In 2017, 14.911 Britons applied for another EU nationality, increasing the number from 127 by 2016%
British citizens saw the biggest increase in demand for citizenship of another European Union country in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to Eurostat data, released last Wednesday (06).
During 2017, according to statistics from the European Commission's statistical organization, concerned about the outcome of the Brexit, 14.911 Britons requested another EU nationality, increasing the number from the previous year, 127, by 2016%, when the referendum for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union took place. The citizenships most sought after by the British were German, French and Belgian.
Portugal had the fourth highest naturalization rate (the ratio between the number of people applying for a country's nationality during a year and the number of foreign residents in that country at the beginning of the year), after Sweden, Romania, and Finland.
Across the European Union, 825 citizens applied for citizenship of a Member State. Number down from 995 thousand in 2016. The majority (83%) of people who applied for this nationality were from outside the European Union or were stateless, with Morocco being the most common country of origin (67.900 people), followed by Albania and India .
Brazilians ranked eighth, with 21,600 applications for dual citizenship across the 28 countries of the European Union (46% applied for Italian citizenship; 28,2% for Portugal; and 6% for Spain).
Among the countries of the European Union, the countries with the highest number of passport applications from other EU nationalities were Romania (29.900, with more than half acquiring Italian citizenship) and Poland (22.000, with two out of three applying for a British or German passport).
On the other hand, 11.200 Italians applied for dual citizenship in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
The country with the highest naturalization rate was Sweden (8,2 passports granted per 100 resident foreigners), followed by Romania (5,9), Finland (5,0) and Portugal (4,5).
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