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Finland sees post-Brexit jump in Brits seeking citizenship

Since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union, many countries have reported a spike in citizenship applications from UK citizens. Finland is no exception, with last year's total already beaten by the end of August.

Brexit symbolikuva.
Britain is planning to reverse course and leave the European Union--and many British citizens are looking for a new passport as a result. Image: AOP

British citizens across the European Union are considering their options after the referendum vote in June to leave the EU, and Finland has observed the same trend.

This year up until August, Finland had received some 41 applications from Britons. During the whole of 2015, just 33 arrived. In the previous year the figure was only 17.

Some people with strong links to the country are able to obtain citizenship by declaration, if they meet certain criteria. There have been 31 such declarations this year, compared to a total of seven last year.

In total Finland received around 8,300 applications for citizenship, so British citizens are still responsible for only a small percentage of the total.

The Guardian gathered figures from 18 EU countries, and found that there have been some 2,800 applications from Britons for citizenship of those countries this year. That represents an increase of around 250 percent on 2016.