1948 rule / British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act query

Over 25 million Italians have emigrated between 1861 and 1960 with a migration boom between 1871 and 1915 when over 13,5 million emigrants left the country for European and overseas destinations.
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scoziaragazzi
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1948 rule / British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act query

Post by scoziaragazzi »

Hi

I'm new to the forum and would be grateful for the experience of other members in relation to my citizenship query.

I'm a British passport holder and my paternal great-grandfather was born in Italy in the 1880s and never naturalised as a British citizen. On that basis his Italian nationality remained "live" and capable of passage by descent. My paternal grandmother and father, while born in the UK, did not renounce their right to Italian citizenship.

On the basis of the above a solicitor I have approached in Italy advised that by making a court application at the Tribunale di Roma to challenge the "1948 Rule" I could obtain Italian citizenship through my grandmother's lineage on the basis of my great-grandfather never having naturalised as a British citizen. For the avoidance of doubt I cannot seek citizenship through my paternal grandfather as he naturalised as a British citizen).

However, on seeking confirmation from the Italian consulate that my grandmother never renounced her right to Italian citizenship (this is a necessity for the court application), I was advised that due to my grandmother being born in the UK following the enactment of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 she acquired British citizenship on birth and in the absence of her birth certificate being registered in Italy she could not have been an Italian citizenship at any time.

Is the underlined sentence correct, and does this cause a problem for me in obtaining Italian citizenship? Grazie mille for any help in advance!
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mler
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Re: 1948 rule / British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act q

Post by mler »

She obtained British citizenship jus soli (birth on the soil) and Italian citizenship jure sanguinis through her father. There was and is no registration requirement.
scoziaragazzi
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Re: 1948 rule / British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act q

Post by scoziaragazzi »

Thanks for the quick reply mler - that was my own understanding too.

The trouble is that I need the Consulate to confirm that my father, grandmother and great grandfather did at no stage explicitly renounce their right to Italian citizenship in order to form part of the basis for the court application. Hopefully I can persuade them to at least confirm that fact and leave me to take my chances under the 1948 rule.
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