The causal effect of liberalizing legal requirements on naturalization intentions

This study investigates the multifaceted factors influencing immigrants' naturalization intentions, with a primary focus on legal requirements and the implementation of naturalization laws. It distinguishes between different immigrant groups, such as refugees, European Union (EU) citizens, and non-EU citizens. Employing a vignette experiment among immigrants in a large-scale representative data in Germany, the research empirically analyzes the effects of liberalizing legal requirements and the effects of more inclusive naturalization procedure on intentions to acquire German citizenship. This comparison, both for current versus liberalized requirements and less versus more inclusive naturalization procedures, offers a realistic scenario of how liberalization and inclusiveness impact naturalization intentions. The results reveal that liberalizing legal requirements, specifically dual citizenship availability and reduced waiting period, has a positive effect on naturalization intentions. Simultaneously, these effects differ between the three immigrant groups, particularly due to differences in the perceived benefits of naturalization. In contrast, a more inclusive naturalization procedure does not affect immigrants' naturalization intentions. These results underline the importance of citizenship policy for the naturalization intentions of immigrants. However, the results also show nuanced reactions to liberalized requirements stressing the importance of group-specific cost-benefit considerations.