In an 11th hour hitch, a 56-year-old Indian woman in Italy has been barred from gaining citizenship by a mayor who said her language skills are not good. Puspha Rani was blocked from citizenship by the mayor of Cairate, in northern Italy, who stopped her from swearing the oath of allegiance by arguing her Italian was not good enough.
The oath was to be Rani’s last step towards gaining citizenship, after getting all the necessary approval from the Italian authorities. Mayor Paolo Mazzucchelli, from the anti-immigration Northern league party, instead advised her to take a language course. Rani has lived in Italy for 15 years and said she struggles with learning the country’s language.