newsAuf Wiedersehn, pet: Uncertainly over Brexit causes surge in Britons seeking German citizenship
All together for the time being – German, British and EU flags flying at the harbour at Thessaloniki in Greece (Picture: Trevor Grundy)
By Trevor Grundy
(Canterbury, England June 4, 2020) – – – Against the background of an economic collapse, mass unemployment, a Coronavirus that has already claimed 50,000 lives and fear of a national isolation caused by Brexit at the end of this year at the end of this year, thousands of Britons living in Germany are applying for citizenship.
“Britons are surging itno Germany as the country records the fasted increase in citizenship since 2003”, says a report by Oliver Moody in The Times.
Last year, 129,8000 people became naturalised in Germany, a 15 percent rise on the 2018 figure.
The number of Britons granted German passports more that doubled from 6,600 two years ago to 14,600 last year.
The figure for 2015, before the Brexit vote was 600.
Officially, 90,000 Britons live in Germany. That’s a conservative estimate.The true figure is more i the region of 130,000 because dual citizens are recorded separately.
Many Britons take German citizenship without renouncing t heir British nationality.
But this will not be possible after the Brexit transition period closes.
The paper spoke to Carole Whiting, 44, a full time mother of four children.
She has lived in Cologne for nearly four years.
She told Moody: “I’d throw away my British citizenship in a heartbeat. I’m angry and disappointed with the way things are run in what used to be my home country.”
Auf Wiedersehn, Pet was a British TV series (1983-2004) about a group of out-of-work British construction workers who went to Germany seeking jobs- and staying on there.