Dual Citizenship As Segmented Assimilation? Naturalization, Citizenship of Origin and Employment Status of Immigrants in the Netherlands

This paper analyses the relation between dual citizenship and employment status of immigrants in the Netherlands. While the impact of naturalisation on the structural integration of immigrants in destination countries has received increasing scholarly attention, there is virtually no systematic empirical research on the question of how this relation is affected by the question of retaining the citizenship of origin. In this paper we look at both employment status as well as the risk of being unemployed, in order to take into account the difference between the active and inactive parts of the population. Our analysis is based on core administrative data from the Dutch population register, which contains information on citizenship status of all residents, linked with the Labor Force Survey 2000-2009. We discuss our findings in the light of transnational and segmented assimilation theories, which hold contrasting perspectives on dual citizenship and integration.