Co-financed by the
European Fund for the
Integration of ThirdCountry Nationals
Access to citizenship & its impact on
immigrant integration (ACIT)
Determinants of naturalisation?
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?
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
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
• N=7489
% citizenship, by destination country
High HDI
Medium/Low HDI
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
LUX IRE SPA GRE FIN POR SWI BEL Total NOR DEN AUT GER FRA
UK
NET
HDI = Human Development Index of immigrant’s origin country
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
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
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%
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
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].