Thousands of Britons have applied for citizenship elsewhere since the Brexit vote. Here, Guardian readers across Europe explain why they made the decision
Brexit is turning the UK into a country of dual citizens. An Irish grandparent is now the most prized possession in the land, giving the proud owner the right to an Irish (and thus an EU) passport. Applications for Irish passports are surging – 200,000 Britons applied in 2018. About half of these were from Northern Ireland – anyone born on the island of Ireland before 2005 and anyone born there since with a parent who is Irish, British or “entitled to live in Northern Ireland or the Irish state without restriction on their residency” is entitled to Irish citizenship. The other half are Britons living outside Ireland who have suddenly discovered an affinity with the birthplace of a parent or a grandparent. The number of applications has doubled since the referendum, with by far the greater increase coming from outside the island of Ireland. That burgundy passport is now extremely highly prized.
Neale Richmond, the chair of the Irish Seanad’s Brexit committee, has claimed that at least 10% of the British population outside Northern Ireland are eligible for an Irish passport. It is a captivating statistic that is almost impossible to verify, but if it is even vaguely true and Brexit goes badly, we can expect the number of Irish citizens to swell significantly in the next few years.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2SnN9uQ
