T H E G L O B A L S TAT E O F C I T I Z E N S H I P 3.2 LANGUAGE AND ASSIMILATION REQUIREMENT IN RESIDENCE-BASED NATURALISATION, 2024 Share of countries with language and/or civic knowledge/cultural assimilation requirement % of countries in region with requirement that has a formal test 6% 6% 30% 59% 27% 26% Africa Type of requirement Americas Both Asia Europe Civic/cultural only Oceania Language only World None Source: GLOBALCIT Citizenship Law Dataset, v3, modes A06c-A06d While nearly all countries worldwide have one or more official languages, not all citizens are fluent in the same language at the same level. Most citizens had the opportunity to learn at least one official language at school. Most immigrants are able to demonstrate their willingness to learn a new language in some way. However, immigrants’ actual language competences are strongly linked to their previous educational opportunities, socio-economic status, current age and evolving mental or physical capacities. Most strikingly, data on 56 global destinations from the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) finds that most countries do not provide enough hours of state-funded language courses for immigrants of all educational backgrounds to obtain the language level required for naturalisation. Furthermore, language learning tools like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) were never intended as requirements for access to rights and citizenship. This wider context of language learning challenges naturalisation requirements to account for the fact that a person’s language skills depend not only on their willingness to learn a new language, but also on their personal background, abilities and level of support. This challenge is even greater for the requirements of proof of so-called integration, assimilation or civic knowledge. While nearly all ordinary naturalisation procedures require immigrants to fulfil the same civic responsibilities and 20 good character requirements as national citizens, what additional proof can governments ask of naturalising immigrants? National education curricula differ significantly in whether, how and what national pupils must be taught as ‘citizenship education’, including a wide range of civic and cultural knowledge and beliefs. What knowledge, beliefs, or behaviour, therefore, should make someone eligible for citizenship? Language knowledge is one of the most common requirements worldwide used for immigrants to test their ability to participate in the public life of their new country of citizenship. 82% of the world’s foreign-born live in the 130 countries that require ordinary immigrants to know at least one of their official languages to naturalise as citizens. That said, the explicitly high language requirements we see in European states (like B1 or even B2 on the CEFR) are rare worldwide. The remaining 46 countries without a language requirement are smaller destination countries, most notably Chile, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden, as well as several countries in Africa and the Americas. Beyond language, assimilation or integration requirements are among the less common requirements for ordinary naturalisation. In particular, language or citizenship tests emerge globally as the least common requirement for naturalisation. Ordinary immigrants must pass a specific language or citi-