‘The wind has been taken from my sails’: New Italian citizenship rules derail dreams of returning home

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Sonia Perrino McCarvil discusses changes to Italy’s citizenship system that have her feeling shut ou

‘I wanted to go back to our roots’

For Sonia Perrino McCarvill, the dream was simple — to return home.

Not as a tourist, but as a citizen.

After burying her mother in Italy in October 2024, that dream took on a new urgency. Standing in the country where her family roots run deep, the Winnipeg resident imagined a future where she could visit more often as an Italian citizen.

“I felt that I wanted to go back to our roots, because I was born Italian,” McCarvill told CTVNews.ca in a Zoom interview.

But a sudden shift in Italy’s citizenship landscape has brought that dream to a halt — leaving McCarvill feeling “outraged” and shut out from a country she has always considered her own.

The Italian government changed its laws around citizenship by descent a year ago, on March 28, 2025 — a move that was reinforced last month when Italy’s constitutional court gave notice that it would reject the first legal argument against the law.

By emergency decree, the Italian government cited the spiralling numbers of citizens by descent who had never lived in Italy.

CTVNews.ca asked readers to share their stories. Here’s what they said.

A system that stopped her cold

“Someone, somewhere wasn’t doing their homework to see where the bloodline was,” McCarvill said.

Previously, anyone with an Italian ancestor, including a great-grandparent, could seek citizenship and apply for an Italian passport under what was known as a “right of blood” rule.

The new rule, called the “minor issue,” said that if a parent of an Italian child born abroad naturalized while their kids were still underage, that would “cut” the line of descent.

McCarvill was born in 1968 to Italian parents who had not yet become Canadian citizens. By birth, she says, her identity was clear.

From the 1982 FIFA World Cup win for Italy that saw droves of Italians marching down Grant Avenue in Winnipeg to indulging in Italian folk dance back in the ’80s, Italy was never distant for McCarvill.

On June 14, 1972, McCarvill’s parents naturalized and renounced their Italian citizenship to become Canadians. In 1990, her parents took their Italian nationality back and became dual citizens.

In August 2025, McCarvill’s husband began looking at properties. What started as a possibility quickly became a plan.

After putting a $10,000 deposit on a property in Sicily, McCarvill said she began the citizenship process before hitting an unexpected wall.

Emails to the Italian Consulate in Toronto went unanswered and attempts to book an appointment online led nowhere, despite having all of the required documents in place.

“There’s complete lack of transparency”, she said. “They should have just said right on the website ... stop me there.”

They ultimately walked away from the purchase — and the deposit.

“The choice to not purchase ... was because because of all the loopholes that were required to stay in Italy as a non-citizen,” McCarvill said.

A dream on pause

Giovanni Boni of Collingwood, Ont., has spent years travelling to Italy with his family in the summer and had considered moving there.

Boni’s direct lineage is from his father who was born in Italy in 1957 and immigrated to Canada in 1964.

Boni, who is a real estate agent, has been trying to book a meeting at the Italian consulate in Toronto for four years. When he found about the new law, he and his family were in the process of booking a four-month rental this summer in order to apply for citizenship.

The new law is “devastating,” he said.

“We have been putting our life on hold here for 3 years started the process of liquidating our assets and looking for houses to buy in Italy,” Boni said in his email.

For Holly Labonte of Cold Lake, Alta., the process of applying for dual citizenship has been an “extensive and emotional journey.”

Her grandfather and grandmother were born in Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1930. Her father was born shortly after.

“My main motivation for applying was to ensure that my daughter and son would also have the opportunity to obtain Italian citizenship and connect with their heritage,” Labonte said in an email to CTVNews.ca.

Shortly after losing both her parents within six months of each other, her dad in October 2019 and her mom in April 2020, Labonte began the process. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) began reviewing her grandmother’s naturalization and citizenship records for two years — a process estimated to take no more than nine months.

While she was waiting, the law changed.

“Exploring my family’s roots became an important part of my healing,” she said.

‘Last piece of my puzzle’

First generation Italian-Canadian Nella Floccari said her parents came from Italy to have a better life. “I am the product of their dreams and sacrifices.”

The Ottawa resident said she never thought the right to obtain Italian citizenship could be taken away.

With the passing of her parents, “it feels especially important (to) feel a part of Italy, to deepen my connection to my parents through my Italian heritage,” she said in her email.

Floccari said she’s “shocked, disappointed and heartbroken,” adding Italy, which she described as “warm, hospitable,” has closed the door on her family.

Floccari said she hopes the Italian government will reconsider and give people back the “right to our roots.”

Beyond the financial loss, McCarvill said the hardest part is something less-tangible — a sense of disconnection. Her extended family still lives in Italy and continue to invite her to visit.

“It just would have been really nice to have that last piece of my puzzle completed,” she said.

Instead, she feels that decision has been taken out of her hands. “I just don’t like someone else dictating to me ... how to have my nationality.

“It just kind of felt like the wind has been completely taken from my sails.”

For now, McCarvill has put her plans on hold, waiting and hoping for a change.

With files from CTVNews.ca’s Daniel Otis, CNN