Italy has one of the toughest citizenship regimes in Europe, with children born in the country to foreign parents unable to apply for an Italian passport until they are 18. Now a spokeswoman for campaign group Italians Without Citizenship, she describes the failure to allow children to become citizens as "psychological violence". "The law on access to citizenship in Italy is one of the toughest in Europe," notes demographer Salvatore Strozza. Children born and raised in Italy have no innate right to citizenship, except in rare cases where their parents are unknown or stateless. "An Argentine who has an Italian grandfather will be naturalised faster than a person born in Italy to foreign parents," he told AFP.

Source: The Nation March 15, 2024 13:02 UTC