Italian citizenship in Argentina and Uruguay in 2026: who can book, Prenot@mi and AIRE

Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, added by Decree-Law 36/2025 and Law 74/2025, treats anyone born abroad who holds another citizenship as never having acquired Italian citizenship, except in specific cases ¹. Law 74/2025 has applied since 24 May 2025 ³.

According to the Consulate General in Buenos Aires, citizenship by descent is currently recognised for ³:

• Anyone born in Italy, on any date.
• Anyone who holds only Italian citizenship and has no other, nor can acquire one.
• Anyone who filed a complete application, or had an appointment already communicated, before 23:59 (Rome time) on 27 March 2025, or had started a court case before that time.
• Anyone with a parent or grandparent who holds, or held at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship.
• Anyone with a parent who lived in Italy for at least two years in a row after becoming a citizen and before you were born.

The Embassy in Montevideo clarifies that the exclusively Italian citizenship of the parent or grandparent is assessed on the date of your birth, or on the date of their death if they died earlier ⁸.

Article 3-bis limits transmission: the consulate first checks that citizenship passed from one generation to the next ⁴. Three earlier rules still apply ⁴:

• Through the maternal line, the administrative route only recognises children born after 1 January 1948.
• A minor child of an Italian who naturalised as a foreign citizen before 16 August 1992 lost citizenship if living with that parent.
• An ancestor who naturalised as Argentine after 12 September 1974 kept Italian citizenship only if they expressly adhered to the Italian-Argentine dual citizenship agreement.

The Embassy in Montevideo applies the same cases and clarifies that a relative having obtained citizenship earlier does not guarantee yours ⁸.

Buenos Aires. Appointments are released every week, Sunday to Thursday at 7 pm, on Prenot@mi ⁴. Appointments cancelled from intermediaries are released again at random times, so the consulate suggests trying at other times too ⁴. One appointment is booked for each person over 18, and the details must match your identity document or you will not be allowed into the consulate ⁴. When you sign, you must have lived at least 6 months without interruption in the consular district before the booking ⁴.

The "Hijos Directos Mayores de Edad" service remains only for those who booked before 9 December 2025, according to its own page ⁵.

Montevideo. The Embassy uses the calendar "Cittadinanza per discendenza maggiorenni (L. 74/2025)" on Prenot@mi, keeps a waiting list when there are no appointments and does not accept bookings from intermediaries ⁸.

Cost and time limit. The consular fee is €600 per adult, paid in pesos at the official consular exchange rate, by bank transfer in Buenos Aires ⁴. In Montevideo it is paid with a local debit card or in Uruguayan pesos in cash ⁸. The amount is not refunded if your citizenship is not recognised ⁴. The contribution of €600 per adult is the same at every consulate, because it is set by the Italian table of consular fees ². The maximum time to decide is 36 months, under the reform of Law 11/2026 ⁴.

On the day of the appointment you hand in all the documentation in original or in GEDO format, legalised where needed and translated into Italian ⁴. The documents do not expire and are not returned ⁴.

For the Italian ancestor they ask for the birth certificate from the Italian municipality showing the parents' names and the certificate of non-naturalisation, with all variants of the name; in Argentina it is issued by the Cámara Nacional Electoral ⁴. For each following generation, the birth, marriage and death certificates, apostilled if they are not Argentine and translated into Italian in the country where they were issued ⁴.

If you rely on your parent's two years of residence in Italy, add the historical residence certificate from the Italian municipality ^{3 8}. In Uruguay the certificates carry the apostille of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy does not accept self-declarations ⁸.

Minor children of a citizen by birth. Both parents declare their wish for the child to acquire citizenship within three years of birth, in person at the consulate ⁶. For children of parents recognised through an application, appointment or court claim made before 27 March 2025, who were minors on 24 May 2025, the declaration is filed until 23:59 (Rome time) on 31 May 2029 ^{6 2}. This route is free of charge ⁶.

Reacquisition. Anyone born in Italy, or who lived there for at least two years in a row, and who lost citizenship up to 15 August 1992, for example by naturalising in another country, can declare that they reacquire it between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027 ⁷. The appointment is booked on Prenot@mi and costs €250 ⁷.

Residence in Italy. The Embassy in Montevideo states that adult children or grandchildren of Italian citizens by birth who move to Italy for at least two years can apply for citizenship directly there ⁸.

Work in Italy. If you do not meet the cases of 3-bis, the Embassy in Montevideo reminds that descendants of Italians can enter to work as employees outside the annual quotas ⁸. The requirements and the countries included are in the guide on the work visa for descendants.

AIRE is the Register of Italians Resident Abroad. Law 470/1988 requires every Italian citizen who moves their residence abroad for more than 12 months to declare it at the consulate of their area within 90 days of arrival ⁹.

Registration is a requirement for the consular registry, electoral and civil status services, including the passport ⁹. Registration is free and removes you from the Italian National Health Service ⁹. The declaration is made on the Fast It portal; creating the Fast It account does not complete the registration by itself ⁹. The consulate reviews the documents and asks the Italian municipality to register you; the legal maximum time to process it is 180 days from when the application is complete ¹⁰. If something is missing, the consulate asks you directly for the missing documents or data ¹⁰.

Once registered, you tell the consulate through Fast It about every change of address. If you move to another consular district, you declare it to the new consulate within 90 days ⁹.

In Buenos Aires, the procedure for minor children starts with registration on Fast It or in AIRE to obtain an application code ⁶. If you have already been recognised and live in Argentina or Uruguay, check on Fast It that your record and your address are up to date before requesting other services.