Why residency cannot help migrants to integrate in EU

Another factor keeping numbers relatively low is that Europe in general does not grant immediate right of citizenship to children of immigrants born on its soil

The long, arduous road for many migrants in search of a better life in Europe begins as they leave their home for the last time, sometimes facing daunting distances, difficulties and even mortal danger. For a small percentage it can eventually result in full citizenship in an EU member country, but that too is fraught with hurdles, sometimes too high for many to clear.

Almost one million immigrants were naturalised as citizens in EU member states in 2016, according to a report from Eurostat statistics agency. Italy, Spain and France were cited as the top three nations granting full rights. But the figure has little to do with the recent wave of refugees to Europe. The saga for most of those who became citizens in a new country began long ago. It many cases it took 10 years or longer.

Of those naturalised in Italy in 2016, the top three nationalities included Moroccans, Albanians and of Indian origin. Among major EU member countries, those that granted the fewest citizenships in the year were Poland and Austria.

The Eurostat report shows a rise in citizenship rates among migrants from non-EU countries, but it is not a surge. The number is similar to the 2009-2015 period, according to a study by the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, when on average between 800,000 and 1 million were naturalised a year.

Figures are difficult to compile, the study found, but in 2014 when more complete data is available, only about 2.8 per cent of all non-EU migrants attained citizenship that year. Barriers include requirements to renounce their original citizenship, uninterrupted residency of 5 to 10 years, language and national history tests and required income levels. Italy, which granted the most citizenships in 2016, has a 10-year uninterrupted residency requirement.

Ennio Codini, professor of Public Law at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and author of Democracy and Citizenship in the 21st Century, says many opt for permanent residency rather than citizenship. “We know that some factors can lead the immigrant with permanent permission not to acquire citizenship,” says professor Codini. “A 2012 survey by the King Baudoin Foundation showed that a significant number of immigrants in Europe expressed interest in the permanent permit but not citizenship. For immigrants, it is sometimes a problem to lose citizenship of the country of origin because they dream of returning or have family or other interests there.”

Another factor keeping numbers relatively low is that Europe, in general, does not grant immediate right of citizenship to children of immigrants born on its soil.

Maarten P. Vink, a professor of Political Science at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and co-director of the Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development, notes that citizenship for newborns is “not automatically” granted.

In Germany it is bestowed only “if one of the parents has been a resident for eight years” or “only at the age of 18 in France” while in “Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Netherlands it is automatic if one parent was born to migrants in the country — the third generation,” says Vink.

He notes that immigrants from less developed and politically unstable countries more often naturalise, as do migrants married to citizens and ones who arrive at a young age.

Some wonder if the lack of citizenship helps fuel alienation among second and third-generation migrants, some of them becoming radicalised and committing terrorist acts in their adoptive countries.

Vink says “there is no evidence, as far as I know, that citizenship is a mitigating factor in processes of radicalisation.” Yet he adds that “the citizenship status of the second generation is an important and under-researched topic.”

With the ratio of residents to citizens in European nations growing, some experts are pondering the impact from a sizable population that can’t vote and is not directly represented in the political system.

“Whatever long-term consequences this may have, it is definitely not making integration more likely,” found the European University Institute study.