Study title

The data consists of qualitative interviews and focus groups with migrants at different stages of the citizenship test process (e.g. considering taking the test, preparing for the test, about to take the test, after the test, after the ceremony). The interviews were carried out between April 2014 and March 2016 with migrants of 39 nationalities in Leicester and London. The focus groups took place in Leicester in June 2016, November 2016 and January 2017. The interviews and focus groups explored how the experience and consequences of the citizenship process vary across different immigrants, depending for example on age, gender, race, education, networks and group membership of various types. We explored how migrants spoke about negotiating their place in the community, whether local or national.

This project analyses the ‘assimilationist turn’ in British immigration and integration policies, through a focus on immigrants’ lived experience of one of its principal instruments, the ‘citizenship process’. Studies to date have examined only one or two parts of the ‘citizenship process’, meaning the tests themselves, the citizenship ceremonies, the preparation courses many immigrants take beforehand, as well as the consequences of the tests for those to whom it is addressed. This project will adopt a more comprehensive approach to these issues, examining the lived experiences of the citizenship process as a whole via interviews with people about their experiences with preparation courses and their participation in the citizenship tests and ceremonies in Leicester and London. To analyse the effects of the process on the longer term, statistical analysis of survey data will also be undertaken. The overall goal is to learn about immigrants' perceptions and experiences of this process, to understand how it affects their sense of belonging, political participation and subjective well-being (happiness).