Donald Trump’s return to the White House and UK tax changes have contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of Americans applying for UK citizenship, new data from the Home Office has reveaked. This surge has resulted in a record high, with over 6,100 US citizens applying last year and 26% more than in 2023.

In the last quarter of 2024 alone, an incredible increase of 40% year-on-year, reaching around 1,700. Immigration lawyers, according to the Financial Times, have said that Trump’s presidential re-election bid, and victory in November, helped drive the increase. Changes to the UK tax system have also encouraged Americans to secure British passports before they leave.

The US political landscape was “a very serious driver” of increased interest in UK residency, said Elena Hinchin, partner at the law firm, Farrer & Co.

She added: “There’s much more interest than under the previous Trump administration.”

Ono Okeregha, director at the law firm Immigration Advice Service, also revealed that there was a “huge spike” in the number of searches for British citizenship the day after the US election in November. Interest in citizenship and visas has continued since the start of Trump’s second presidency.

He said the rise in applications reflected the “aftermath of the first Donald Dash” – as those who emigrated to the UK during Trump’s first term started to become eligible for UK citizenship.

To apply for UK citizenship, someone must have lived in the UK for five years or have parents with British citizenship. They may also apply if they are married to a Brit and have lived in the UK for three years.

Ms Hinchin added that the UK’s abolition of non-dom tax status had also encouraged some wealthy Americans living in the UK to seek citizenship before they left.

“They want to apply for citizenship now so that they don’t lose the right to do so,” she explained, “it just keeps the door open and means more flexibility for their children”.

According to the Home Office data, American applications have been on a steady rise since the end of 2022.

However, Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, cautioned that politics is rarely the sole reason for seeking citizenship in other countries: “For people moving from safe countries, politics tends to be a third or fourth order factor, not a key reason for moving on its own.”

Mr Trump’s second term as president has also been linked to the rise in Spain’s Golden Visa applications by Americans, which is due to end next month.

There has been a huge 200% rise in the number of Golden Visa applications from US citizens as the countdown to the scheme’s end draws nearer, Schengen News reported.

American actor Richard Gere – famous for Pretty Women – who recently set up home in Madrid, told a Spanish audience that these were “dark days” in the States and labelled the President as a “bully and a thug”.