A record number of U.S. citizens applied for British citizenship between January and March this year, according to official data from the UK Home Office. The surge coincides with the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
A total of 1,931 Americans submitted naturalization applications during that period—the highest number since records began in 2004 and a 12% increase compared to the previous quarter. A notable spike in applications had already been observed in the final three months of 2024, during Trump’s reelection.
Last year also set a record for the number of Americans granted permanent settlement status in the UK—a key step toward citizenship—with over 5,500 approvals. That figure represents a 20% rise compared to 2023. Settlement status grants the right to live, work, and study in the UK indefinitely and can later be used to apply for citizenship.
This is not the first time such a trend has emerged. In 2020, during Trump’s first term and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. applications for British citizenship also surged. In the first half of that year alone, more than 5,800 Americans renounced their U.S. citizenship—nearly three times the total for all of 2019, according to data compiled by Bambridge Accountants, a firm specializing in cross-border taxation with offices in New York and London.
“It’s mostly people who had already left the U.S. and just decided they were fed up with everything,” said Alistair Bambridge, a partner at the firm, in an interview with CNN in August 2020. Many cited dissatisfaction with the political climate and the handling of the pandemic in the U.S. Tax issues were also a common factor, Bambridge noted.
However, building a new life in the UK—or elsewhere in Europe—is becoming increasingly difficult. Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to tighten legal immigration requirements and extend the waiting period for new arrivals to apply for citizenship.
Italy also recently enacted a law eliminating citizenship by descent through great-grandparents—a popular pathway for descendants of Italians abroad. The country had already toughened visa rules for non-EU citizens.
