Kellen Matwick, his wife Jacqueline and their two children moved to Italy in 2024 to claim their citizenship, but were told they were no longer citizens a year after the Italian government changed its laws around citizenship by descent. The law was introduced without warning and cited the large number of citizens by descent who had never lived in Italy as its main reason for its creation. Matwick is one of many who had moved to the country to reclaim their citizenship but had the rules changed before the paperwork was completed. With no grace period for those already in the country working through initial steps of the process, he has been left in limbo in Italy unable to apply for jobs, travel, or access healthcare as he waits for his legal situation to be resolved. Immigrating as an Italian descendant requires several bureaucratic steps, including finding a long-term rental contract, registering with a local authority, acquiring a residency permit from the police, and presenting their paperwork to the local authorities.