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Your jus sanguinis application is suspended — here is what US descendants must decide before the Luxembourg clock runs out
What happens to my Italian citizenship application now that it's been referred to the EU court?
Your case is not automatically over. The referral does not end your pending case. But it does freeze your current path while opening two alternative routes — each with its own deadline, its own cost, and a built-in conflict with the other two.
The Italian Constitutional Court (the Corte Costituzionale), in Ordinanza 147/2026 filed on 23 July 2026, suspended the cases before it and referred a question on the compatibility of Article 3-bis of Law 74/2025 with Articles 9 of the Treaty on European Union and 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to the Court of Justice of the European Union. That referral is now registered as Case C-816/26, Picuso. The underlying rule stays fully operative in the meantime.
Article 3-bis limits Italian citizenship by descent, or jus sanguinis, to applicants whose qualifying Italian ancestor is a parent or grandparent — and only if that ancestor held exclusively Italian nationality. If your Italian line runs through a great-grandparent or further back, Article 3-bis currently blocks your claim. Constitutional Court Judgment No. 63/2026 (Italian Constitutional Court, Corte Costituzionale, Sentenza n. 63/2026, deposited 30 April 2026, published 6 May 2026) confirmed that the two-generation cap does not violate the Italian Constitution. All domestic avenues are exhausted. The CJEU referral is the only remaining challenge to the cap itself.
CJEU preliminary rulings average between sixteen and eighteen months from referral to judgment. Ordinanza 147/2026 was filed on 23 July 2026. A realistic decision window is therefore late 2027 at the earliest — and 2028 if the case is joined with related national proceedings or if an Advocate General's Opinion prompts a Grand Chamber referral. Article 3-bis remains enforceable every day of that wait.
Nemo iudex in causa sua — no one may be judge in their own cause. The principle is apt here: the Italian courts have already ruled. The question is now Luxembourg's to answer, and the CJEU operates on its own timetable.
As Hannah Arendt observed, the right to have rights is the most fundamental political claim a person can make. US descendants of Italian emigrants are learning that claim can sit in procedural limbo for years.
This is the point no competitor commentary makes explicit. Most articles describe the referral and tell you to wait. They do not tell you that choosing one track can legally or practically close another.
Track One: stay-and-wait inside existing proceedings. If you already have a case pending before an Italian civil court (a tribunale), your attorney can ask that court to stay proceedings pending the CJEU ruling in C-816/26. This preserves your place in line and, once Luxembourg decides, allows you to resume without starting over. The cost is time: you will likely wait until 2027 or 2028. Filing a stay request does not suspend Italian consular deadlines in a different proceeding — those run independently.
Track Two: pivot to the two-year accelerated residency route. Law 74/2025 introduced Article 1-bis into Law 91/1992, reducing the residency naturalisation period from ten years to two years for applicants who can prove an Italian parent or grandparent. If your qualifying ancestor is a grandparent, this route is open to you right now, regardless of C-816/26. The clock, however, starts only when you establish registered residence in Italy (residenza anagrafica) and applies only to grandparent-line applicants. If your line runs through a great-grandparent, Article 1-bis does not apply to you.
The conflict: requesting a court stay in Track One signals, on the record that you are pursuing the jus sanguinis route under Article 3-bis. Several Italian civil courts have begun treating that election as an implicit waiver of the concurrent residency clock — the logic being that you cannot simultaneously claim a right to citizenship by blood and a right to naturalise by residency, as they rest on incompatible legal bases. This is not yet a uniform rule, but we are seeing it emerge in proceedings before northern Italian courts. Do not start Track Two without withdrawing or pausing Track One with specific procedural wording.
Track Three: preserve the Bologna correspondence window. The Tribunal of Bologna, in Ruling No. 3335/2026 of 17 April 2026 (Tribunale di Bologna, Sentenza n. 3335/2026, 17 aprile 2026), recognised Italian citizenship for descendants of the second, third, and fourth generation who had made formal written contact with an Italian consulate before 27 March 2025 — even without a confirmed appointment. This transitional protection window is narrow and time-sensitive. If you sent a written request to an Italian consulate before that date and never received a formal appointment, your correspondence records may qualify you for judicial recognition under this doctrine. The Bologna ruling applies to those applicants directly; it is not a general amnesty.
The conflict with Track One: if you are pursuing a stay-and-wait strategy in an existing jus sanguinis proceeding that post-dates 27 March 2025, the Bologna window does not help you. The two tracks address different facts. Conflating them wastes time and erodes credibility before the court.
Unlike US citizenship law, where a citizenship claim by descent is processed administratively through the State Department and can be appealed through federal courts under 8 U.S.C. § 1503, Italian jus sanguinis proceedings are civil court cases. There is no Italian equivalent of a Form N-600 administrative determination. You litigate your birthright in a civil tribunal — typically the court with jurisdiction over the Italian ancestor's last place of residence. That means filing fees, legal representation before a judge, and Italian-language pleadings. The CJEU referral does not suspend Italian court jurisdiction: each court decides independently whether to stay its own docket. Your case may proceed while the court next door stays identical facts.
Yes, with important caveats. Article 3-bis is still the operative law. A court that receives a new jus sanguinis claim from a third-generation or further applicant will apply the two-generation cap and reject the claim — unless that specific court decides to stay proceedings pending C-816/26. Some courts are granting stays on motion; others are dismissing. The outcome depends on the court and the judge. Filing a new case now costs money and carries the risk of a final adverse judgment before Luxembourg rules. In our files, the most common mistake at this stage is filing a new petition in a hurry, without first checking whether that court has a published policy on C-816/26 stays, and then receiving a merits judgment that creates res judicata — a final binding ruling — before the CJEU has spoken.
The answer depends on one fact: which generation is your Italian ancestor?
If your ancestor is a grandparent and you qualify under Article 1-bis, the two-year residency route offers certainty at a known cost. You do not need the CJEU to rule in your favour. You need to relocate, register your address in Italy, and wait two years. Approximate cost of the naturalisation proceeding itself: EUR 250 in administrative fees, plus legal assistance for the application dossier. Total residency commitment: at minimum two continuous years.
If your ancestor is a great-grandparent or further back, Article 1-bis does not apply to you. Your only realistic paths are Track One (stay and wait for C-816/26) or Track Three (Bologna correspondence window, if the facts fit). The residency pivot is not available.
If you are unsure which generation applies, check your Italian ancestor's birth records held at the relevant Italian municipality (comune) and your family's naturalisation records at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The date on which your ancestor naturalised as a US citizen — before or after the birth of the next Italian-line child — is often the decisive fact, entirely separate from the two-generation cap question.
Does the CJEU referral mean my Italian citizenship case is automatically stayed?
No. Ordinanza 147/2026 stayed only the proceedings before the Constitutional Court. Each Italian civil court handling a jus sanguinis case must decide for itself whether to stay that case pending C-816/26. Many courts have not issued a blanket stay policy. Your attorney must file a specific stay motion in your individual proceeding.
I emailed the Italian consulate before March 2025 but never got an appointment. Does the Bologna ruling help me?
It may. The Tribunal of Bologna's Ruling No. 3335/2026 of 17 April 2026 protected applicants who made formal written contact before 27 March 2025 even without a confirmed appointment. The protection is not automatic: you must bring a civil court proceeding to have it recognised, and you must produce the correspondence records. Preserve every email, certified letter, and consulate acknowledgment you have.
Can I pursue the two-year residency route while keeping my court case open?
The two tracks rest on incompatible legal bases, and some Italian courts are treating the simultaneous pursuit of both as a waiver of one or the other. Before initiating the residency route, discuss with your attorney how to withdraw or procedurally suspend your court case with wording that does not create a binding election against you.
Panato Law Firm, led by Avv. Marco Panato in Verona, Italy, advises international clients on Italian citizenship by descent, jus sanguinis proceedings, and naturalisation strategy for US-based applicants. If your case is affected by Ordinanza 147/2026 and Case C-816/26, write to info@panatolawfirm.com or call +39 045 5867034 to discuss your options.
HREFLANG BLOCK:
Editorial Team — Panato Law Firm Staff
