The Dutch Senate recently discussed a proposal to increase the residence requirement for naturalisation from the current five to seven years. Representatives from D66 and GroenLinks referred to a recent article by Maarten Vink, Floris Peters and Hans Schmeets. The authors show that a longer period before naturalisation decreases the probability that acquiring citizenship will positively affect the labour market prospects of immigrants.
The Senate or Upper House of the Dutch Parliament (‘Eerste Kamer’) on Tuesday 27 September discussed a legislative proposal to increase the residence requirement for naturalisation from the current five years to seven years. Representatives from both the Liberal Democrats (D66) and the GreenLeft (GroenLinks) referred to an article by Maarten Vink, Floris Peters and Hans Schmeets that was recently published in the journal Economisch Statistische Berichten (in Dutch).
The research makes use of population register data from Statistics Netherlands. In their research, the authors demonstrate that a longer waiting time before naturalisation decreases the probability that acquiring citizenship will positive affect the labour market prospects of immigrants. The senators asked the Deputy Minister of Security and Justice to respond to these findings.
