Loss of Italian citizenship
Whether an ancestor lost Italian citizenship, and when, is the question on which most applications from the United Kingdom turn. The answer depends on the law in force at the time of the event. Until 15 August 1992 an Italian who voluntarily acquired a foreign citizenship lost the Italian one, and the minor children who lived with him often lost it with him. Since 16 August 1992 citizenship is lost only by a formal renunciation, apart from a few cases of incompatibility with the interests of the State.
Before 16 August 1992
Law 555 of 13 June 1912 governed citizenship for eighty years. Under its article 8 a citizen lost Italian citizenship by acquiring a foreign citizenship of his own will, where he had moved his residence abroad, or by taking a foreign citizenship which he had not sought but had then accepted by continuing to live abroad after an order of the Italian Government to renounce it. The naturalisation of an Italian emigrant as a British subject, on his own application, fell within the first case. Under article 12 of the same law the minor children who lived with the father became foreigners with him, where they acquired the foreign citizenship with him.
This last point has been settled by the Court of Cassation. In judgment 24045/2026 of the United Sections the Court held that a child born in a country which gives citizenship by birth on its soil, as the United Kingdom did until 1 January 1983, held both citizenships from birth and kept the Italian one when the father naturalised. For the children of Italians born in Britain before 1983 the father’s naturalisation did not break the line. For a child born in Italy and brought to Britain as a minor, who became British only through the father’s naturalisation, the loss did occur.
Under article 10 of the law of 1912 a woman who married a foreigner, or whose husband changed citizenship, followed the citizenship of the husband. The Constitutional Court declared this rule unconstitutional in judgment 87/1975, with effect for marriages from 1 January 1948, the day the Constitution came into force. The page on women married after 1948 explains the consequences.
Your grandfather arrived in Bedford from Busso in 1951 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1964. Your father was born in Bedford in 1958. The grandfather lost Italian citizenship in 1964. Your father, born British in England and Italian through his father, kept the Italian citizenship under the judgment of the United Sections. Whether you can be recognised then depends on article 3-bis: your father held two citizenships when you were born, so the first condition is not met, and the file is examined on the second condition or on an application lodged before 27 March 2025.
Your grandmother was born in Frosinone in 1930, married a British soldier in 1950 and lived in Leeds. She did not lose Italian citizenship by the marriage, because the marriage took place after 1 January 1948. Whether she acquired British citizenship automatically or by her own application decides the rest of the file, and the page on women married after 1948 sets out the difference.
Your great-grandfather naturalised in Glasgow in 1921, when your grandfather, born in Italy, was six years old and lived with him. Both lost Italian citizenship in 1921. The line is closed, and the only question left is whether a reacquisition by the grandfather, or a different route, is possible.
Since 16 August 1992
Law 91/1992 abandoned the principle of a single citizenship. Under its article 11 a citizen who holds, acquires or reacquires a foreign citizenship keeps the Italian one, unless he renounces it with a formal declaration while resident abroad. An Italian who becomes British today, or who became British at any time since 16 August 1992, remains Italian. The renunciation is dealt with in its own page.
Between 16 August 1992 and 4 June 2010 one exception remained. The Strasbourg Convention of 1963 on the reduction of cases of multiple nationality provided that a citizen of a contracting State who acquired the citizenship of another contracting State lost the first. Italy withdrew from that chapter of the Convention with effect from 4 June 2010, and from that date the exception no longer applies.
Article 12 of the law keeps three cases of loss. A citizen who, despite an express order of the Italian Government, serves in the armed forces of a foreign State or holds a public office for it, loses citizenship. A citizen who, during a state of war with a foreign State, serves in its forces, holds office for it or acquires its citizenship, loses it. Under article 3 an adopted person whose adoption is revoked for a cause attributable to him loses citizenship if he holds or reacquires another. None of these cases is met by an ordinary naturalisation, a job in the British civil service or service in the British armed forces in time of peace.
Children of a parent who loses citizenship
Since 1992 the loss of citizenship by a parent has no effect on the children. A minor whose father or mother renounces Italian citizenship keeps it. The rule of 1912 under which the children followed the father no longer exists, and it applies only to events before 16 August 1992.
How the loss is proved
The consulate does not take the family’s word for it. The proof of a naturalisation, or of its absence, comes from the foreign authority. For the United Kingdom the Home Office issues, on request, a letter confirming whether a person was naturalised or registered as a British citizen and on which date, and The National Archives in Kew hold the duplicate certificates of naturalisation from 1870 to 1987 in series HO 334, with the earlier records in other Home Office series. A certificate of non-naturalisation is required for every ancestor in the line, and the date on it is compared with the birth dates of the next generation. Where the ancestor naturalised after the birth of the next person in the line, the citizenship passed before the loss. Where he naturalised before, the line is broken at that point, with the exception of children born in Britain before 1983 explained above.
If you do not know whether an ancestor became British, and when, send us the names and dates you have. The search in the records of the Home Office and of The National Archives is the first thing we do, because nothing else in the file makes sense until that date is known.