've read that they do not accept claims of people who were naturalized before 1912.

Does anyone have any more information on this? Is this a law, or just a rule that a few consulates follow? Are there others that do not follow this, or am I out of luck?

[mler]

It is a law (Naturalization Law of 1912). In that law jure sanguinis was established as the method of passing citizenship. An Italian was not able to transfer his Italian citizenship to his foreign-born child before that date.

In a way (but not exactly), it's like that 1948 law. Before 1948, women were not able to transfer their Italian citizenship to their children. Before 1912, even men were not able to do so, at least not to their children who were born outside of Italy.

The first section here might clarify things:

http://www.myitalianfamily.com/record/requirements.html

I did some more research and found this article, which you may find interesting. Take a look at page 7. Perhaps I'm reading it wrong but it does seem that Italy did somewhat acknowledge jus sanguinis before 1912, but I haven't read the entire article. It may be something you would like to research.

http://www.imiscoe.org/publications/wor ... making.pdf