Strategic citizens of America: transnational inequalities and transformation of citizenship

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the process whereby ‘natural' citizens of one country mobilize their resources so that their children receive by birthright, the citizenship of a rich liberal democracy. Utilizing the case of Turkish upper classes, who give birth in the USA in order to benefit from the jus soli principle, we trace the emergence of new inequalities at the intersection of multiple citizenship regimes. We show that, by mobilizing resources in markets of health care, travel, and real estate, those with means can acquire US citizenship for their children in expectation of future benefits. Because they are able to access ‘valuable' citizenships, these actors can strategically combine privileges within nation states with inequalities between citizenship regimes at the global level for the children. Their differential access to citizenship enhances the gate-keeping functions of citizenship. Based on these observations, we draw an analogy between citizenship and property regimes, understood broadly.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• transnational citizenship
• neoliberal citizenship globalization
• new classes
• inequality

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express gratitude to all interviewees, who agreed to share their experiences and to Betül Baki for her valuable assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Estimation based on statistics received on 21 May 2012 from the Turkish General Directorate of Population and Citizenship via correspondence. The original table delineated the numbers, over the last decade, of Turkish citizens born in the USA, with respect to their current permanent residency status. Our calculation reflects an approximation based on the number of Turkish citizens, who currently reside in Turkey, but were born in the USA in 2011.

2. It has to be noted that the majority of states do not keep statistics on births by non-residents. Also, for the groups featured in this article, there is also the likelihood that where they are recorded, because these actors live in the USA for several months, they show US addresses on children's citizenship application.

3. Such bifurcated identities can be traced to their cultural upbringing in Western (particularly American) educational institutions (Altan-Olcay 2008, 2012).

4. See Balta Paker (2010, 407–431) for the securitization of the Turkish regime around the Kurdish question since the 1990s, one reason why the parents were apprehensive of military service.

5. Citizenship Law (no. 5901), Article 28/1, states that Turkish citizens who renounce their citizenship can reacquire it at any time. In 2003, Article 20 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 4866 was changed, no longer requiring the completion of military service for renouncing Turkish citizenship. In 2009, a new Citizenship Law (no. 5901) introduced a more flexible approach to those who try to avoid military service by acquiring dual citizenship.

6. This has become more of a reality after the interviews were completed. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act was reshaped in 2010 to require foreign banks to report on US citizens, with accounts exceeding 50,000 USD. Several countries have already signed agreements, facilitating private banks to share financial information of US clients with their national tax offices, which then transfer this information to the internal revenue service. Several reports reveal that more and more US citizens living abroad are renouncing their US citizenship, as a result. (Cf. Bachmann 2013; Wood 2014). It remains to be seen how this will affect the practices of professional classes in the Global South, seeking ‘better' citizenships for their children.

7. For a discussion of Article 22/III of the 1964 Citizenship Law, see also Kadirbeyoglu (2010, 4). This amendment enabled Turkish workers in Germany, who had to give up their Turkish citizenship when they acquired German citizenship, to reacquire Turkish citizenship immediately after renouncing it.

8. The Turkish Citizenship Act, No. 5901, Article 44-(1) dated 29 May 2009, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a9d204d2.html (accessed September 12, 2012).

9. E-mail correspondence with an interviewee, who consulted the company, 1 July 2012.

10. In fact, this is the reason there is so much controversy over an entirely different phenomenon: the practice of growing number of states whereby they offer citizenship in return for investment.

11. http://progressivegeographies.com/2014/06/22/how-powerful-is-your-passport-infographic/ (last accessed August 12, 2014).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) for research funding (Project No. 111K574).