2nd generation immigrants in Europe |

Citizenship can be defined as membership of a community, be that a state, a nation, and/or a society. Usually, citizenship is acquired automatically by birth, but a significant number of people acquire the status of citizen upon request. The latter applies in particular to international migrants and their family members. In traditional immigration countries immigration and citizenship policies are closely linked. Immigrants have access to and are encouraged to acquire nationality after a relatively short period of time in order to enable them to fully participate in society on an equal footing with nationals. In many European countries the situation is different. Persons admitted as temporary or permanent residents can acquire the nationality of the host country after a relatively long period of residence (of between three to ten years, or even more). This is probably one of the reasons that the naturalisation rate among immigrants in Europe is rather low.
Continuous immigration and the presence of a growing group of permanently residing non-nationals has led many governments to change their naturalisation rules, often making acquisition of nationality easier. In some countries naturalisation was and still is considered to be the result and ultimate proof of the integration of immigrants, whereas in other countries it is seen as a strategy to promote immigrant inclusion. Citizenship has begun to take on more than one meaning. Citizenship (or nationality) refers to the formal relationship between persons and the state as it lays down their respective rights and obligations. The term is also used for governments’ active promotion of equality and access to mainstream institutions and welfare state arrangements.
In each European country the conditions and practices for the acquisition of citizenship differ, but in general there are two ways for a person to acquire citizenship: by birth or naturalisation.
Citizenship is inherited from the parents (jus sanguinis – “right of blood”), based on the place of birth (jus soli – “right of the soil”) or based on a combination of conditions. Naturalisation is very important especially for first generation immigrants and their children (second generation) who have not acquired citizenship by birth.
More specifically, regarding second generation immigrants, the rules for the acquisition of citizenship in some EU countries, are as follows:

Greece
2nd generation immigrants born in Greece do not receive birth certificates. Their parents are given a hospital certificate only. Without a birth certificate many find it difficult to register their children for school even though previous law states that any child documented or not has the right to attend school. Parents have difficulty in including children on their insurance documents and green cards because you need a passport or a birth certificate.
Children born in Greece at the age of 18 are no longer considered members of the family and are required to obtain individual legal status entering the legalization process acquiring residency as any first timer would. If they choose to continue their studies they need a passport to register for the exams required.

Italy
Italy has one of the most oppressive laws about acquiring the Italian citizenship. It works on the basis of blood right; one can be a citizen only if they are the child of Italian citizens.

Spain
Unless they belong to preferred groups like spouses of nationals, refugees or citizens of former colonies, immigrants must have lived in Spain for 10 years. The state allows their children and grandchildren born in Spain to apply for citizenship, without additional conditions. However, they are not automatically Spanish at birth.

Turkey
There are three distinct procedures that may be specified as regards the acquisition of Turkish nationality in the Turkish Nationality Act (Turkish nationality is acquired automatically as a result of the command of statute per se):
1) Acquisition of nationality by means of birth,
2) Acquisition of nationality by means of adoption, and
3) Acquisition of nationality by means of marriage.

Romania
The Romanian citizenship law legislated in 1991, sought to emphasize the disengagement of Romania from the Soviet Union and the desire to unite with parts of Romania that were taken over by the Soviet-union after World War II, especially with Moldova which was part of Romania until the war. The law determines that a person can acquire a Romanian citizenship in one of the following ways:
1. By naturalization – Living in Romania for a period of time of 5 to 8 years.
2. By birth in Romanian territories, or being a second or third generation descendent to a Romanian citizen.
3. By adoption – Being adopted by a parent whom is a Romanian citizen.
4. By repatriation.
The services and the assistance for integration are not fully satisfactory, despite the diligence within the last years for the alignment to the international standards.

Belgium
In Belgium, the so-called 2nd generation immigrants automatically acquire Belgian nationality, on condition that the parents resided in the country at least five out of the last 10 years before the birth of the child. Also, very important is the flexibility of the Belgian State in this issue regarding the possibility of citizenship in adults born in the country and their parents failed to make the necessary administrative measures when they were children.

France
In France, citizenship is granted to an adult automatically, but they have the right to refuse the automatic naturalization (and keep the citizenship of the country of origin of their parents) within a year of adulthood.

Germany
In Germany, from 2000, children with at least one parent residing in the country for 8 years at least and holding a residence permit of unlimited duration, acquire German citizenship automatically when born.

Great Britain
In Great Britain, a child born to foreign parents, one of which (at least) has an indefinite permit of residence or one of which is an EU citizen, becomes automatically a British citizen. Even if the parents do not meet any of these conditions, children who have lived in the United Kingdom for 10 years have the right to lifelong naturalization.

The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the children of foreign nationals who are permanent residents or have been born in the country acquire Dutch citizenship automatically.
Children who have been born in the Netherlands can, after their coming of age, to make use of the procedure of “choice”, which is much simpler from the naturalisation procedure and concerns some categories of persons that have special ties to the Netherlands.

Palestine
Under UNRWA’s operational definition, Palestine refugees are persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Today, almost 200,000 of those refugees and their descendants live in camps in the West Bank; around 50,000 live in the Nablus district. The children and youth growing up in these camps are second and third generation refugees. This refugee population is still living in their original country of origin, Palestine, but fleeing from their homes and leaving all possessions behind, being forced to make a new life from very little has created a social and class division between the refugees and the Palestinians originally residing in the West Bank. The refugee camps are plagued by overcrowding, lack of government services and poverty. It is in this atmosphere that the second and their generations of refugees are living in the West Bank today.

Jordan
In spite of the economic difficulties it faces, due to the lack of resources and shortages of water, Jordan enjoys the stability and security in the region. Currently Jordan hosts millions of refugees and immigrants, particularly from Palestine as a result of 1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict and 1967 Six-Day War; and from Iraq in 1990 and 2003 wars.  Furthermore, Jordan received more than two and a half million non-Arab refugees and immigrants during the ‘90 war, mostly from Asia. Some of these refugees became an essential part of the Jordanian people, such as the Palestinians. They could get their political, economic, social and legal statues by obtaining Jordanian citizenship, while the others don’t enjoy such rights such as Iraqis due to their special case.