Fewer EU citizens are moving to the UK than before the referendum was held, and those already there are taking up British citizenship in record numbers.
It has been estimated that while overall net migration to the UK was 283,000 over the last 12 months, there has been a considerable drop in net migration from the EU since the referendum on Brexit, with more migrants from the EU leaving the UK than arriving. By comparison, prior to the referendum EU migration was adding around 190,000 people a year to the UK population. This figure has fallen to 57,000 in the past 12 months and the Office for National Statistics says that more citizens from central and eastern Europe left the UK than arrived in 2018.
Given the current atmosphere of uncertainty, EU citizens who intend to stay in the UK are applying for British citizenship, perceived as offering the most security in terms of the right to settle causing UK citizenship applications from EU nationals to be at record levels at the end of 2018. EU nationals accounted for 34% of all applications for British nationality in the final quarter of 2018, up from 17% two years ago. The quarterly total was 15,000 – by far the highest on record.
The number of EU nationals granted British citizenship increased by 50% last year, from 32,000 in 2017 to 48,000 in 2018.
