British nationals acquiring German citizenship reaches record high

The number of British nationals acquiring German citizenship had reached a record high of 7,493 in 2017, a 162 percent surge over the previous year, according to the German Federal Office of Statistics on Wednesday.

While only 622 British citizens had acquired German citizenship in 2015, in 2016 they had reached a record high of 2,865 and finally 7,493 in 2017, according to the statistics office.

It added, a connection with the forthcoming Brexit is obvious, because in the two years 2016 and 2017, a total of 10,358 Britons acquired German citizenship, more than twice as many as in the entire period from 2000 to 2015.

In total, around 112,200 foreigners were naturalized in Germany in 2017, a 1.7 percent increase year on year, and also registering the highest level since 2013.

Turkish nationals took the greatest share among the naturalized foreigners in Germany in 2017, as 14,984 had acquired German citizenship during the year, followed by British, Polish, Italian and Romanian nationals, said the statistics office.