Split nationality households: A strategic response to optimise the citizenship constellations of transnational families

This paper explores the citizenship choices of Chinese migrants in Australia who must evaluate the relative benefits of Australian versus Chinese legal citizenship. Given the insecurities inherent in non-citizen status in either country, many families decide some members will take Australian citizenship while others retain Chinese citizenship in combination with Australian permanent residency. Forming these split nationality households aims to optimise the benefits and limit risk across all jurisdictions, attempting to exert control over personal circumstances and manage feelings of fear and anxiety in the face of unpredictable national policies and broader geopolitical instability. The paper extends Bauböck's concept of citizenship constellations beyond a consideration of the individual as the unit of analysis to include a more complex network of family memberships. This expanded analysis of how webs of complementary and/or competing rights and obligations act on individuals within their family relations has application beyond these specific and situated cases and can improve our understanding of how migrants interpret the value of local, state, national and supranational memberships in various global contexts.