The info reveals that greater than 110,000 Britons naturalised in EU nations between 2016, the yr of the Brexit referendum, and 2023, in response to the newest knowledge on citizenship acquisition revealed by Eurostat, the statistical workplace of the EU.
One other 11,000 are added if those that had been naturalised in Norway (3,864) and Switzerland (7,165) are included.
The info refers would not embrace these whop naturalised in 2024 and solely those that obtained an EU citizenship by residency, slightly than by ancestry or marriage. Tens of hundreds of Britons have gained Irish passports through ancestry since Brexit.
“The dramatic enhance in naturalisation of British residents throughout the EU and related nations is among the unmistakable results of Brexit. New [Eurostat] knowledge present that 8 years after the [UK] determined to depart the [EU], we’re nicely over the naturalisation peak of 2019,” stated Maarten Vink, Chair in Citizenship Research and Director of the World Citizenship analysis space on the European College Institute in Florence.
General, 110,295 Britons residing in EU nations took on the nationality of their nation of residence in these eight years, in response to the figures.
The most important quantity was recorded in Germany (36,888), adopted by France (20,966), Sweden (11,384), the Netherlands (9,000), Belgium (7,741), and Eire (6,376).
Solely 3,010 British residents in Italy turned Italian residents throughout this era, and a couple of,363 Britons in Spain, in response to Eurostat’s knowledge.
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Regardless of internet hosting the biggest British inhabitants within the EU, Spain permits twin citizenship solely with sure nations, so Britons must quit their UK passport to naturalise there.
A number of different European nations have restrictions on twin citizenship. Austria, one among them, recorded 395 naturalisations of British residents between 2016 and 2023.
Smaller nations in Western Europe recorded a excessive variety of naturalisations of British residents in relation to the native inhabitants: 4,291 in Cyprus, 2,277 in Denmark, 1,984 in Luxembourg, 1,385 in Malta, 1,041 in Portugal and 794 in Greece.
The quantity was low in Central and Easter Europe, with 285 Britons naturalising in Slovakia over the identical interval, 267 in Czechia, 257 in Poland, and 230 in Hungary. The determine was proportionally excessive in Latvia, at 770.
Solely 4 British residents naturalised in Estonia over the eight years, 6 in Lithuania, 11 in Romania, 15 in Bulgaria and 20 in Slovenia, Eurostat knowledge present.
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The variety of naturalisations elevated sharply in 2016, when the UK voted to depart the European Union, as British residents began to search for methods to safe their rights of their nations of residence.
Individuals acquiring citizenship in an EU member state additionally mechanically purchase EU citizenship, which grants amongst different issues free motion rights throughout the bloc and electoral rights in native and European elections.
Whereas solely round 2,500 UK residents acquired citizenships in different EU member states in 2014 and 2015, the quantity rose to nearly 6,700 in 2016 and reached a peak of 29,842 in 2019, earlier than the UK and the EU reached an settlement on the phrases of exit. The quantity has regularly declined since then and was 6,650 in 2023.
Norway recorded a pointy rise in 2021 (1,578 in comparison with 230 in 2020, and 1,054 in 2023).
The variety of British residents who naturalised in Germany collapsed from 13,675 in 2019 to 235 in 2023, in Sweden from 4,489 to 10.
