An increasing number of Brits vote are trying to gain new nationalities.
At least 2,800 Britons applied for citizenship in 18 countries from January to the beginning of September this year. This was a leap of more than 250% on the numbers recorded in 2015.
The country with the greatest hike in applications was Denmark, which experienced a tenfold surge, going from 30 in the first eight months of 2015 to nearly 300 in the same period this year.
Applications by British nationals for Swedish citizenship rose more than three times to reach 1,100 in the period this year. The peak times were 129 requests in the week of the Brexit referendum in June and 150 in the following week.
Ireland reported having received 351 applications, up from 61 in the same period last year.
The information comes from research by the Guardian newspaper which contacted the 27 EU countries requesting the figures on applications. Replies were received from 18 states.
Applications for German citizenship are processed locally rather than nationally, but the trend in 10 leading cities also appears to show an uplift. In Berlin the number rose from 45 naturalised Britons in 2015 to 230 applications in 2016 while in the country’s second largest city, Hamburg, the number went from 52 to 178.
A similar pattern has been detected in Belgium, albeit on a smaller scale.
No directly comparable statistics were available from Spain, the EU country with the largest British population, but there has been an increase after the June Brexit referendum in those taking the two exams required for citizenship.
From eastern European countries, however, few if any applications made. None were recorded in Slovenia, Estonia or Lithuania in either 2015 or until August this year. A sprinkling were made in Croatia, Czech Republic and Hungary, although requests for information about the process have increased.
