A foreigner (or stateless person) who, following marriage to an Italian citizen, has accrued the legal requirements for citizenship, cannot see his or her rights canceled due to the spouse's death if it occurred during legal proceedings for the recognition of citizenship rights.

This is according to the latest judgement from the Italian Constitutional Court, which in its judgement n.195, ruled on the illegitimacy of article 5 of the February 5, 1992 law, n. 91.

The Court motivated its ruling by stating that it is intrinsically unreasonable, and therefore in contrast with article 3 of the Italian Constitution, to deny Italian citizenship to a foreigner (or stateless person) who is married to an Italian citizen but who has remained widowed before the end of the procedure.

Death, stated the court's ruling, is an event which resides beyond the will of the person and so therefore cannot be a reason to deny citizenship.

The right to citizenship

The Court ruling, specifically states that "although death puts an end to marriage ties, it does not put an end to the full, private and public, safeguards put in place, based on the fact of having been part of a family community, based on marital solidarity and thereby cannot inhibit or block the accrued rights at its base."

In Italy, citizenship can be acquired after two years of marriage to an Italian citizen if living in Italy, and after three years if the couple reside abroad. If children are involved, these time periods are reduced by half.

The law had previously ruled that if a spouse died during the processing of the citizenship request, the request would be deemed invalid as the Italian partner was no longer there, thus removing one of the requirements of citizenship.