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. Immigrant inclusion Thematic lead: Thomas Huddleston Most people take it for granted that they are a citizen of the country where they live. Yet, for immigrants – people who are living in one country while they were born in another– becoming a new citizen signals a key moment in the lifelong processes of inclusion and belonging. Becoming a citizen is essential to the social, economic and democratic well-being of immigrants. Ample research has demonstrated how this ‘citizenship premium’ benefits immigrants in terms of their life decisions, rights, civic integration and sense of belonging. Destination countries with large, long-settled immigrant populations need to provide a clear pathway to citizenship, to promote their socio-economic development, societal trust and a healthy democracy. Citizenship is most important for immigrants with strong family ties to the country, particularly with children born or educated there, as well as for vulnerable immigrants coming from lower-income countries, particularly from conflict zones. The challenge of the so-called ‘ordinary naturalisation’—in other words, citizenship acquisition based on residence in a country—is that the policy should recognise the effective links, ties and interests that bind immigrants to their new adopted home. Both national and foreign citizens must respect the law and their civic responsibilities. But, unlike immigrants, most citizens were born and have always lived in the country. So, are naturalisation requirements based on what all citizens of a country have in common? Or, in the quest for the ‘perfect citizen,’ do countries expect more of immigrants than they expect of their own citizens? How can ordinary naturalisation be transformed from a form of exclusion to a catalyst for inclusion? D I D YO U K N OW ? Diverging pathways to citizenship for immigrants ship and prove their good conduct, their economic self-sufficiency and their knowledge of the country’s national language(s), culture, habits and customs. Legally, naturalisation is even impossible for around 9 million foreign-born immigrants (3% of all immigrants worldwide) who live in one of 13 nations that lack any ordinary naturalisation procedure: China, DRC Congo, Kuwait, Liberia, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, North Korea, Palau, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Yemen. Immigrants’ pathways to citizenship diverge significantly around the world on a wide-ranging scale from inclusion to exclusion. On one end of the scale, in a few countries, immigrants who respect all the country’s laws can naturalise after just a few years, with little else required. On the other end of the scale, a country may require immigrants to wait 40 years to apply, renounce their previous citizen- 17