Americans applied for British citizenship in record numbers last year, with a historically high volume of applications submitted in the last quarter of 2024 – a period coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s re-election.
More than 6,100 US citizens applied for UK citizenship last year, the most since records began in 2004, when fewer than 3,000 Americans submitted an application, according to data from the UK’s Home Office.
Last year’s numbers also saw a marked uptick from 2023, a year with fewer than 5,000 applications by US citizens.
Applications by Americans soared in the last three months of 2024, when more than 1,700 people applied – the most in any quarter in the past two decades.
The surge is reminiscent of an upswing recorded in the first six months of 2020, when more than 5,800 Americans gave up their citizenship, nearly tripling the number from all of 2019.
That uptick came in the wake of Trump’s first presidency and changes in tax policy, analysts argued then, and were mostly Americans who had already been living in Britain for some time.
Trump himself could apply for British citizenship, through his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and raised in Scotland before leaving as a 17-year-old for the United States to work as a domestic servant in 1930.
European escape
As more Americans scramble for UK passports, some British citizens have recently sought their own backups.
In the years following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the number of Britons applying for Irish passports – giving them the right to freely work, live and travel across Europe – almost doubled.
And with Trump’s re-election in November last year leaving Americans around the world worried about what the next four years may bring, some communities have sniffed an opportunity.
An Italian village launched a website aimed at would-be American expats, offering up more cheap homes in the hope that those upset by the election’s outcome will rush to snap up one of its empty properties – and revive its fortunes after decades of depopulation.
“Are you worned (sic) out by global politics? Looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle while securing new opportunities?” the website asks. “It’s time to start building your European escape in the stunning paradise of Sardinia.”
