The historical development of the nature of ‘desirability’ in naturalisation regimes in East and Southeast Asia

ABSTRACT

This paper compares the naturalisation regimes for migrants in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), examining how these states have reconfigured their boundaries of citizenship based on ‘desirability’ since the early 20th century. There are some attributes of desirability for which naturalisation regimes privilege some groups of migrants over others. The hierarchy of desirability in the East and Southeast Asian naturalisation regimes since the late 20th century has been constructed based on class differences. At the top of the hierarchy of desirability, skilled professionals constitute a selective group of desired migrants, whereas marriage migrants and low-skilled migrants are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Naturalisation regimes give less weight to the social contribution of migrant spouses and the economic contribution of unskilled migrant workers than to that of skilled workers. The lower weighting is the reason for their exclusion, regardless of their territorial presence in the state. Coming into the 21st century, East and Southeast Asian naturalisation regimes show a similar pattern of convergence based on economic desirability when these states engage in what Shachar has called ‘talent-for-citizenship exchange’.

KEYWORDS:

• Desirability; East Asia
• ius domicile
• naturalisation
• un/desirable migrants; Southeast Asia

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Elisabeth Badenhoop as the guest editor of this special issue and all the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable insights and constructive critiques on the earlier version of the paper. Their comments are tremendously helpful in improving the theoretical framing, empirical design, argumentative clarity, and research findings. The formulation of the research questions on un/desirable migrants owes much to the guest editor and the further improvement on the understandings of desirability owes much to all the reviewers. The introductory section is taken from the idea of all the reviewers. This research was supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia [Bridging Funds (304.PJJAUH.6316524)].

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Choo Chin Low

Choo Chin Low is a senior lecturer in the History Section, School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include comparative citizenship, migration and diaspora studies. She serves as a country expert for the Global Citizenship Observatory.