Access to citizenship

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Co-financed by the European Fund for the
Integration of Third-Country Nationals
Access to citizenship its impact on immigrant
integration (ACIT) Determinants of
naturalisation?

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Question

• Why do some immigrants who are resident in Europe
  naturalise, but others not?
• what is the relevance of varying citizenship
  policies in the context of origin country and
  individual characteristics?

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Citizenship added value for immigrants

• secure residence status (right of abode)
• economic pay-off (eg employability)
• social and political incorporation (eg vote)

Marshal 1964 Baubock 1994 OECD 2011 cf. Soysal
1994
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Data

• European Social Survey
• Pooled dataset of 5 surveys between 2002-2010
• 16 European countries (Western Europe)
• First generation immigrants
• Persons born outside test country and whose both
  parents were also born abroad
• Arrived in test country at/after age of 18
• At least 5 years residence
• N7489

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citizenship, by destination country
HDI Human Development Index of immigrants
origin country
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Explaining naturalization I
Probability of having destination country
citizenship by level of development of origin
country (controlled for gender, age, years of
residence, education, employment status)
Immigrants from low HDI country 2.5 times more
likely to naturalise
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Explaining naturalization II

• In addition to origin, what also matters
• Age and years of residence
• Gender and marital status
• Education and employment
• mainly for immigrants from low HDI countries
• Language spoken at home
• Dual citizenship (origin x destination)
• And citizenship policy
• only for immigrants from low HDI countries

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Explaining naturalization III
Predicted probability of having destination
country citizenship by MIPEX Access to
Nationality (by years of residence in destination
country)
Immigrants (low HDI) resident 6-10 years
probability increases 20 ? 60
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Explaining naturalization conclusion

• Citizenship take-up influenced primarily by where
  immigrant is from, but destination country also
  matters
• Novelty accessible citizenship policies matter
  little for immigrants from highly developed
  countries (it is mainly residence that counts),
  but matter significantly for immigrants from less
  developed countries
• ? for the question of how much it matters where
  one goes, it also matters where one is from

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Further reading

• Dronkers, J. and M. Vink (2012). Explaining
  Access to Citizenship in Europe How Policies
  Affect Naturalisation Rates. European Union
  Politics 13(3) 390-412.
• Vink, M., T. Prokic-Breuer and J. Dronkers
  (2013). Immigrant naturalization in the context
  of institutional diversity policy matters, but
  to whom? under review.