French interior ministry says 386 Britons applied for French citizenship in 2015, 1,363 in 2016, and 3,173 in 2017



The number of British nationals applying for French citizenship has increased nearly tenfold in three years, France’s interior ministry has said.

The ministry said 386 Britons filed applications to become French in 2015, rising to 1,363 in 2016 – the year of the Brexit referendum – and to 3,173 in 2017. Over the same period, the number of UK nationals obtaining French citizenship increased from 320 to 1,518.

Le Figaro newspaper said many applicants were motivated by considerations such as avoiding queues at airports, the Channel tunnel and Eurostar terminals or a desire to secure rights to healthcare and social benefits after the UK leaves the EU.

But Fiona Mougenot, a British woman who runs an immigration consultancy in France, said she was handling more than 20 naturalisation applications filed in 2017, many prompted more by a wish to retain European citizenship than to minimise potential bureaucratic issues.

“Practical matters are important for our clients, of course,” Mougenot told the paper. “But for most, the primary motivation is to stay European. Many could not vote in the referendum, are horrified by the prospect of Brexit and feel betrayed. France is vital to them because their lives are here, but beyond France it’s Europe they don’t want to abandon.”

The Guardian reported in October that at least 17,000 Britons had sought the citizenship of another EU member state in the year following the Brexit vote, with responses to requests from 20 London-based EU embassies and interior ministries showing the most popular was Ireland, up 1025% to almost 9,000 applications.

While almost all countries that provided figures recorded a significant increase, citizenship applications from British nationals increased nearly eightfold in Italy, fivefold in Germany, and doubled or trebled in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Austria.