Low Turnout In Italian Vote Ends Hopes For Shorter Citizenship Wait
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A measure presented to Italians via referendum, to reduce the waiting time for Italian citizenship, has failed after nowhere near enough people showed up to vote on it. The result - unsurprising given widespread political opposition to the measure - means millions of people will continue to wait well more than ten years for citizenship and Italy remains an outlier in the EU on the matter.
The measure, if passed, would have reduced the official residency requirement for documented residents to attain citizenship from ten years to five, bringing Italy in line with most other European member states. In practice, the wait can be considerably longer than ten years. Activists campaigning for the reform argued that such a long process is a needless wait for people who are already well-integrated into Italian society, many having spent much of their life there, and have shown their attachment to the country.
Citizenship confers various legal privileges, depending on the issuing country, including the right to vote, run for public office and sometimes participate in certain labor markets. More broadly, citizenship is considered valuable to many immigrants as it represents the acceptance of the host country, as well as a level of security offered by a permanent status. There is also a whole raft of discriminations based on someone not being a citizen - beyond what one might consider 'standard' discrimination. People who may have full language and cultural fluency in a country, for instance, may still find themselves more easily rejected from accommodation, jobs and other services than are people with the right passport, as working with citizens is seen as less of a risk or hassle.
At the same time, citizenship - and the pathway towards it - is seen as a strong motivator for the integration of migrants of all classes. The gradual acceptance into both the social and democratic systems of a country offers milestones for someone to learn to live in the country as best they can. Conversely, the systematic refusal to allow even very long-term residents seen in some countries is seen as a method for creating a multi-tiered society, with those denied citizenship feeling and being perceived as permanently 'other' to their host society. Such dynamics are occasionally weaponized, as seen recently in the U.K. when the government announced plans to permanently bar refugees from citizenship if they arrived by boat.
It is estimated the Italian measure would have sped up the process for between two and three million people lawfully resident in Italy. The fact that it was rejected - even though it would have applied to people with residence permits rather than an 'amnesty' for undocumented migrants - is no surprise given anti-immigration political tone in Italy. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was elected on a campaign platform heavily featuring immigration and has led a campaign to reduce arrivals and even target NGOs, campaigned against the citizenship measure, encouraging voters simply not to show up to keep turnout low.
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