British citizenship applications by US nationals hit record high

LONDON – The number of US nationals applying for British citizenship hit an all-time high in 2025, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

A total of 8,790 Americans sought citizenship through either registration or naturalisation in 2025, according to Home Office data published on Feb 26, 42 per cent more than the previous high of 6,192 in 2024.

A record 2,490 applied in the final quarter of 2025.

“There continues to be a rise in interest from the US for those seeking global mobility options, and citizenship is a key part of that,” said Mr Nick Rollason, head of immigration at law firm Kingsley Napley.

Americans can apply for citizenship in Britain either through naturalisation – open to those who have resided in the country legally for at least five years including one year with settled status, or who have a British spouse; or through registration, which is open to people such as Commonwealth citizens, children born abroad to British citizens, or children born in Britain to parents who later get citizenship or settled status.

Mr Rollason said it was likely that changes introduced in 2022 allowing Americans with a British grandmother to apply for citizenship had helped boost the numbers.

But the “political climate in the US appears to be a significant motivator for those seeking a more stable and predictable environment abroad”.

The figures add to evidence of Americans seeking opportunities elsewhere since Mr Trump stepped up his campaign to reshape the economy and institutions around his America-first politics.

British universities in 2025 saw a rise in interest from US students, Bloomberg reported, while British job postings are receiving increasing interest from Americans.

The rise in applications will be welcomed by the British government, as it attempts to encourage growth in Britain. Though it is trying to limit net migration more broadly, it wants to encourage high earners and those with higher educational attainment.

Immigration lawyers say that US applicants for British citizenship tend to tick those boxes. 

A jump in citizenship applications across all nationalities, to 90,555 in the fourth quarter of 2025 from 68,771 a year earlier, is likely to reflect fears that Britain is becoming increasingly hostile toward migrants.

The government has proposed that migrants will now have to “earn” the right to claim residency in Britain, a precondition for citizenship through the naturalisation route. Reform UK – Mr Nigel Farage’s poll-leading right-wing party – has proposed abolishing residency status altogether.

“We are seeing quite a few people who have had Indefinite Leave to Remain for a number of years applying for citizenship,” Mr Rollason said.

“Concerns around possible attacks on indefinite leave by Reform but also the introduction of a possible future ‘earned citizenship’ scheme, set out in the government’s May White Paper, are pushing people who qualify to apply now.”

More widely, immigration to Britain continued to fall in 2025, according to the Home Office figures. There were 809,407 visas issued for a non-visit reason in 2025, down 15 per cent from the previous year but 10 per cent higher than 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Migration is proving one of the most contentious issues in British politics. Concerns around the pressures placed on public services led to the previous Conservative government and now the Labour administration to place restrictions on work and study visas.

While the fall in legal migration will be touted by the Labour government as it vows to bring down immigration following a surge post-pandemic, the number of undocumented migrants arriving on small boats across the English Channel climbed 13 per cent from 2024 – though it was still 9 per cent below its peak in 2022.

Some 46,000 people arrived through illegal routes in 2025, and most went on to claim asylum – the total number of people claiming asylum hit 101,000, down 4 per cent on the previous year.

The cost of accommodating asylum seekers while their claims are processed, and the attention given to crimes committed by migrants by right-wing figures in Britain, are factors which have boosted immigration to be one of voters’ top concerns. 

Analytics company Gallup found Britain leads any other county in terms of its opposition to more immigration, with 21 per cent of Britons naming it as their top concern. Only six other countries have at least one in 10 adults citing it as the foremost issue in their minds.

But the Home Office on Feb 26 said Britain had received only the fifth-largest number of asylum seekers in the EU+, after Germany, France, Spain and Italy. When compared to the size of the population, it had received the 15th largest number.

There were signs that the government was reducing the backlog of asylum claims, with 48,723 cases awaiting an initial decision at the end of December, down 48 per cent on a year earlier.

The number of asylum seekers receiving state support in the form of accommodation or subsistence payments was 107,003 – down 5 per cent on 2024. 

Housing asylum seekers in hotels has been one of the most contentious issues for British voters, due to the cost, the living conditions and the tensions sparked in the local community. The number of people living in hotels was 30,657 at the end of December, down 19 per cent over the year. BLOOMBERG