Native born but not yet citizen: Citizenship and education outcomes of the children of immigrants in the Netherlands

As in many countries of the world, children born in the Netherlands do not have rights to the citizenship of their country of birth but instead inherit the citizenship of their parents. Little is known about whether and how such citizenship laws affect their legal status and life course. Based on administrative register data, the dissertation uses quantitative methods to map the patterns of citizenship acquisition among the children of immigrants and to analyse its effects on their educational trajectories and performance. It employs innovative identification strategies to determine whether citizenship affects educational outcomes independently beyond parents’ self-selection into naturalisation, thereby providing additional evidence of a causal relationship between citizenship and education. The empirical findings show that citizenship has positive and substantial effects on the school trajectories of children of immigrants: students who have acquired Dutch citizenship not only perform better on tests at the end of primary school, but are also better equipped to move upward through secondary education and avoid dropping out of school compared to their non-citizen counterparts. However, contrary to previous research, this dissertation shows that the effects of citizenship are not uniform. Dutch citizenship matters most when it is acquired early in the settlement process, when children have not yet entered primary school, and is most relevant for children whose parents are at a disadvantage in the labour market and housing market. The evidence of timing and heterogeneous effects adds new layers of complexity to the relationship between citizenship and education, and highlights the need to conceptualize the relevance of citizenship for children of immigrants in the context of their life course and family environment.

Labussière, M. (2021). Native born but not yet citizen: Citizenship and education outcomes of the children of immigrants in the Netherlands. Dissertation, Maastricht University, doi:10.26481/dis.20211103ml.