1. Comparing Naturalisation Policies in Europe Rainer Bauböck European University Institute, Florence Naturalisation and the Socio-Economic Integration of Immigrants and their Children OECD/EC seminar 14-15 October 2010 Brussels

2. The EUDO CITIZENSHIP Observatory Building on the NATAC and EUCITAC projects General goal – comprehensive and systematic comparison of acquisition and loss of citizenship status in EU Member States and neighbouring countries Main tools –country reports: currently 40 Armenia, Belarus, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco forthcoming –national and international legal databases –typology of modes of acquisition and loss –naturalisation statistics –comparative analyses –debating forum, news section, working papers, bibliography, etc. © Rainer Bauböck 2010 http://eudo-citizenship.eu

3. Recent reforms in EU Member States Citizenship reforms more frequent and highly politicized: major policy changes since March 2010 in Greece, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia Greek law 11 March: easier naturalisation and ius soli for 2 nd and 3 rd generations Belgian bill 9 April: from 3 to 5 years residence requirement for naturalisation + language test Hungarian law 26 May: facilitated naturalisation of Hungarian minorities abroad without residence requirement Slovak law 26 May: automatic withdrawal of Slovak citizenship when acquiring a foreign one © Rainer Bauböck 2010

4. Problems in comparing naturalisation how to compare: the trade-off between scope and detail – either small-N qualitative comparison – or large-N comparison of few selected indicators – EUDO CITIZENSHIP reduces the trade-off! what is to be explained: – naturalisation law and policy: path dependencey or convergence? – or naturalisation as individual status transition selectivity: who chooses and who succeeds in naturalisation? individual impact on socio-economic status but also migration patterns, sense of belonging, etc. aggregate impact on political representation

5. Difficulties in constructing indicators – legal indicators vs. naturalisation rates – several modes of naturalisation (residence-based, family-based, birth or socialisation, ethnic preferences, extraterritorial naturalisations,….) – several naturalisation requirements (residence duration, residence permit, renunciation of foreign citizenship, language and civics knowledge, no criminal record, sufficient income, ancestral ties, special merits,….) – strong impact of administrative implementation (unlike in birthright acquisition) – interaction between naturalisation and birthright acquisition (ius sol reduces pool of eligible naturalisation candidates) – interaction with citizenship of origin (loss with acquisition of foreign nationality, expatriation fees,…)

6. Residence requirements

7. Renunciation requirements no renunciation requirement no renunciation in naturalisation, but withdrawal if acquisition of foreign citizenship renunciation not enforced major exceptions from renunciation requirement general renunciation requirement renunciation in naturalisation, but no withdrawal if acquisition of foreign citizenship

8. Language tests Note: Arrows indicate a reform that introduces or abolishes tests and strengthens or weakens formal test requirements. They do not indicate the level of required knowledge.

9. Civics tests

10. Residence requirements for spousal naturalisation

11. Naturalisation fees