Germany Leads in Granting EU Citizenship to Britons After Brexit Vote

Since 2016, when the UK voted to get out of the European Union, known as the Brexit process, until the end of 2023, a total of 114,635 Brits obtained an EU passport, including here 11,029 people who were naturalised in Switzerland and Norway, the two countries outside the Schengen Area.

According to data published by Eurostat, the EU office for statistics, Germany has granted citizenship to 34,186 British citizens since 2016, representing 31.8 per cent of all citizens that have obtained EU citizenship during the 2016 to 2023 period, Schengen.News reports. 

The highest number of Brits obtaining German citizenship was recorded in 2019, with 13,675 new German citizens who had British citizenship, being registered. Brits obtaining German citizenship hit the highest record during this period – 13,675, representing 45.82 per cent of all new citizens in the EU recorded that year. 

France Granted Most EU Citizenship After Brexit 
After 31 January 2020, when the UK formally left the EU, there was a shift among candidates for EU citizenship. For example, Germany remained the top issuer in 2020, which was the transition year before the Brexit referendum was fully implemented, but the numbers dropped significantly. 

From granting German citizenship to 13,675 Brits in 2019, in the following year, this number dropped by 68.48 per cent, to 4,310 new German citizens from the UK. 

The number further plummeted to 2,345 in 2021 while France became the number one country to grant citizenship to the most British citizens. While Germany granted citizenship to 2,345 Brits in 2021, France granted citizenship to 3,693 Brits, officially becoming the country with the most new citizens from the UK. 

Since 2021, France has remained the country with the most naturalised British citizens, with the latest data revealing that 1,884 Brits obtained French citizenship in 2023, only to be followed by Ireland which granted citizenship to 1,009 Brits.

Very Few to No Brits Obtained EU Citizenship From Baltic Countries 
According to Marteen Vink, Chair in Citizenship Studies and Director of the Global Citizenship research area at the European University Institute in Florence, the rise in citizenship acquisitions is a result of Brexit, as The Local reports.

As the data reveals, the number of Brits obtaining EU citizenship from Estonia and Lithuania was the lowest – four and six Brits obtained Estonian and Lithuanian passports between 2016 and 2023, respectively. 

The number of Brits obtaining EU citizenship was quite high in some small countries, such as Cyprus, which granted citizenship to 4,291 Brits during the eight-year period. Denmark (2,277), Luxembourg (1,984), Malta (1,385), Portugal (1,041) and Greece (794) followed.

Source: https://schengen.news/germany-leads-in-granting-eu-citizenship-to-britons-after-brexit-vote/