Abstract

The implementation of Italian citizenship law sees the increasing participation of both for-profit and not-for-profit non-State actors: lawyers, translators, brokers, immigrant and emigrant association, unions and other civil society organizations. Being entitled to the national citizenship of an EU-member State open up one of the strongest sets of civil, social, political and mobility rights within the sharply unequal and segregated global citizenship regime. Furthermore, naturalization is perceived as a major prerogative of the nation-State and the participation of non-State actors challenges the nature of this «national» public encounter. However, compared to implementation studies on migration control and asylum policies, the role of non- State actors in citizenship policies remains an overlooked aspect on which the article aims to shed light. Grounding on a set of in-depth interviews with non-State law intermediaries, and on a netnography of digital spaces dedicated to legal-administrative assistance in Italian citizenship acquisition procedures.