ABSTRACT
The contradiction between territorial citizenship and human mobility is impossible to resolve theoretically within the framework of political territoriality. Contradiction, however, is a productive moment in the ongoing dialectic towards freedom, equality, and justice. If the domicile principle were adopted globally, then migrants would always and only possess the citizenship of the jurisdiction in which they actually reside. Domicile-based citizenship could entitle newcomers access to the collective resources of national welfare systems. Granting citizenship based on the domicile principle would address many of the problems of political exclusion, labor exploitation, and human hardship that temporary and illegalized migrants face. The domicile principle is responsive to people’s immigration and emigration trajectories and treats mobile elites, migrant workers, refugees, and migrants seeking a better life or to reunite with family equally. The scenario of combining open borders with the domicile principle warrants further discussion.
