Naturalization and Immigrant Welfare Receipt after 1996: Immigration and Welfare Reform

Frank D. Bean, University of California at Irvine
Jennifer Van Hook, Bowling Green State University

This paper draws on theories of risk aversion to develop hypotheses about the relationship between naturalization and welfare receipt in the post-welfare reform period. The research examines special CPS data for pre- and post-1996 that adjusts for the presence in the CPS of unauthorized migrants who are not eligible for naturalization. The research addresses the question of whether immigrants have increased their tendency to naturalize in the post-reform period simply in order to guarantee they will continue to be eligible to receive welfare. The findings do not support the view that immigrants are increasingly naturalizing because of welfare. It is not high benefit levels or greater access to benefits that make for the greatest tendency to naturalize, but rather combinations of high benefits and low access or low benefits and high access.