Dear Valued Clients,
Welcome to another issue of our citizenship by ancestry (CBA) newsletter.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which concluded on July 19 with Spain’s 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina, was a showcase not only for elite football, but it also represents a striking illustration of the growing popularity of citizenship by ancestry. Of the 48 competing nations, 40 fielded at least one foreign-born player, and roughly a quarter of all 1,248 rostered athletes represented a country other than the one in which they were born.
Under FIFA’s eligibility rules, a player must hold the legal nationality of the country he wishes to represent. Italy’s Mateo Retegui, born and raised in Argentina, is a well-known example, as he qualified to play in the Italian national team entirely through his grandfather’s Italian birth, with no requirement that he had ever lived in Italy or spoken the language. Canada’s Alfie Jones also offers a similar story. Jones was born and raised in England and became a Canadian citizen in November 2025 through his grandmother, who was born in Hillcrest, Alberta. His claim to Canadian citizenship by descent was made possible by a 2023 Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling that struck down the ban on passing citizenship to children born abroad to Canadians who were themselves born outside Canada. Then, six months after getting his Canadian citizenship recognized, Jones was on Canada’s World Cup roster.
For athletes, a second nationality can change the course of a career. But the same citizenship by ancestry pathways that put players like Mateo Retegui or Alfie Jones on the world stage are equally powerful for families and professionals seeking broader horizons. For many clients, reclaiming an ancestral nationality is a practical mobility asset that reshapes their long‑term personal and professional options. It can provide a pathway to a second passport without relocation, language testing, or the long timelines associated with residency‑based immigration programs.
This is also, however, one of the most dynamic areas of nationality law, with rules shifting quickly across jurisdictions, which is precisely why professional guidance matters. Recent reforms in countries like Canada and Slovakia show how access is expanding in some respects while evidentiary standards are tightening in others. And Italy has just seen its Court of Cassation resolve the decades‑long minor issue debate with Judgment No. 24045. The Court confirmed that children who were dual citizens from birth do not lose Italian citizenship when a parent later naturalizes abroad, whereas children who held only Italian citizenship and acquired a foreign nationality derivatively through a parent’s naturalization fall under a different rule. For clients, these changes mean new opportunities, but also new complexities that make professional guidance essential.
These developments show that eligibility that was accurate six months ago may no longer be accurate today, and a claim that looks straightforward on paper can turn on a single ancestor’s documentation and a naturalization date that a lay applicant has no reason to know exists.
Our firm assists clients in identifying which ancestry-based pathways they may qualify for, assembling and authenticating the documentary record each jurisdiction now requires, navigating recent legislative and judicial changes before they file, and managing applications and any subsequent inquiries or appeals from start to finish. Whether your aim is to reconnect with your heritage, pursue international study or career opportunities, or build a long‑term mobility plan for your family, we ensure that every genuine ancestral claim is thoroughly evaluated, properly documented, and strategically prepared.
If you believe you may have an ancestral claim to citizenship, we encourage you to reach out to us at contact@harveylawcorporation.com to schedule a consultation. Our team is available to review your family history, assess your options under the current rules, and guide your application from start to finish.
Legislative Shifts and Evolving Documentation Standards
Citizenship by descent programs across several jurisdictions have undergone significant changes in recent years.
Canada: Broader Eligibility, Stricter Proof
Canada’s Bill C-3 came into force on December 15, 2025, eliminating the long-standing first-generation limit that had barred many people born or adopted abroad from inheriting Canadian citizenship, following the Ontario Superior Court’s finding in Bjorkquist et al. v. Attorney General of Canada that the limit was unconstitutional. However, the resulting surge in applications, from roughly 70,400 pending cases with a 12-month wait in May 2026 to about 99,500 cases and a 19-month wait by early July 2026, has pushed IRCC to tighten its documentary guidance, now requiring civil status records to come directly from original issuing authorities. This shift in processing standard has led to IRCC suspending 67 already-issued citizenship certificates in June 2026 after reviewing 6,500 approved cases for insufficient evidence.
Slovakia: Fewer Procedural Barriers, Higher Evidentiary Bar
Slovakia is moving in a similar dual direction. Since July 15, 2026, the government has adopted an amendment that eliminated the requirement that applicants first obtain a Slovak residence permit to support their citizenship by descent application. However, the same law amendment now requires applicants to provide clear, verifiable documentation of their ancestor’s citizenship before an application may be approved, meaning thin, incomplete, or ambiguous files face a significantly higher risk of rejection even where a genuine ancestral link exists.
Italy: A Reversal in the Courts
Italy’s citizenship-by-descent regime has also become considerably more volatile since the March 2025 introduction of Law 74/2025, which imposed a strict two-generation cap. The Constitutional Court had initially upheld the law in April but reversed course in a June 9 order, suspending pending proceedings that challenging the new law and referring the dispute to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Separately, the Court of Cassation resolved the long-running “minor issue” dispute, reversing the more restrictive recent stance and confirming that descendants of an Italian ancestor who was a minor when a parent naturalized abroad regain their right to Italian citizenship by descent.
Germany: A Widening Pathway for Persecuted Individuals and Their Descendents
Last but not least, Germany’s citizenship-by-descent pathway for descendants of individuals persecuted under the Nazi regime between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 continues to see rising uptake, with roughly 12,000 individuals restoring citizenship in 2025 alone and an estimated 8,000 of those applications from U.S. nationals. The pathway does not impose any generational limit and it does not require an unbroken chain of citizenship through every generation, though applicants still face common obstacles like destroyed wartime records, inconsistent name transliterations, and country-specific apostille requirements, with processing currently running 1.5 to 2 years.
For families exploring these pathways, the practical lesson is the same across all four countries: secure professional help early, and secure it well. Genealogical gaps, name inconsistencies, and missing original records are rarely disqualifying on their own, but they do require time, expertise, and often professional support to resolve. As eligibility rules loosen and evidentiary rules tighten in parallel, success will increasingly come down to the strength of an applicant’s documentation, which makes it worth investing the time upfront to research the application requirements and process and secure qualified legal representation from the outset.
Client Success Story
Overcoming the 50-Year Rule: Building a Strong French Nationality Claim
“I always knew my grandmother was French, but my grandfather left for the US decades ago, and all we had left was one old French ID of hers. I figured the 50-year rule had already closed the door on us. But after speaking with a representative at HLG, we found out my father and I could still apply, because my grandmother passed away before that 50-year clock ran out. From there, the team brought in a genealogist in France who tracked down her birth, marriage, and death records, and caught a name discrepancy in one of my father’s documents that could have caused problems down the line. Once that was fixed, everything lined up, and I finally had a solid application package to submit.”
— Shawn, United States
Becoming a German citizen after 70 years
“My family fled Germany to escape Nazi persecution. My mother never held a German passport from that time and later became a citizen of another country. She had very few surviving documents, and by 1954, she had lost her habitual residence in Germany altogether. With HLG’s help, I began searching for documents connecting my family back to Germany. We found a photograph of my grandfather wearing a German military uniform, and the team helped locate my mother’s birth certificate at the local civil registry in Germany. After more than 70 years, my family and I were finally able to reclaim German citizenship. It felt like restoring a part of my family’s history and reclaiming a right that had been unjustly taken from us.”
— Isabella, Australia
From a DIY Application to a Well-Supported Citizenship Claim
“After Bill C-3 passed, I figured I would apply for Canadian citizenship by descent on my own, as the process looked simple enough on paper. I pulled together birth, marriage, and death records I had found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, but IRCC came back requesting official records to prove my full chain of descent. That is when I learned that documentation from genealogy websites may not count as official civil proof. After getting that request letter, I brought in HLG. They figured out exactly what was missing, introduced me to a genealogist who helped track down the official records straight from the source, and organized everything to clearly show my lineage. What I thought would be simple turned out to need real research and legal know-how and with their help, my initial DIY attempt became a complete, well-documented application.”
— Nick, United States
News Digest
AFRICA
- Morocco’s parliament receives petition to grant citizenship to all descendants of Moroccan Jews (The Jerusalem Post)
AMERICAS & CARRIBEAN
- Ottawa reverses orders to surrender some ‘lost Canadian’ citizenship certificates (Yahoo News)
- Canada’s proof of citizenship processing time jumps to 19 months, queue nears almost 100,000 applicants (Businessday NG)
- US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship in blow to Trump (BBC)
- Applications for Mexican citizenship increase in Texas (Spectrum News 1)
- New York family secures Trinidad and Tobago citizenship under Grandparent Law (Guardian Media)
EUROPE & UNITED KINGDOM
- Number of Nazi victims’ descendants given German citizenship jumped 61% in 2025 (The Times of Israel)
- Italian Judges Backpedal and Allow EU’s Top Court to Rule on Legality of Citizenship Restrictions; ‘Minor Issue’ Struck Down by Italian Supreme Court (Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations)
- Revocation ends “minor issue” in Italian citizenship (Italianismo)
- The most important Slovak legislative changes effective from 15 July 2026 (IOM Migration Information Centre)
MIDDLE EAST
- “Syrian Nationality Law” Conference Examines Discrimination Against Women and Risks of Statelessness (The Syrian Observer)
OTHERS
- Five Ways to Get EU Citizenship Without Writing a Check (IMI Daily)