A new report has shown that young Italians are more in favour of granting automatic Italian citizenship to migrant children who have been born in the country than their foreign peers.
According to the Istat report “Children and Youths 2023”, around 58.5 per cent of young Italians between the ages of 11 and 19 support the right for migrant children who were born in Italy to get Italian citizenship automatically, known as ius soli, Schengen
On the other hand, the survey has revealed that foreign peers support less frequently the right of migrant children to obtain citizenship automatically (53.1 per cent).
As Info Migrants explains, while young Italians were in favour of the right to citizenship, the case is not the same for some others.
According to the report, Chinese and Ukrainian youths are less in favour of the measure.
The researchers explained the reluctance of of Chinese youth to support this measure is linked to the fact that China does not permit dual citizenship.
The survey further revealed that Ukrainian youth are also not much in favour of ius soli, with only just over 50 per cent of them supporting the measure.
Ukraine also does not allow dual citizenship, and according to experts, this explains their stance on the matter.
Some Youngsters Believe That Being Born in Italy is a Key Aspect of Being Italian
While respondents of the survey shared different views on the matter, it has been revealed that for some, “being born in Italy” is a key aspect of being Italian, Info Migrants notes.
Data from the survey show that 54 per cent of Italian respondents aged between 11 and 19 years believe that it is important that someone was born in the country in order to be considered a national of the country.
On the other hand, 45.7 per cent of the foreign peers supported this idea.
In addition to the above-mentioned, another important aspect of being Italian, according to the respondents, was “respecting the Italian laws and traditions”.
This was the top choice for those who were born abroad and living in the country.
Another 32 per cent of the respondents chose “speaking Italian” as an important aspect of obtaining citizenship.
This option was mainly chosen by Chinese respondents who consider that it is very hard to learn the Italian language.
The survey further disclosed that female respondents were much more in favour (64.6 per cent) of granting Italian citizenship automatically to migrant children born in the country and not after a period of residence compared to their male counterparts (53.6 per cent).
Source: https://schengen.news/young-italians-more-in-favour-of-granting-automatic-citizenship-to-migrant-children-born-in-italy-than-their-foreign-peers/
