The Political and Community Context of Immigrant Naturalisation in the United States

Becoming a citizen is a component of a larger process of immigrant incorporation into U.S. society. It is most often treated as an individual-level choice, associated with such personal characteristics as the duration of residence in the U.S., age, education, and language acquisition. This study uses microdata from Census 2000 in conjunction with other measures to examine aspects of the community and policy context that influence the choices made by individuals. The results confirm previous research on the effects of individual-level characteristics on attaining citizenship. There is also strong evidence of collective influences: both the varied political histories of immigrant groups in their home country and the political and community environment that they encounter in the U.S. have significant impacts on their propensity of naturalization.