Record Number of Americans Apply for British Citizenship
New data from the U.K. government showed applications surged in the first three months of this year, which some analysts attributed to the political climate in the United States.
A record number of Americans applied for British citizenship in the first three months of this year, and for the right to live and work in Britain indefinitely, according to official data.
In the year to March, 6,618 Americans applied for British citizenship, the highest annual figure since records began in 2004, according to statistics released by Britain’s Home Office on Thursday.
More than 1,900 of those applications were made between January and March — the highest number for any quarter on record.
Immigration lawyers said they had received an increased number of inquiries from people in the United States about possibly relocating to Britain in the wake of President Trump’s re-election in November.
Muhunthan Paramesvaran, a senior immigration lawyer at Wilsons Solicitors in London, said that inquiries from Americans looking to settle in Britain had risen “in the immediate aftermath of the election and the various pronouncements that were made.”
“There’s definitely been an uptick in inquiries from U.S. nationals,” he said. “People who were already here may have been thinking, ‘I want the option of dual citizenship in the event that I don’t want to go back to the U.S.’”
The rise in British citizenship applications from Americans took place against a backdrop of similar increases from across the world, but the global rate — 9.5 percent year-on-year — was far outpaced by the 30 percent jump from the United States.
Zeena Luchowa, a partner at Laura Devine Immigration, a law firm that specializes in American migration to Britain, said she expected further increases in the coming months because of the “political landscape” in America.
“We’ve seen increases in inquiries and applications not just for U.S. nationals, but for U.S. residents of other nationalities who are currently in the U.S. but looking at plans to settle in the U.K.,” she added. “The queries we’re seeing are not necessarily about British citizenship — it’s more about seeking to relocate.”
Separate data published by the Home Office this week showed that a record number of Americans were given the right to settle in Britain in 2024, allowing them to live and work indefinitely in the country as a necessary precursor to citizenship.
Of the 5,521 settlement applications granted for U.S. citizens last year, most were for people who are eligible because of their spouses, parents and other family links, while a substantial portion were for people who had originally arrived in Britain on temporary visas for “skilled workers” and want to remain.
That figure was up 20 percent compared with 2023 and marked a record high for Americans granted permission to remain in Britain indefinitely. However, the jump was less than the overall increase in settlement grants for all nationalities, which rose by 37 percent in the same period.
Mr. Paramesvaran believes that the rate of settlement applications will accelerate further in the coming months after the British government recently announced that most people would have to live in the country for 10 years, rather than the current five, before they can apply for permanent settlement.
“People are worried about what may be on the horizon in terms of potential changes to qualification periods,” he said. “It’s a case of people wanting to take advantage of the rules and guidance as they exist today.”
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said in Parliament on May 12 that some people might qualify “more swiftly” for permanent settlement in Britain depending on the “contribution” they made, but that the exact details would not finalized until later this year.
Marley Morris, associate director for migration at the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research, said there were likely a “few things going on” behind the overall increase in settlement applications from around the world, with “political motivations” being among several factors.
“There are a whole load of people who are becoming eligible for settlement and that is filtering through the system,” Mr. Morris added.
Successive British governments have been seeking to cut net migration, which halved in 2024 according to figures released on Thursday. That decline followed a tightening of restrictions by the previous Conservative administration.
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