The Italian Consulate General in São Paulo is expected to begin issuing the Electronic Identity Card (CIE) only in the second half of 2025, according to information from consular sources.
The project, launched in 2019 by the Italian government, aims to provide a secure and modern identity document for Italians living abroad, facilitating relations with the Italian Public Administration.
However, implementation has been delayed due to technical issues and lack of infrastructure.
Advances and challenges in the CIE project
The process of issuing the Electronic Identity Card for Italians residing abroad began to be implemented through a decree signed in 2015 and continued in 2019, during the management of Matteo Salvini, then Italy's Minister of the Interior.
At that time, the CIE It was initially expanded to some countries in the European Union and then to Latin America, but the project encountered difficulties in developing fully.
Since Antonio Tajani took office as Italy's Foreign Minister, the project appears to have lost priority. According to sources consulted by Italianismo, orders coming directly from the minister's office instructed consulates not to prioritize the issuance of the CIE or the implementation of services related to the document.
This resulted in delays and a low issuance rate, even in countries where the testing phase had already begun, such as Argentina and, later, Brazil.
Lack of infrastructure and continuous delays
The lack of infrastructure and technical limitations, supposedly intentional, are indicated as the main reasons for the delays in issuing the CIE at Italian consulates outside Europe.
Although the Italian Embassy in Brasilia and the Italian consulate in Belo Horizonte have started the service, many users have difficulty scheduling the issuance of the CIE, which demonstrates the lack of support and organization of the process.
Tajani and his position on citizenship
Responsible for Italian consular offices around the world, Antonio Tajani — who will be in Brazil in October for a series of business meetings and bilateral agreements — recently expressed a controversial opinion when he stated that Italian-Brazilians only "They only want the passport to travel abroad.".
Furthermore, Tajani is an advocate for changes to the rules of Italian citizenship, aiming to make the recognition process more rigorous for descendants of Italians.Being Italian is not linked to seven generations“The minister recently said, referring to the thousands of Italian-Brazilians seeking Italian citizenship.
