The state congress of New York is considering a bill which would grant to immigrants the status of state citizens if they can prove that they have resided in the state for three years or more, even if they are Read More …
by EUDO Citizenship Expert Jana Jaseckova On 29 May 2014 the Slovak parliament adopted a single electoral law, which is replacing all six laws that were previously regulating the electoral system in the country. Perhaps the biggest novelty is that Read More …
In a judgment of 5 February 2014 (Frank et al. v. AG Canada, 2014 ONSC 907), the Ontario Supreme Court has found that the residence requirement in the Canadian Elections Act of 2000 violates the Canadian Charter of Rights Read More …
The Parliament of Switzerland now adopted a major overhaul of the federal citizenship law. The new law reduces the length of stay in the country from the current twelve years to ten and requires harmonisation of cantonal and municipal residence requirements. It also spells out in detail the criteria for integration and makes naturalisation conditional upon the availability of a permanent residence permit (which is itself granted earlier when the applicant is considered to be successfully integrated). The philosophy inspiring the reform is to give more weight to the integration criteria while lowering the formal barriers.
Yet the minimal length of residence in the country remained one of the most controversial issues. There was a controversy between the two chambers and the party groups also about the minimum length of stay in the local community and in the canton, which today varies greatly from place to place. In Switzerland, unlike in any other European state, the power to naturalise immigrants lies with municipalities and cantons, which can add their own conditions to those specified in the federal citizenship law. This remains so, but the conditions are now harmonized.
This book explores two principles governing migrant citizenship in Germany: the principle of progressive inclusion and the principle of static attribution. It develops both the structural and the legal dimensions of the two principles and proposes a model for the Read More …
The Italian Ministry of the Interior plans to introduce limited ius soli for the Italian-born children of persons who were granted asylum or subsidiary protection. Currently even if they have spent their entire life in Italy, such children receive the status of their parents, and must apply for citizenship after they reach 18. Italian nationality is generally transferred by ius sanguinis, so this would be a significant departure from this principle. However it will apply to a narrowly circumscribed category of cases, estimated to include no more than 200 persons. Further, the government does not intend to enshrine the change into law, but would rather issue an interpretative order expanding the scope of the existing provisions for children of unknown or stateless parents.
In a number of countries immigrants are required to pass formal tests before they can become citizens, the most common of which assess language proficiency and knowledge of society. Responses to the implementation of these ‘citizenship tests’ have been mixed: Read More …
Why do some countries tolerate dual citizenship while others do not? The answer concerns the interaction between regime type variation and international migration. Democracies with a relatively large migrant stock are more likely to tolerate dual citizenship than democracies with Read More …
After several years of consideration the Denmark changes its stance on dual citizenship and the parliament approved an amendment to allow it unconditionally. The justice minister Karen Hækkerup stated the reasons for this change of heart: “Many people today choose to settle in foreign countries, but still retain a strong attachment to their country of origin … We should not force them to choose.”
Bill C-24 is an act pending in the Canadian Parliament that could bring significant amendments to Canada’s citizenship legislation. Although the reform intends to strengthen the Canadian Citizenship Act, Lorne Waldman and Audrey Macklin describe the resulting state of affairs as fostering a citizenship of fear. Others have said that the bill would create second class citizens (Patti Tamara Lenard), because if passed, it would allow the government to revoke the citizenship of naturalized Canadians should they commit certain crimes or fraud. The amendments will introduce a question in the naturalisation process on whether the applicant intends to stay in Canada following naturalisation. In our globalised world, the proposed amendments to Canada’s citizenship legislation seem to weaken rather than strengthen Canadian citizenship.
