Whether you can keep your Italian passport while holding another one is decided by Italy, not by the country issuing the second document. This page sets out the current position, the statute behind it, and what it means in practice for someone considering a second citizenship.
Short answer: Italy permits dual citizenship. The detail below matters more than the headline, because the consequences of getting it wrong fall on the individual — usually years later, at a passport renewal or a border.
Does Italy allow dual citizenship?
Yes. Italy permits dual citizenship without restriction. What changed in 2025 is not the right to hold two passports but the right to claim Italian citizenship by descent, which is now limited to two generations.
The rule to establish first is always the one that applies to you at home. A second country can only grant its own status; it cannot preserve a nationality that your own law terminates. The wider picture is in how holding two passports works in practice, with the country-by-country table.
Key facts at a glance
| Question | Position in Italy |
|---|---|
| Dual citizenship | Permitted |
| Governing law | Law No. 91 of 1992, as amended by Decree-Law 36/2025 (converted into Law 74/2025) |
| Must the authorities be notified? | AIRE registration when resident abroad |
| Renunciation of the other nationality | No |
| Basis of taxation | Residence |
| Military service obligation | No (suspended since 2005) |
What the law says
Law No. 91 of 1992 ended the earlier requirement to renounce, and Italy places no restriction on an Italian citizen holding other nationalities. Transmission by descent, however, has been sharply narrowed. Decree-Law No. 36 of 28 March 2025, converted into Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025 and in force from 24 May 2025, inserted Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992: for applications made after 11.59 p.m. on 27 March 2025, a claimant must have an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy. Claims through a great-grandparent, once the mainstay of jure sanguinis applications, are closed. There is a second route in the same article: a child born abroad also qualifies where the Italian parent resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years before the birth. Applications lodged before that cut-off are dealt with under the previous rules.
What this means in practice
- No limit on the number of other nationalities, and no requirement to inform Italian authorities.
- Italian citizenship carries EU citizenship, with free movement and residence rights across the Union.
- Registration with AIRE, the register of Italians resident abroad, is required for citizens living outside Italy.
- Descent claims are processed by consulates or Italian municipalities and require documented, unbroken lineage.
The authoritative source is the text of Law No. 91 of 1992. Rules in this area change by amendment and by notification, so the position should be confirmed at the time you act, not from any article.
What usually goes wrong
The mistakes below account for most of the cases where people discover a problem years after the event, typically when renewing a passport or crossing a border. The first one is the common one: this page describes the rule at one end of the arrangement only.
- Checking only one side of the arrangement. Each country decides for itself whether you may keep its nationality, so both rules have to hold — the permissive one described here does not protect you from a restrictive one elsewhere.
- Travelling on the "wrong" passport at the border of a country whose nationality you hold.
- Treating a second passport as a tax solution when the home country taxes on residence anyway.
- Forgetting that consular protection weakens, rather than strengthens, in the other country of nationality.
Italian citizens and Vanuatu citizenship
Because Italian citizenship already carries EU rights, Italians who look at Vanuatu are usually after something specific — a rapid second document, a base outside the EU, or a structure for travel in the Asia-Pacific region. It is an addition, not an upgrade.
If the route does make sense for you, the practical detail is in the application process, the cost breakdown and the visa-free list.
Other countries that permit it
The same question, answered for comparable jurisdictions:
- Dual citizenship in Ireland — permitted.
- Dual citizenship in the United Kingdom — permitted.
- Dual citizenship in Germany — permitted.