United Kingdom: 29.1 percent of migrants taking the citizenship test fail

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by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Helena Wray

Figures released by the British government show that 29.1 percent of migrants who take the ‘Life in the UK’ test fail it.

The test, alongside an English language test, was introduced in 2005 for candidates for naturalisation and extended to most of those acquiring settlement in 2007. All applicants for naturalisation must take the test either at the settlement or the naturalisation stage, unless they are exempt due to age or infirmity.

Failure rates are highly differentiated by nationality. 98 percent of Australians, 97 percent of Americans and 96.9 percent of Canadians who took the test passed it. Other countries where English is widely spoken also fared relatively well with 90.2 percent of Zimbabweans and 82.5 percent of Nigerians passing. However, several nationalities with substantial numbers of migrants in the UK scored less than 50 percent. For example, only 47.9 percent of Iraqis, 47.8 percent of Afghans, 45.9 percent of Turks and 44 percent of Bangladeshis passed. Many Afghans and Iraqis are in the UK as refugees or with subsidiary protection. Although they do not need to pass the test to remain in the UK, their position is more secure after naturalisation. Other migrants, for example spouses or workers, cannot obtain a secure status without passing the test.

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Latvian Constitutional Court acknowledges the right of the legislature to set deadline for registration as dual citizen

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by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Kristine Kruma

The Latvian Constitutional Court reaffirmed the validity of the norm in the country’s Transitional Provisions of the Law on Citizenship which provided for holders of dual citizenship acquired during the Nazi and Soviet occupation. According to this norm, individuals who were deported or left Latvia during occupation can keep the second nationality acquired during their time abroad if registered as Latvian citizens before July 1, 1995.

The Senate of the Supreme Court had contested this norm claiming that the registration deadline did not comply with Article 1 (Latvia is an independent democratic republic), and Article 2 (the sovereign power of the State of Latvia is vested in the people of Latvia) of the Constitution, and the doctrine of continuity of the State of Latvia stated in the country’s Declaration of Independence.

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Montenegro signs the European Convention on Nationality but rejects dual citizenship

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by EUDO CITIZENSHIP/CITSEE expert Jelena Džankić

On May 5, 2010, Montenegro signed the European Convention on Nationality. The Convention was promulgated in Strasbourg in November 1997, and provides for non-discrimination in regulating questions of nationality. It attempts to prevent statelessness and regulates multiple nationality.
The signature has been preceded by a Law on Confirming the European Convention on Nationality, adopted on March 2, 2010. The Law enters into force on the eighth day from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro – International Agreements. Pursuant to article 3 of the Law, ‘Montenegro does not accept the implementation of provisions stipulated in article 16 of the Convention’. This reservation clause has its roots in the current Citizenship Act, which does not allow dual citizenship.

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Hungary: Earlier reports on the citizenship law reform on EUDO CITIZENSHIP

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Read a summary of the new provisions in the Hungarian Nationality Act (July 13, 2010)

“Ethnic Hungarians in transborder states may well be the biggest losers and victims of Hungary’s dual citizenship reforms”

by EUDO CITIZENSHIP experts Mária M. Kovács and Szabolcs Pogonyi

24 May 2010

During the past eight years of the socialist-liberal coalition government, the rift between the opposition and the ruling parties grew bitter: it seemed that no consensus on important political questions is possible between the Hungarian governing parties and the opposition. But after the landslide victory of the centre-right Fidesz party in the April parliamentary elections, consensual politics seem to be alive again – at least on some important national issues, primarily on offering citizenship for Hungarians living abroad and the commemoration of the tragic consequences of the 1920 Paris peace treaties. After initial discussions in the Parliament it seems that all major parties support Fidesz’s initiative to offer dual external citizenship for Hungarians living in the neighboring countries, and also endorse the commemoration of the anniversary of the 1920 Paris peace treaties as Hungary’s biggest national catastrophe.

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Reactions in Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia to Hungary’s decision to give access to citizenship to ethnic Hungarians

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Reactions in Ukraine

By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Oxana Shevel

12 July 2010

Unlike in neighbouring Slovakia where the May 26 amendment to the law on Hungarian citizenship that granted persons of Hungarian ancestry residing abroad the right to Hungarian citizenship led to a domestic outcry, in Ukraine there has not been any official reaction so far. According to the 2001 census, Hungarians are the 7th largest ethnic group in Ukraine, numbering 156,600. They are concentrated in the Zakarpattia oblast (region) in the south-west corner of the country where they constitute the second largest ethnic group (after Ukrainians), numbering 151,500, or 12 percent of the region’s population. Given that within the region the Hungarians are further concentrated in the districts along the Hungarian border, and that today’s Zakarpattia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary and became part of the Soviet Ukraine only in 1945, one can expect Ukraine to be as sensitive as Slovakia and Romania to the dangers of Hungarian irredentism that some suspect lurking behind the new Hungarian law. The Hungarian law also relates to Ukraine’s long-standing concerns about, and opposition to, the principle of dual citizenship. This opposition stems first and foremost from the Ukrainian elites’ fears that dual citizenship with Russia can endanger Ukraine’s sovereignty and potentially even territorial integrity, given that Ukraine’s ethnic Russians are concentrated in Ukraine’s regions bordering Russia, especially in Crimea where they constitute the majority. Even though there is no dual citizenship agreement between Russia and Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation does not recognize dual citizenship, Russia has been issuing Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens since the 1990s. According to some estimates, as many as 100,000 people in Crimea now hold both Ukrainian and Russian passports.

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Belgium: Bill to tighten access to naturalisation

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Shortly before resigning, the Belgian government led by prime minister Yves Leterme adopted a bill reforming acquisition of Belgian citizenship. This reform had been on the coalition government’s agenda since July 2009. The fall of the government means that the future of the bill is uncertain. It has not yet been published in the official bulletin Moniteur Belge. The following text reprinted from Migration News Sheet May 2010 summarises the content of the intended reform.

[MNS 05/2010] On 9 April 2010, the Federal Government adopted a Bill aimed at tightening the conditions of access to Belgium citizenship.

Under the terms of the Bill, only foreigners holding a residence permit of unlimited duration are entitled to apply for Belgian citizenship.

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France: new rules for proving nationality when applying for renewal of passports and ID cards

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by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Christophe Bertossi

French nationals applying for a new passport or identity card will now be able to provide former French passports and identity cards as a sufficient proof of French nationality instead of a French nationality certificate. The new rules came into force on March 1, 2010, following a joint decree of the French Ministry of Interior and of Foreign Affairs.

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