Acquisition Of Citizenship Research Articles

Challenges and future prospects of EU Citizenship

Abstract This paper explores the evolution, rights, challenges, and future prospects of European Union (EU) citizenship. Tracing its origins from the early stages of European integration to the present day, the paper examines the development of EU citizenship rights and their impact on individuals’ lives within the EU. It delves into the rights and benefits conferred by EU citizenship, including free movement, social entitlements, and political participation. Furthermore, the paper discusses the challenges and controversies surrounding EU citizenship, such as citizenship acquisition, integration policies, and the implications of Brexit. Through case studies and comparative analysis, it offers insights into member state practices and legal precedents shaping EU citizenship. Looking ahead, the paper explores potential reforms, challenges, and opportunities for strengthening EU citizenship in the context of evolving European integration. Additionally, it underscores the importance of citizenship education and awareness in fostering civic engagement and promoting a sense of belonging among EU citizens. By providing a comprehensive analysis of EU citizenship, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on European identity and integration, with implications for policymakers, scholars, and citizens alike.

Socialization, citizenship and the electoral integration of refugees: evidence from Sweden

ABSTRACT This article seeks to fill a research gap by analysing refugees’ voting behavior, using Sweden (known for high refugee immigration, relatively liberal enfranchisement rules, and comprehensive electoral data) as a case study. Relying on register data on turnout from Swedish municipal elections, the article sheds new light on how the political integration of refugees varies. We test theories of resocialization and examine the extent to which a refugee’s political integration is affected by the surrounding environment, focusing on the political culture of the areas surrounding their neighborhoods. The results show that two major factors strongly affect refugee turnout rates: the acquisition of citizenship, and the degree of diversity of nationality in the districts in which refugees live, based on different experiences of “bonding” and “bridging” with the surrounding environment.

Acquired Citizenship & Role of Apparent Status in Proving It: A Comparative Study

The apparent situation is a method of establishing nationality where an individual can invoke it if he or she loses proof of his or her belonging to the country that claims to be entitled to his or her nationality. s nationality ", a legal situation in which an individual is unable to prove his or her nationality in order to lose evidence of his or her acquisition of citizenship from official documents or an incidental occurrence that has made the question of his or her nationality doubtful to the State in which he or she lives.

Immigration status and adolescents’ voting intention in European countries: The importance of immigrant integration policy context

This article investigates whether policy efforts to integrate immigrants into society can have interpretive effects and motivate adolescents of immigrant origin in European countries to engage in the host country’s political system. We find that countries with more inclusive integration policies tend to have smaller gaps in voting intention between adolescents of immigrant origin and those not of immigrant origin, holding constant an array of individual and family politically relevant resources. Specifically, differences across countries in the inclusiveness of education policies appear to be a strong predictor of the magnitude of voting intention gaps between first-generation and native adolescents. In the case of second-generation vs. native gaps in voting intention, the inclusiveness of citizenship acquisition policies emerges as a key predictor. In these times of strong polarization and anti-immigration discourse across Europe, our findings are particularly relevant for policymakers and researchers in their efforts to address what might be done to help promote the long-term political integration of immigrants and their descendants.

Strangers and Foreigners: Trust and Attitudes toward Citizenship in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract This study explores the factors that shape natives’ attitudes toward citizenship acquisition for foreigners. The hypothesis is that, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the slave trade represents a deep determinant of contemporary attitudes toward citizenship, through a proximate determinant which is the level of trust. Accordingly, individuals belonging to ethnic groups with higher exposure to historical slave exports are more likely to exhibit a sense of distrust toward strangers, and are consequently more likely to oppose citizenship laws that favor the inclusion of foreigners. The findings indicate that individuals with higher levels of trust toward other people do exhibit more favorable attitudes regarding the acquisition of citizenship at birth for children of foreigners, that these attitudes are also negatively related to the intensity of the slave trade, and that the underlying inverse relationship between trust and the slave trade is confirmed. Other factors such as conflict, kinship tightness, and witchcraft beliefs, which could also influence attitudes toward citizenship through the channel of trust, do not yield the same distinct pattern of associations as observed with the slave trade.

Procedures for the Acquisition of Citizenship in the Republic of Kosovo

The Republic of Kosovo is a parliamentary republic that declared its independence on February 17, 2008. Currently, Kosovo is in the stage of institutional, political, and economic development and consolidation, and is strongly advancing toward the Euro-Atlantic integration process. States, in principle, within the domestic power they possess, have the right to regulate the procedures and requirements of acquiring and revoking citizenship, which can be considered as an element and instrument of the exercise of state sovereignty. However, states are generally careful when drafting legislation regarding citizenship to align their legal guidelines with important international instruments. The Council of Europe’s Convention on Nationality, along with the Law on Citizenship of Kosovo and those of other states subject to comparison, are the subject of this paper. The new Law on Citizenship (which is currently in force) was approved in 2013. This law defines the modalities of acquisition, loss, and re-acquisition of citizenship of Kosovo and other issues related to citizenship. The main focus of this article is the correct definition and fair implementation of the procedures, criteria and requirements of the modalities for obtaining the citizenship of Kosovo through the Law on Citizenship of Kosovo and other related laws. Such an approach will contribute, no matter how little, in facilitating a fairer execution of the Law on Citizenship of Kosovo.

Натурализация мигрантов: современные тенденции

With the widespread recognition of the concept of human dignity and universal human rights standards, the rigid boundaries between the concept of citizen and alien are blurring. Many individuals reside outside the State of their citizenship on a long-term basis. Migrants cannot be viewed as a homogeneous community, but differ in terms of their states of origin, grounds, purposes and duration of stay, visa regimes, professional qualifications, and future migration plans. However, widespread transnational migration creates real problems for migrant receiving states due to the erosion of socio-cultural homogeneity of the population; an increase in the number of groups with different value systems living on the same territory; a fairly high proportion of migrants among those who break the law or are unemployed; the creation by some migrant communities of parallel economies, shadow social structures and the use of social norms of the country of origin in their relations. Rising tensions and clashes between migrants and natives are contributing to the tightening of state policies on migrant reception. Acquisition of citizenship is beginning to be more tightly coordinated with migration policy and considered in the light of social cohesion. The introduction of new criteria required for citizenship (linguistic, integration, economic) is largely oriented towards identifying culturally close economically self-sufficient migrants whose values are not particularly different from those shared by the majority in the host society. In the sphere of legal regulation, two factors significantly influence the level of naturalisation — the introduction of dual citizenship and the possibility of acquiring citizenship by birth on the territory of the country.

Законодательство о гражданстве Российской Федерации — современный этап развития

The aim of the article is to analyse the main directions of reforming the legislation on Russian citizenship in correlation with the objectives of migration policy of the Russian Federation. The author considers the necessity of overcoming geopolitical threats, integration of new subjects into the Russian Federation, protection of compatriots’ rights, solution of demographic problems, adaptation and integration of migrants into the Russian society as such tasks. It is concluded that the problems of regulation of citizenship issues have become more relevant in connection with the aggravated international situation. The article analyses the grounds for the acquisition and termination of Russian citizenship, enshrined in the Federal Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” adopted in 2023, as well as in the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation adopted thereafter. The general trend that can be traced in the development of legislation on citizenship — the simplification of the procedure for its acquisition for natives of friendly countries, close to us in language, culture, traditions, along with the tightening of the requirements of legislation in respect of persons who pose a threat to national security and law and order of the Russian Federation — has been revealed.

Heroic citizenship

ABSTRACT This paper examines the issue of heroism as a sufficient condition for the acquisition of citizenship. I define heroism as exceptional, supererogatory, and risky acts of altruism and heroic citizenship as the reward for a heroic action carried out by a non-citizen resident of membership rights. I mobilize in particular the case of Mamoudou Gassama, ‘the Spiderman of Paris’, who was naturalized by the French President in 2018 after saving a child. While such positive outcomes for people in precarious legal and political situations are valuable, I provide a critical analysis of the ideological scaffolding and political meaning of heroic citizenship, i.e. how it is publicly justified and practiced. I argue that heroic citizenship constitutes a fiat of citizenship that reproduces a problematic picture of citizenship, relying on three ideological tropes: nationalism, sovereigntism, and moralism. Heroic citizenship represents the other side of a broader policy trend that has transformed citizenship into a privilege to earn.

The Role of the Oath Taken by Foreigners for Becoming Naturalized Russian Citizens (from the 15th to the Early 20th Century)

This article considers the role of the oath of Russian citizenship as confirmation that foreigners become naturalized as Russian citizens. The concepts of “cross kissing”, “cross-kissing record”, and “oath” are examined in relation to the procedure of citizenship acquisition in Russia from the 15th to the early 20th century. Particular emphasis is placed on the genesis of the essence and scope of the oath institution in Russia. A comparative analysis is performed on the oaths taken by foreigners to assume the positions of public officials and subjects of the Russian emperors. The obtained results show that the change of citizenship did not entail compulsory religious conversion as long as the 17th century. All applicants for Russian citizenship had the right to take the oath in their native language and in front of the clergy member representing the religion they professed. As the oath of citizenship gained legitimacy and popularity in Russia, the lawmakers tried to unify the procedure, while ensuring that the oath text and ceremony remain sacred.

Электоральное участие неграждан в контексте политики интеграции иммигрантов в европейских странах (кейсы Швеции, Финляндии, Бельгии и Люксембурга)

The article analyses the electoral participation of non-citizens of third countries residing in the member states of the European Union in the context of the integration policy of immigrants. The aim of the work is to assess the level of participation of non-citizens from third countries in municipal elections, depending on the degree of electoral inclusion in European states. Examples of countries with different systems of granting active voting rights to non-naturalised immigrants are Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg. In order to achieve this goal, a theoretical and conceptual basis for the study, built upon the theory of integration of immigrants through participation, was formulated, and the participation rate of non-citizens from third countries in the municipal legislatures of Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg was examined. Nowadays, in a number of European states, voting rights are an instrument of integration policy, as increased electoral opportunities for non-citizens of third countries in municipal elections encourage their inclusion in the host society. At the same time, by providing the opportunity to vote, governments have introduced additional implicit exclusion mechanisms that, in the context of discrimination, xenophobia and language problems, significantly reduce the participation of unnaturalized immigrants. As a result, three “ideal” types of access systems for non-naturalised immigrants from third countries to municipal elections have emerged within the European Union: exclusive, partially inclusive and inclusive. Among the countries surveyed, Sweden is one of the most inclusive, with the highest turnout of non-citizens from third countries. Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg have partially inclusive systems that imply institutional and symbolic barriers to participation. Participation in these countries is lower than in Sweden, and the more restrictive the system, the lower the participation rates. Thus, the voter turnout and degree of integration into the host society of the social group surveyed were lower in countries with a less inclusive electoral system. In states with varying degrees of electoral inclusion, non-citizens’ participation in elections has increased over time, but they continue to be inferior to naturalised immigrants and birthright citizens, while the acquisition of citizenship is a key tool for their integration into the political system of the recipient society. As such, voting rights cannot stimulate integration; a systemic integration policy, additional incentives for participation, information and advertising campaigns are needed.

ІММІГРАЦІЯ ЧЕХІВ НА УКРАЇНСЬКІ ЗЕМЛІ В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ ХІХ СТ.

The late 60s and early 70s of the nineteenth century were a favorable period for the settlement of Czechs in the Volyn lands. The immigration of Czechs from Moravia to Volyn was caused primarily by economic factors. The impoverishment of Czech peasants, artisans, and workers forced them to seek a better life outside of the Czech lands. Ukrainian lands, in particular Volyn, became one of the destinations of emigration at that time. The appearance of Czech settlers in Volyn was connected with the desire of some Polish nobility to get rid of their property and leave the Russian Empire. The situation in the Ukrainian lands after the January Uprising opened up the possibility for Czechs to buy land for settlement. At first, land purchases were uncontrolled and often took place in violation of the law. Unfair treatment by intermediaries who tried to profit from those wishing to buy land was not uncommon. For the Russian authorities, the appearance of Czechs in Volyn became a form of pressure on Catholic Polish people. Support, benefits, preferences, and accelerated acquisition of Russian citizenship by the Czechs were steps taken by the Russian government. Separate settlements and districts were created for the Czechs. As for the religious issue, there was a “soft coercion” to convert from the Roman Catholic to the Orthodox Church. However, the Czechs were not particularly concerned about the religious issue, as the arrangement of their own economy, the establishment of private small industries, and the creation of decent living conditions were the priority tasks they set for themselves. Over time, the Russian authorities began to gradually limit benefits and reduce concessions to the Czechs. Seeing that the political plans to create a powerful anti-Catholic force out of the Czechs did not materialize, in 1884 a decree was issued prohibiting Czech immigrants from buying land in Volyn. For a time, Czech immigration to Ukrainian lands stopped, but at the same time, Czech immigrants who had already settled down became an important component of the development of industry and entrepreneurship in the late nineteenth century.

The 2022 Decision of the Italian Corte di Cassazione on the Brazilian “Great Naturalization” and the Condition of Italian Citizens Resident in Brazil in the late 19th Century

Abstract The so-called Brazilian “Great Naturalization,” stemming from Decree No. 58-A of 1889 and the 1891 Constitution of Brazil provided for the mass naturalization of foreigners residing in Brazil at that time. This measure was heavily criticized by European States, including the then Kingdom of Italy, due to the risk of interference with the citizenship bond of such foreigners with their countries of origin. That measure would indeed, plenty of times, result in the loss or renunciation of original citizenship in case of acquisition of a new citizenship. Against that backdrop, Italy’s Avvocatura Generale dello Stato (Italy’s Office of the State Attorneys) has recently challenged before Italian courts requests for the recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis filed by descendants of Italian emigrants who were in Brazil at the time of the “Great Naturalization”. The issue reached the Corte di Cassazione, which, in Judgment No. 25317/2022, found in favour of the descendants and held that they had not lost Italian citizenship on the grounds of a tacit waiver. This commentary seeks to assess whether the said judgment is in line with the international and Italian legal frameworks governing citizenship rights. To be sure, the conclusion of the Court of Cassation has averted a dangerous precedent, according to which loss of citizenship may occur without an express act of will from its holder.

The discretionary power of EU member states and national public administrations in according their citizenship (ius pecuniae)

The exercise of discretionary power by the administration when it performs regulatory or implementation tasks may be necessary, and sometimes politically expedient. It may, however, undermine business confidence and, more generally, citizens’ allegiance to the political system. It is not therefore surprising that many governments are implementing policies for reducing or eliminating administrative discretion3 . Access to citizenship status is an important prerequisite for enjoying rights and privileges, such as migration and political rights, as well as for developing a sense of identity and belonging. Since the establishment of Union citizenship, all persons who are nationals or citizens of an EU Member State enjoy the status of EU citizenship, which confers on them a number of additional rights and privileges. However, Member States retain full control over who can be recognized as a citizen. In the last years is also a phenomenon in which member states have proposed more liberal policies related to European citizenship acquisition based on the need to revive their economies and finances or also in order to attract more working forces due to their population which is aging quite fast. The objective of this study is to analyze the discretionary power of the administrative institutions and internal policies of member states in according their citizenship in relation to their obligations toward European Union mainly after February 2022.

A not-so ‘natural’ decision: impact of bureaucratic trajectories on forced migrants’ intention and ability to naturalise

ABSTRACT For forced migrants who lack unqualified state protection, citizenship acquisition serves as the only secure way to graduate from legally precarious conditions. However, despite the seemingly obvious upside, the decision to naturalise is not necessarily automatic and for those who do choose to move forward, the process is rarely straightforward. Based on 30 interviews with Syrian forced migrants in Berlin, we address why some applicants who are eligible to naturalise choose not to apply and why eligibility ‘on paper’ does not necessarily translate to ability to naturalise ‘in practice’. By combining literature on migrants’ experiences with street-level bureaucracy and individual-level determinants of naturalisation, the primary objective of this article is to advance our understanding of how citizenship and non-citizenship decisions are made. In order to do so, we build upon the two-step intention-ability framework and in particular introduce ‘bureaucratic trajectory’ as a significant determinant of one’s intention to apply and practical ability to acquire citizenship beyond eligibility. We demonstrate how perceived discretionary implementation and red tape not only constrain but also entice migrants to develop strategies to ‘enable’ access to citizenship.

Timing of citizenship acquisition and immigrants’ children educational outcomes: a family fixed-effects approach

Abstract Various studies suggest a positive effect of host country citizenship on the educational outcomes of immigrants’ children. However, little is known about when and for whom citizenship matters and how much this is affected by potential endogeneity in the relationship between parental citizenship acquisition and their children’s educational outcomes. Focusing on the Netherlands, this article exploits siblings’ variation in their exposure to naturalization in order to net out the effect of time-constant parental characteristics. Results from a linear mixed model show that children who acquire Dutch citizenship have a substantial advantage in terms of academic performance over those who are still foreign citizens, especially if they naturalized in early childhood. A novel bounding estimator that gauges the sensitivity of the estimates to omitted variable bias confirms the robustness of these results. Moreover, the effects of citizenship are concentrated among students whose parents are at a disadvantage in the labour market and housing market, shedding light on hitherto under-explored effect heterogeneity.

Breaking the Ancestral Silence: Recognition of Citizenship by Descent Despite the Great Brazilian Naturalization

Abstract This case note recounts and critically analyzes a judgment with which the Italian Corte di Cassazione has pronounced itself on the acquisition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis by descendants of Italian ancestors who had allegedly renounced their citizenship upon tacit acceptance of mass naturalization in Brazil. The case note argues that the judgment has effectively resorted to the preclusion of inferences from silence to protect the fundamental status of citizenship from loss. Nonetheless, it claims that the relationship between national rules on modes of acquisition of citizenship and EU citizenship should have been better framed.

미국 시민권 미취득 입양인 문제 해결을 위한 미국입법 현황과 한인 입양인의 추방 방지를 위한 우리의 대응

The ｢2021 Adoptee Citizenship Act｣ was issued by the House of Representatives on March 3, 2021, and the U.S. Senate on March 25, 2021. It is a bill that amends Section 320(b) of the ｢Immigration and Nationality Act｣ within U.S. Federal Law. If the U.S. Congress passes the ｢2021 Adoptee Citizenship Act｣, the number of adopted children who were born in a third country and automatically acquire U.S. citizenship after being adopted by U.S. citizens could increase in comparison to the time period ｢2000 Child Citizenship Act｣ has been in effect. Presently, the Overseas Director of Korean Consular Affairs, the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles, civic group that campaign for the rights of adoptees in the United States, as well as Korean American groups, are making efforts to pass the bill.
 Although the Biden administration has made significant positive amendments to the immigration regulations of the Trump administration, the bill is still in a deadlock along with other significant immigration reform bills proposed by the Biden administration and the prospects for the passage of the bill remain unclear. In addition, even if the ｢2021 Adoptee Citizenship Act｣ passes, the law could not be a remedy for all the Korean adoptees (their estimated number is 19,000) who have not been able to receive U.S. citizenship.
 Hence, South Korea needs to understand the situation of the adoptees who have not acquired U.S. citizenship and should individually and legally support these people so that they could obtain the legal status of residence and citizenship within the United States. As South Korean supports Korean adoptees in their acquisition of citizenship, it is of utmost importance to respect the territorial sovereignty of the United States and pay close attention not to undermine the friendly relationship between the two sides. Meanwhile, the United States needs to actively seek legislative measures for granting citizenship to all Korean non-citizen adoptees based on the principle of respect for human rights (the right to family reunification in this case). These are people who legally entered the United States immediately after birth, under the connivance of the governments of the two sides, and have lived all their lives in the United States as children of parents who are U.S. citizens. However, classifying them as illegally residing foreigners and deporting them from the United States is quite an inhumane and humiliating treatment to those people of concern who naturally consider the United States as their homeland.

Iranians as real estate purchasers and international students: Transformation of Turkish-Iranian migration corridor

ABSTRACT In case of migration of Iranian nationals, while Mediterranean countries are hesitant to accept Iranian undergraduate students and do not admit applications from Iranian citizens due to sanctions, Turkey has increasingly been preferred by Iranian students and individuals who purchase real estate in Turkey in return of residency permit in the last decade. By revealing the South-South migration in context of capital intensified migration in Turkey, the article argues that the introduction of citizenship-by-investment category in 2016 regulating the exceptional acquisition of Turkish citizenship and increasing quotas for international students have motivated more Iranian students to apply undergraduate programs in Turkey and Iranian nationals to buy real estate in Turkey. This transformation in Turkish migration domain isin line with the neoliberal logic and demands of market by commodifying both citizenship and education. In unfolding motivations of Iranians, the research utilizes qualitative data collection technique in which I conduct twenty-five semi-structured interviews with Iranian undergraduate students and real estate purchasers. Interviews suggest that the mobility of Iranian students and investors offers a unique example in the Mediterranean region as Turkey has become a plausible option for Iranian nationals who can obtain an alternative way to exit from Iran.

Citizenship by Investment - Latest Development in the European Union

This paper covers citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes in the European Union (EU) context which allow to acquire nationality of the EU member state through targeted investments. We were verifying whether the negative attitude of the EU towards the CBI schemes of member states and the ongoing war in Ukraine threaten their very existence. In order to achieve the objective, we analysed the rules on the acquisition of citizenship by naturalization as well as the relationship between nationality of the EU member states, which is still their exclusive competence and the EU citizenship status. Subsequently, we compared CBI schemes of three EU member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta). The results show that the EU has put pressure on member states to cancel their CBI programs because of the complex relationship between the national citizenship on the one hand and the EU citizenship and related rights enforceable across the whole EU on the other hand. This EU pressure has been further intensified following the war in Ukraine. The reason is that Russian nationals made up a significant number of CBI applicants and also because some Russian or Belarusian nationals who are supporting the war in Ukraine might have acquired EU citizenship under CBI schemes. Of the three countries we analysed, only Malta currently has a valid CBI program. Bulgaria and Cyprus abolished their CBI programs. This development indicates that the EU has gradually succeeded in eliminating the existence of CBI in the EU member states. However, it is not yet clear whether this practice of member states is contrary to the EU law. We assume that the Court of Justice of the EU will resolve this question in the ongoing infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission against Malta.