The number of British citizens applying for Danish citizenship has seen a huge rise during the past two years, following the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Since 2017, the number of Brits turned Danish citizens under the country's citizenship law has skyrocketed from 134 to 489, Denmark's immigration ministry reported.
“There has been a large increase in the number of British citizens applying for Danish citizenship. I believe the increase is because of Brexit”, Immigration and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said, as quoted by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
While stressing his pleasure to welcome aspiring Danish citizens, Tesfaye emphasised that Danish legislation in the event of a no-deal Brexit is already in place.
“As such, the approximately 18,500 British citizens [living in Denmark] can continue with their lives in Denmark regardless of whether they have applied for Danish citizenship", he continued.
Another explanation for the surge in citizenship applications by Brits is that Denmark in 2015 allowed dual nationality in a marked shift of policy. This is likely to have spurred some of the more hesitant British expatriates to apply for naturalisation in other countries without having to give up their UK passports.
A no deal Brexit appears to have been taken off the table, at least for the time being, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a remarkable u-turn, abandoning his initial “do or die” drive to abandon the EU with or without a deal on 31 October, instead opting for a new deal with the EU he called “fantastic”.
However, as the new deal wasn't passed by Parliament, a general election is now scheduled on 12 December. A new Brexit deadline has been accepted by the EU and set for 31 January 2020.
