Italy has one of the strictest citizenship systems in Europe.
Rome, Italy:
When rapper Galli sang “I am a real Italian” to a television audience of 10 million people last month, he gave voice to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants born in Italy who are struggling to gain citizenship.
The 30-year-old musician, who was born in Milan to Tunisian parents, sang Toto Cutugno’s global hit “L’Italiano” at the Sanremo Festival a version of.
In the process, Galli, who was not naturalized until he was 18, brought center stage the issue of the so-called “new Italians,” as second-generation immigrants are often called.
Italy has one of the strictest citizenship systems in Europe, and children born in the country to foreign parents cannot apply for an Italian passport until they turn 18.
Under the simplified system, they have just one year to apply or they must enter a costly and lengthy process during which they will be stuck.
“I feel Italian, I went to school here and Italian is the language I speak every day, but by law I didn’t become truly Italian until I got citizenship at 24,” Daniela Ionita ( Daniela Ionita said.
Now a spokesperson for the Italians without Citizenship campaign group, she describes the practice of not allowing children to become citizens as “psychological violence”.
But she has little hope of changing the law under the far-right government of current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose deputy Matteo Salvini is a frequent critic of immigration.
blood relation
Italy has long been a country of immigrants, rather than immigrants, and has an approach to citizenship that helps maintain connections with its vast diaspora.
Nationality is based on consanguinity and is granted to persons who are Italian citizens by birth or adoption.
Foreigners can obtain citizenship, most easily if they have Italian relatives or marry an Italian, but for most it is a long and difficult road.
“Italian laws on obtaining citizenship are among the strictest in Europe,” notes demographer Salvatore Strozza.
Children born and raised in Italy do not have natural citizenship rights, except in rare cases where their parents are unknown or stateless.
They must wait until they reach adulthood to apply, then submit an application for citizenship between the ages of 18 and 19, along with proof of uninterrupted residence in Italy.
If they miss that window, it becomes a complicated bureaucratic process that could take at least three years.
“This is the longest administrative procedure in Italy,” said immigration lawyer Antonello Ciervo.
“Argentines whose grandfathers were Italian are naturalized faster than those who were born in Italy to foreign parents,” he told AFP.
For children who arrive in Italy as young children, they must also wait until they reach adulthood to obtain citizenship, just like other “foreigners.”
People born in non-EU countries must prove residency for 10 years (versus 4 years for those born in EU countries) and prove that they are able to support themselves.
According to the national statistics agency Istat, at least 860,000 people born in Italy to foreign parents are currently eligible for naturalization, 95% of whom are under the age of 18.
Reform failed
Previous attempts to reform the current system, starting in 1992, most recently before Meloni took office in 2022, have failed.
Her far-right Brotherhood of Italy party opposes granting citizenship to people born here to foreign parents, and some members have raised concerns about “racial replacement” of Italians by immigrants, a concept promoted by white supremacists.
Meloni has instead focused on boosting birth rates in Italy, which has an aging population.
Since her coalition came to power, several groups agitating for reform have paused their efforts.
“We fear that our efforts will be in vain or, even worse, that the naturalization process will be lengthened by the introduction of more stringent checks,” Ionita said.
“While we wait for a change of government, we are working hard to change the mindset at a cultural and community level,” she added.
There has been some progress on this front – Bologna, a bastion of left-wing politics, in 2022 became the first commune to grant symbolic citizenship to anyone born or raised in the northern Italian city.
“First we need to change the concept of who is Italian in society, and then we can seek change at the political level,” added Deepika Sarhan, another member of the “On the Right Side of History” movement group.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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