Variable filters: local bureaucracies in citizenship and nationality procedures in the UK and Belgium.

Abstract

In this chapter I explore how two street-level bureaucracies charged with filtering applications for nationality, Nationality Checking Services (NCSs) in the UK and municipal registers in Belgium showed very different approaches of filtering despite having a similar legal mandate. While one explanation of the difference in approach is that in the UK (but not in Belgium) candidates to nationality could send the application directly to the Home Office bypassing the NCSs, I show that this factor alone does not explain the differences and that others should be considered.