Justifying Citizenship Tests in the Netherlands and the UK

Oers, R. van

doi:10.4324/9781315587813-6

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Insofar as the discourse and the requirements could be framed in the language of 'integration', the government could plausibly claim that the policy would benefit the immigrants themselves -in particular by promising to improve prospects for political participation among new citizens (Van Oers, 2009). The policy thus extended an earlier concern with 'active citizenship' -for all, to be fostered in a revised schools curriculum (Kiwan, 2008).…”

Section: Previous Research On the Uk Citizenship Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

The UK Citizenship Process: Political Integration or Marginalization?

Bartram

2018

Sociology

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The UK ‘citizenship process’ subjects immigrants to requirements ostensibly intended to enhance their identification with ‘British values’. Policy-makers suggest the policy will facilitate immigrants’ integration: as they learn about ‘life in the UK’, they will become better able to understand and navigate core institutions. Many external observers, by contrast, believe that the requirements exacerbate immigrants’ marginalization. I use panel data from ‘Understanding Society’ to investigate political participation among non-citizen immigrants at Wave 1, comparing those who became citizens by Wave 6 to those who remained non-citizens. Those who became citizens subsequently reported lower interest in politics, relative to those who remained non-citizens; in addition, they were not more likely to be active in organizations (e.g. political parties and trade unions). These findings reinforce the concerns of critics: the UK citizenship policy appears to do more to alienate new citizens than it does to facilitate their integration in the political sphere.

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Section: Previous Research On the Uk Citizenship Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

The UK Citizenship Process: Political Integration or Marginalization?

Bartram

2018

Sociology

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“…Debates about integration tests in Western Europe have focused on their compatibility with liberalism (Michalowski 2009;Rainer and Joppke 2010;van Oers 2009). For their supporters, civics tests strengthen citizenship and empower newcomers (Turner 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysis of civics tests must consider their accessibility; this includes costs, level of difficulty (and resulting passing rates), languages in which they are offered, retake options, and finally, whether courses are offered to help applicants. For example, the success rate of naturalization tests is only about 50% in the Netherlands (van Oers 2009), but 73% in the UK, and almost 100% in Germany and in the United States (Klekowski von Koppenfels 2010). Passing rates often vary according to applicants' background such as their country of origin, creating additional inequities (certain categories of newcomers may also be exempt according to their country of origin or professional qualifications).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Name the Republic that was joined to Russia in 2014:” Russia’s New Civics and History Test for Migrants

Ruget

2017

Nationalities Papers

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This article examines Russia's civics and history test, which has been mandatory, since January 2015, for millions of labor migrants applying for a work permit. An analysis of the test's content and of the context in which it was adopted provides a strong case to study how autocracies can use civics tests as instruments of control. Specifically, I argue that the test must be understood in light of Russia's state-sponsored nationalism, latent xenophobic sentiments, and its increasingly restrictive and incoherent migration policy. Not only are many questions irrelevant or disconnected from migrants' everyday concerns: their personal experiences of paying bribes, obtaining fake certificates, or being harassed by the police often contradict the correct answers on the exam. While it is doubtful that this test-along with several other new requirements imposed on migrants-will dissuade foreign laborers to seek employment in Russia, it is bound to make them even more vulnerable to bribes.

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“…These latter two conditions were tested during non-standardized interviews with municipal officials (Van Oers, de Hart and Groenendijk 2013). Renunciation requirements would subsequently be abolished in 1991, leading to an increase in the number of naturalizations (Van Oers, de Hart and Groenendijk 2013).…”

Section: Context a Citizenship Policy In The Netherlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Residential Context Matter? Neighborhood Migrant Concentration and Citizenship Acquisition in the Netherlands

Leclerc

Vink

Schmeets

2022

International Migration Review

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Existing studies analyzing the relation between immigrants’ residential environment and their propensity to naturalize produce contradictory findings. These results are difficult to interpret, as studies typically do not measure residential characteristics at a sufficiently fine-grained scale to test hypotheses about social networks and naturalization, do not model the data's multi-level structure appropriately, and do not account for selection into the residential environment. To address these shortcomings, this article draws on longitudinal micro-data from administrative registers at the neighborhood level in the Netherlands (approximately 1300 residents per neighborhood). We employ a stratified Cox proportional hazard model with shared frailty and inverse probability of treatment weighting to reduce bias due to self-selection into neighborhoods and draw on proxies of social networks in such areas. Our analyses provide support for the ‘migrant enclosure hypothesis,’ as we find that greater migrant concentration in the neighborhood is associated with lower naturalization rates and largely driven by the density of migrant social networks in those residential areas. In the Dutch context, this negative effect of migrant enclosure is especially prevalent among the large, long-settled migrant communities from Morocco and Turkey. We also find support for the ‘naturalization diffusion hypothesis’ and observe that the negative naturalization effect of residing in neighborhoods with higher levels of migrant concentration is offset by the presence of immigrants who have completed the naturalization procedure. Together, these findings reveal a nuanced picture that contrasts with de-contextualized cost-benefit theories of immigrant naturalization and highlights the relevance of the local context of immigrant settlement.

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Justifying Citizenship Tests in the Netherlands and the UK

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

The UK Citizenship Process: Political Integration or Marginalization?

The UK Citizenship Process: Political Integration or Marginalization?

“Name the Republic that was joined to Russia in 2014:” Russia’s New Civics and History Test for Migrants

Does Residential Context Matter? Neighborhood Migrant Concentration and Citizenship Acquisition in the Netherlands

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