Bolsonaro says ‘by legislation’ he is Italian and would have ‘full citizenship’

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed that, under Italian law, he “is Italian”.

According to Bolsonaro, the fact that his grandparents were Italian would qualify him to apply for “full citizenship” in the European country.

“My family is from Padua (a province in Italy). By legislation, I am Italian. I have grandparents born in Italy. Your legislation says that I am Italian,” he said in a statement given to a reporter from the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera in Orlando.

When asked if he intends to apply for dual citizenship, the former president only stated that, with “very little bureaucracy, I would have full citizenship”.

Bolsonaro has been in Florida, USA, since December 30 and entered the country before the end of his term in a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane.

Official visa holders who are no longer in the position or mission that took them to the United States have 30 days to request a change of status, a deadline that expired last Monday, December 30.

With the expiration of the deadline for using the official visa, Bolsonaro even started the process of changing his visa in the United States to a tourist visa and staying in the country for another six months.

While this request is being processed, he stays in the country regularly.

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) said his father has no deadline to return to Brazil.

“There is no prediction, he (Bolsonaro) knows. It may be tomorrow, six months from now, or he may never return. I don’t know. You have never taken a vacation, have you?” asked Flávio.

On January 10, questioned by members of the Italian opposition, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a radio station that Bolsonaro had not applied for citizenship.

In the United States, US President Joe Biden is under internal pressure from Democratic congressmen because of Bolsonaro’s stay in the US – 46 US congressmen asked Biden not to allow Bolsonaro to stay in the US and for the FBI to investigate whether the coup acts in Brasilia were planned on US territory.

With information from Exame

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