360.1
Does the UK “Citizenship Process” Lead Immigrants to Reject British Identity? a Panel Data Analysis
This paper considers whether the British version of these requirements is effective in leading immigrants to embrace British national identity. It uses data drawn from the UK household panel survey (“Understanding Society”) to facilitate a comparison between those immigrants who become citizens and those who do not. The main finding is that those who become UK citizens significantly increase their attachment to British identity, relative to those who do not become citizens. Whether they do so specifically because of the policy requirements (the test and ceremony) is debatable: possibly this pattern comes despite (not because of) the policy requirements. It nonetheless seems clear that these requirements do not inhibit development of a sense of Britishness among the immigrants who meet them.