Three years after the Brexit referendum and less than six months until the day when United Kingdom passport holders cease to be citizens of the European Union, a new study has shed light on the number of Britons who are moving to become residents of EU countries because of Brexit. British People Leaving for EU Countries

According to this study, conducted by Daniel Tetlow, Oxford in Berlin and Daniel Auer, a research fellow at the WZB’s unit Migration, Integration, and Transnationalization, the number of Brits moving to the continental EU Member States is the highest in ten years.

“OECD figures and national government statistics have shown that the number has risen continuously since 2010 with an exaggerated spike since the Brexit referendum in 2016,” the study reads.

One of the researchers of the study, Daniel Auer, claims that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit has certainly caused large numbers of people to pack their bags in both directions. He explains that due to the high error rate of the migration numbers, which relies on approximations from passenger surveys, the report was based on OECD data.

“For that reason, in our study, we use OECD data based on national immigration statistics, available until the end of 2017, so one of the challenges for our study is to better understand the effect of Brexit since then,” Auer says.

Among the main findings of the study is that there is even a spike up in the number of the naturalizations of British citizens in the remaining 27 EU Member Countries.

Only in Germany, 1000% more Britons gained citizenship in 2017 compared to 2015. Whereas in the entire EU27, the number of Britons getting an EU passport increased for six times in 20017, compared to 2015.

While currently, dual EU citizenship is permitted for these people, after December 31, 2020, those who want to maintain their European citizenship rights will have to give up their British citizenship. British People Leaving for EU Countries

On the other hand, over 3.5 million applications have been filed by the citizens of EU27, for UK’s EU Settlement Scheme, internal figures of the UK Home Office published in May show.

The EU Settlement Scheme has been created for EU, EEA or Swiss citizens and their family members currently living in the UK, who wish to remain after December 31. The scheme grants eligible applicants settled and pre-settled status, enabling them to continue living in the UK after June 30, 2021. British People Leaving for EU Countries

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