Negotiating Restrictive Membership Policy Shifts in the Nordics: Between Naturalization Restrictions and Everyday Bordering

Nordic countries have undergone restrictive membership policy shifts in the past years, with both foreseen and already implemented restrictions to entry, residency and citizenship. At the same time, they compete over labor in a global labor market, through asymmetric and selective alleviations to mobility for specific categories of migrants. Even though the parallel policy aims to restrict and alleviate migration form a tension, access to citizenship is rarely discussed in relation to labor attraction and retention amidst the ongoing restrictions. Based on an analysis of policy documents and semi-structured interviews with prospective, current and past naturalization applicants in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, this study outlines how the interaction of formal and informal barriers to employment, residency and naturalization together shapes migrants’ sense of belonging in the Nordics. It shows that migrants to Denmark, where both formal and informal requirements are perceived to be strenuous, to a greater extent experience feelings of regret and injustice than in Sweden and Finland. Migrants immigrating on special recruitment schemes may end in precarious situations due to restrictive naturalization criteria, resulting in individuals being caught between the state’s conflicting policy goals when aiming to shift to a more secure membership category. In Finland and Sweden, where naturalization policy is only undergoing a shift towards a stricter direction, informal boundary-making was perceived as the biggest obstacle to belonging and membership among persons who immigrated within the more lenient system, while the future restrictions already have begun to reshape life decisions. The study shows how naturalization by many is perceived as a key aspect in the process of labor migration, while political decision-making separates the matters. Arduous requirements for accessing naturalization may contribute to postponed life plans, fears of deportation, resentment and regret which both counters and aligns with the nation-states’ conflicting migration goals.