Citizenship acquisition of Turkish immigrants in Canada and Germany: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to shed light on how high-skilled and business Turkish immigrants (HSBTI) decide to acquire host country’s citizenship and why some of them choose not to seek naturalization. With this in mind, a comparative case study of Canada and Germany was designed. It is proposed that host country citizenship and migration policy, social, economic and political costs and benefits of host country’s citizenship and individuals’ conceptualization of citizenship impact the decision-making process of HSBTI. Based on the data results, the study argues that social, economic and political opportunities in host countries (such as the right to vote), multicultural migration and citizenship policies of those countries and valuing citizenship as a commodity positively influence the naturalization decisions of HSBTI interviewees, while restricted policies, economic costs of citizenship and seeing citizenship as a sense of belonging adversely affect their decisions.

Keywords

• Naturalization
• Canada
• Germany
• Skilled migration
• Turkish immigrants
• Qualitative research