Article 1-bis, paragraph 1 of Law 74 of May 23, 2025, converting with amendments Decree Law No. 36/2025, provided that foreigners residing abroad, descendants of Italian citizens and citizens of a country with a history of Italian emigration, could enter and stay in Italy for employment outside the maximum quotas provided for in the immigration decree. The identification of these countries was left to a subsequent interministerial decree.
A few months later, the promise was kept.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, by Decree of November 17, 2025, identified the countries of destination of significant Italian emigration flows whose citizens, if descendants of Italian citizens, are allowed to enter and stay in Italy for employment outside the quotas referred to in Article 3, paragraph 4, of Legislative Decree No. 286 of July 25, 1998 No. 286. (Official Journal General Series No. 273 of 24-11-2025).
The countries in question are Argentina, Brazil, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Venezuela, and Uruguay. The identification, according to the Ministerial Decree, was made “on the basis of the current size of the Italian communities residing there”, thus referring to registrations in the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad (AIRE) and taking into consideration only countries with more than 100,000 residents. The Ministerial Decree mentions in its preamble the opportunity to encourage “the return immigration of descendants of Italian citizens” and refers “to possible subsequent measures for extension to other countries”.
This is an important legislative change that appears to be intended to compensate for the declining birth rate with the return immigration of Italian descendants, and allows for accelerated naturalization (two years of residence) for descendants of Italian citizens within the second generation.