A record number of Americans applied for British citizenship between January and March, according to the first set of data covering the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
Some 1,931 Americans put in an application, the most since records began in 2004 and a jump of 12% on the previous quarter, figures from the UK Home Office showed Thursday. Applications had already soared during the October-December period, which coincided with Trump’s re-election.
Successful applications by US citizens to settle permanently in the United Kingdom, rather than just move there initially, also hit a record high last year, the latest period for which official data is available. Settlement comes with the right to live, work and study in Britain indefinitely and can be used to apply for citizenship. More than 5,500 Americans were granted settled status in 2024, a fifth more than in 2023.
The last time American applications for British citizenship spiked was in 2020, during Trump’s first presidential term and at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other data also showed that in the first six months of 2020 more than 5,800 Americans gave up their citizenship, nearly triple the number from all of 2019. The statistics were compiled by Bambridge Accountants, a firm with offices in New York and London specializing in cross-border taxation.
Posted by John3262005
1 Comment
Around 2,000 people is nothing for a country with a population of over 340 million.
It is about who is leaving, not the amount itself.