A record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the U.K. government says.
More than 1,900 U.S. citizens applied between January and March, according to new data Britain’s Home Office released Thursday.
The number represents the largest increase since the office began keeping such records in 2004, and a 12% increase from the previous quarter. More than 6,600 Americans have applied for British citizenship in the last full year, the Home Office reported.
Immigration lawyer Muhunthan Paramesvaran told The New York Times that the increase is due in part to Trump’s reelection.
“There’s definitely been an uptick in inquiries from U.S. nationals,” Paramesvaran told the Times.
“People who were already here may have been thinking, ‘I want the option of dual citizenship in the event that I don’t want to go back to the U.S.’”
Americans’ applications for British citizenship previously surged in 2020 during Trump’s first term amid his disastrous response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Just months into his second term, Trump has started a trade war with the rest of the world, gutted vital federal agencies, allowed security breaches by his White House staff to go unpunished, and has flown immigrants to a prison in El Salvador with no due process.