The number of British citizens who have applied to acquire the nationality of another EU member state has surged since the Brexit referendum
Since 2016, more than 350,000 UK citizens have opted to apply for citizenship of another EU member state as a form of post-Brexit insurance policy, with some even forfeiting their British citizenship to retain EU rights after Brexit.
Ireland has proved to be the most popular type of passport now held by dual-national Britons with many applying for an Irish passport for the first time, but countries like Germany and France have also seen gains with a tenfold rise in the naturalisation of British citizens.
In Spain, where dual nationality for British nationals is not a possibility, numbers of people who have taken up citizenship remain low. Of the estimated 600,000 British people who live in that country only 209 applied for a Spanish passport in 2018 compared with just 50 applications in 2015 and 33 in 2016.
