Study or work first, citizenship later: Italia Viva Sudamerica’s plan for Italian descendants

In her article “Italia Viva Sudamerica: studio o lavoro in Italia prima della cittadinanza” for Il Globo, journalist Francesca Capelli reports on a proposal from Italia Viva Sudamerica that aims to keep citizenship by descent (ius sanguinis) without generational limits, but introduce a mandatory one‑year stay in Italy before citizenship is granted. The idea is to reduce the workload of Italian consulates in South America while encouraging young people of Italian origin to move to a country facing a serious demographic crisis.

Nicolás Fuster, the party’s South America coordinator, argues that the old system was unsustainable: many people with almost no remaining connection to Italy were obtaining citizenship, at a cost to Italian taxpayers. At the same time, Italy is aging rapidly and needs new, working‑age residents. His proposal would allow anyone of Italian descent to apply, but with a clear condition: after preparing their file (for example in Argentina, Uruguay, or Brazil) and receiving a preliminary green light from the consulate, applicants would spend one year in Italy for study or work, complete the process there, and pass a final interview in Italian.

According to Fuster, this would be a “win‑win”: consulates would be less overloaded, Italy would receive younger taxpayers from countries with a similar culture, and many of these new citizens would likely choose to stay after integrating socially and learning the language. He also stresses that supporting ius sanguinis does not exclude supporting ius soli for people born in Italy to foreign parents. However, Capelli notes that the proposal has a built‑in class filter: only those who can afford a plane ticket and a year in Italy could realistically benefit, which excludes many families in today’s Argentina.