Paragraph 513 of Article 1 of the Budget Law for the year 2026 (Law of December 30, 2025, State Budget for the financial year 2026 and Multi-Year Budget for the three-year period 2026-2028) provides for specific amendments to Article 4, paragraph 1-bis, letter b) of Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992.
Specifically, the amendments in question provide that the declarations made by parents—at least one of whom is an Italian citizen by birth—pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 1-bis, letter b) of Law No. 91/1992 may be submitted within three years (and no longer within one year) of the child’s birth or the subsequent date of establishment of parentage, including adoption, by an Italian citizen.
It should be also noted that, as part of this provision, all the declarations made for minors are now free of charge. Therefore, the €250 fee required by Article 9-bis of Law No. 91/1992 will no longer be required, pursuant to this new legislative provision.
On this point, it should be noted that the changes established by the budget law are not retroactive, but rather effective as of January 1, 2026. For this reason, the acquisition of citizenship by benefit of law will be free of charges only for applications submitted after January 1, 2026. No refunds will be provided for payments already made to the Ministry of the Interior.
Read the updated instructions for acquiring Italian citizenship by law here.
