More Britons want to become Dutch in Brexit's wake

By Janene Pieters on July 27, 2016 - 11:50
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The Union Flag on the Palace of Westminster in London (Photo: Ввласенко/Wikimedia Commons). The Union Flag on the Palace of Westminster in London (Photo: Ввласенко/Wikimedia Commons)

More British people in the Netherlands want to become a Dutch citizen after the decision was made that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union, according to the immigration and naturalization service IND. In the weeks after the Brexit referendum on June 23rd, 20 Brits applied for Dutch citizenship  - the same number as in the first half of this year, the Telegraaf reports.

According to Statistics Netherlands, over 43 thousand Brits lived in the Netherlands on January 1st last year. This means that despite the increase in so-called naturalization applications in the country, the number is still very small.  In all of 2015 about 40 British people submitted a naturalization application in the Netherlands.

As citizen of the European Union, a British person can submit a naturalization application in the Netherlands after five years of living here.

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