A Longitudinal Analysis on Naturalization and International Migration in Switzerland

Juan Galeano , Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics
Aurélie Pont, Université de Genève
Philippe Wanner, University of Geneva

The notion of territorial settlement associated to the acquisition of a new citizenship has been recently challenged by a number of studies highlighting its instrumentality as a subsequent mobility factor. The long and diverse history of Switzerland as a country of immigration and the availability of rich naturalization and mobility data that allow the follow-up of individuals over time, makes out of this country a valuable study case where to investigate the impact of naturalization over international e(migration). Using longitudinal data, we follow 88,900 foreign individuals who entered the country between 1998 and 2000, over a period of 84 months between January 2011 and December 2017, documenting changes in naturalization status and international migration. Using different implementations of a Cox Proportional Hazard model, we examine whether and under which conditions the international mobility of naturalized migrants differs from the one of the non-naturalized. Our preliminary results indicate a lower international mobility of migrants acquiring the Swiss citizenship compared to the non-naturalized, but also significant differences between immigrant groups.

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 Presented in Session 72. Naturalization and Citizenship