Following Donald Trump’s re-election as President of the United States, there has been a surge in applications from Americans seeking UK citizenship. According to the UK Home Office, the number of American applicants for British citizenship reached an all-time high in the last quarter of 2024.
More than 6,100 American citizens applied for UK citizenship in 2024, the highest figure since record-keeping began in 2004. In contrast, fewer than 5,000 applications were submitted in 2023, highlighting a significant increase. Notably, over 1,700 applications were submitted in the last three months of 2024 alone—the highest quarterly figure in two decades.
This trend is not entirely new. In the first six months of 2020, more than 5,800 Americans renounced their US citizenship, nearly three times higher than in 2019. Analysts attribute the surge to Trump’s first term and changes in tax policies at the time.
Interestingly, Trump himself might be eligible for British citizenship, as his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 1930.
Source: CNN