In terms of the categories of social and individual forms of belonging, transnational citizens are marked by multiple identities and allegiances, and often travel between two or more countries, all in which they have created sizeable networks of differing functions.
Transnational citizenship is based on the idea that a new global framework consistent of subgroups of national identities will eventually replace membership to one sole nation-state.
While some relate transnational citizenship to any historic shift or fusion of identities within nation-states, modern conceptions of the term have only surfaced in the past twenty years.
Globalization is defined by a heightened international access to the world capital market system and increased abilities to more rapid forms of communication.
According to citizenship scholars like Andrew Vandenberg, such acts of globalization eventually "ended the constraints of space and time that conditioned all earlier human transactions, practices, and therefore identities.
In recent years, in conjunction with globalization, increased instances of uncontrolled and predominantly illegal international migrations contribute to opportunities for escalating transnational identities.
Some organizations function in both countries, which serves to further enhance the notion that international migrants act as transnational citizens in multiple lands.
On the other hand, transnational citizens live within the context of two or more societies that differ in size, scope, populations, laws, morals, and cultural codes.
They base their interactions more on the need to reconcile two completely diverse localities into a greater context that traverses international borders, politics, and ways of life.
Venue-shopping is the process by which political members seek out specific governmental settings in order to establish their ideal policy outcomes.
Due to the increased ease of traversing borders, the "Europeanization" of individuals began to occur in which a new transnational identity could be conceived.