The Moral Political Economy of Extraterritorial Citizenship

This chapter continues the discussion of Romanian and Hungarian ethnic extraterritorial citizenship policies introduced in Chap. 2 , shifting the analytical focus to the lived experiences and citizenship constructs of so-called ‘trans-border nationals’—those who enjoyed extraterritorial access to the national citizenships of their ethnic kin-states while being citizens by birth and residents of a neighbouring country—who moved to the UK. In the strategies, interpersonal encounters and narratives of trans-border national migrants the linkages and tensions between citizenship, mobility and national identity reach peak complexity. The chapter outlines the mobility restrictions faced by many ‘trans-border’ nationals and discusses how access to (a more comprehensive array of) EU citizenship rights expands their opportunity structures. The chapter identifies the ‘mobility citizenship’ quality and ‘expansive’ character of EU citizenship as the main mechanisms shaping the opportunity structures of those on the margins of the European citizenship constellation.