A May article from the New York Times explores why the United Kingdom is quickly becoming the new freedom fallback. A report shared by the British Home Office states that over 6,618 Americans applied for dual citizenship due to U.S. residents’ fears about President Donald Trump’s political and social restrictions, which are inevitably causing a recession on multiple levels. This is why over 1,900 applications were submitted in the first three months of 2025. Surely a trend that shows residency requests increased by 30% year-over-year, taking into account both U.S. nationals and foreign-born Americans, who think of Britain as their home at heart, marking a new record.
Particularly, the piece includes the following expert insights:
- M. Paramesvaran, a lawyer, noted that the number of Americans planning to relocate to England or apply for a British passport rose ‘in the immediate aftermath of the election’, highlighting how a part of the U.S. community is trying to escape from Trump’s second era while current immigrants are still securing their options. As a result, he is expecting an acceleration of the rate of settlement applications.
- Zeena Luchowa, an immigration specialist at Laura Devin firm, said that she definitely ‘expected increases because of the “political landscape” in America’. It’s worth noting that this wave of migration to the United Kingdom runs parallel to similar queries to relocate across the globe, as many Americans aren’t only focused on the U.K., but about moving out of the States in general.
In the write-up, it is clear how President Trump’s re-election marked a tipping point, which brought Americans to lack faith in the future direction of America along with a perceived necessity to claim permanent residence abroad as a safeguard against anticipated policy developments. In this context, Britain definitely helped. According to additional data shared by the Home Office, more than 5,521 Americans were granted permanent settlement in the U.K. in 2024 alone, thanks to family ancestry and skilled worker visas.
Word for word, Y. Cooper (home secretary) and M. Morris (associate director for migration at the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research) predicted more passport requests, especially in light of recent UK policy reforms, which may extend the residency requirement to 10 years.
