External and residence-based Italian citizenship in the Brexit context

Abstract

Brexit, which caused Britons to lose EU citizenship and EU citizens in the UK to lose EU legislation protection, represents a challenge for the citizenships of EU member states. In this context, I explore the experiences with respect to Italian citizenship of Italians in the UK, Britons in Italy, and Britons in the UK and elsewhere with claims to Italian citizenship. I show how Italian citizenship legislation, despite recent restrictions, still offers good protection to Italians abroad and relatives of Italian citizens. While naturalisation by residence in Italy is characterised by exclusionary requirements, I show how the British population in Italy also includes long-term residents who have not sought naturalisation despite meeting the requirements well before Brexit. Beyond the letter of the law, procedures of naturalisation and the functioning of the linked institutions – especially consulates – are key in the experience of citizenship. For some interviewees, it was less complex to meet the requirements in the letter of the law than to prove it through the procedures. More generally, the analysis shows the complexity of citizenship in its internal and external dimensions, in the stratification of the experiences for different profiles of citizens and applicants, and in the interaction between the letter of the law and its implementation.