A ruling by the Court of Rome, issued on April 2, 2025, reaffirmed the obligation of Italian consulates to issue citizenship certificates for minors adopted abroad, provided that the adoption has been duly registered in Italy.
The case involved a Italian citizen by naturalization, resident in Pratola Peligna, in the province of L'Aquila, but domiciled in Tunisia. She obtained an adoption order for her nephew, who was in a situation of abandonment, in the Court of Sousse, in Tunisia.
The foreign decision was transcribed in the civil registry of Pratola Peligna based on articles 64, 65 and 66 of Law No. 218/1995, which regulates Italian private international law. With this, the municipality recognized the validity of the judgment and declared the minor's Italian citizenship, as provided for in article 3 of Law No. 91/1992.
As the minor resides abroad, it is up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the local Italian embassy, to issue the certificate of citizenship, in accordance with article 16 of Decree No. 572/1993 and articles 10 and 11 of Legislative Decree No. 71/2011.
Despite the documents being complete and several requests having been made, the Italian embassy in Tunisia did not issue the document. In view of this, the family appealed to the courts, represented by lawyers Arselinda Shoshi and Admira Beqiraj.
Only after the court summons did the embassy issue the certificate. The court considered the demand met, closing the case, but took the opportunity to reinforce two fundamental points: the validity of the transcription of the foreign adoption and the consular obligation to recognize citizenship when all legal requirements are met.
The sentence (n. 5058/2025) It reiterates that Italian citizenship automatically results from legally registered adoption and that consulates cannot fail to fulfill this legal obligation.
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