A record number of applications from US citizens for UK citizenship and residence have been received in recent months, according to Home Office statistics. This appears to coincide with the election of President Donald Trump.
In the year up to March, 6,618 US citizens applied for UK citizenship; of those, around 1,900 did so in the first quarter of 2025. The figures for early 2025 were the highest for any three-month period since records began in 2004.
Immigration lawyers indicated to the press that this related to the political situation in the US. Many of the applications appear to have been from US citizens living in the UK who wished to confirm their status. As one lawyer 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 US.’”
[Image: Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay]