More Migrants given UK Citizenship in 2012 in EU

[Babz]

Britain granted more migrants citizenship in 2012 than any other country in the European Union, official figures have revealed.
Records released by Brussels showed that 193,900 people were granted UK passports over the year - nearly one in four of those issued across all member states.
Most of those were given to people from India, 14.6%, followed by Pakistan on 9.5%, Nigeria on 4.6% and the Philippines on 4.2%.
The Home Office insisted British citizenship was a "privilege, not a right" and blamed the figures on "uncontrolled" levels of immigration under the last Labour government.
Around three quarters of the 818,000 new citizenships in the EU were granted in just six countries, according to Eurostat, the union's statistical office.
Britain topped the list with 23.7%, followed by Germany on 14%, France on 11.7%, Spain on 11.5%, Italy on 8% and Sweden on 6.1%.
Luxembourg had the highest rate a new citizens for the size of population with 8.7% for every 1,000 residents.
Carlos Vargas-Silva, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University told The Times: "The UK is the leader in terms of people acquiring citizenship in the EU and one of the reasons this is happening is because of the Commonwealth.
"In the UK you have migration from the Commonwealth countries and they come to join established networks and families so they want to acquire citizenship".
The average age of new EU citizens was 31 and more than a third were under 25.
A Home Office spokesman said: "British citizenship is a privilege, not a right and we expect those wishing to settle here to demonstrate they are ready and able to integrate into society.
"This government has made the acquisition of citizenship harder and all applicants are required to pass both the new, revised Life in the UK test and have the relevant English language speaking and listening qualification.
"The high volume of applications in 2012 is largely a result of the uncontrolled levels of immigration in the years before 2010. We are reducing and controlling immigration, building an immigration system that is fair to British citizens and legitimate migrants and tough on those who abuse the system or flout the law."

Culled from: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/more-migrants ... ml#4aXIJB3

[ukswus]

This "news" is just so full of negativity... Quite depressing to read.

[pelen23]

It is one of those articles intentionally not considering Britain's politics and history but trying to sound as if the UK government is giving out british citizenship outside home office in Croydon.

[ouflak1]

Britain granted more migrants citizenship in 2012 than any other country in the European Union, official figures have revealed.
Records released by Brussels showed that 193,900 people were granted UK passports over the year - nearly one in four of those issued across all member states.

Well there is a big problem with this information right here. The number of passports granted by the UK government is vastly larger than the number of people granted citizenship, due to people getting renewed passports, getting their first passports (as adults or children), and even the rare passport issued to those who are not citizens. Not to mention that not everybody granted citizenship actually follows through and gets their appointment in time or attends the ceremony. Likewise, there is also a disconnect between the number of people who get citizenship and the number of those who subsequently go on to apply for a passport, something that may not at all happen in the same calender year due to timing (a person applying for their passport in December, especially a first passport, is unlikely to have it issued to them that year), if ever (if that new citizen has no plans to leave the UK, they may not ever bother to get a passport). If this report based its numbers on passports issued, instead of the actual number of people granted, and who attained, citizenship, then someone somewhere is going to have to do a big revisit of their facts and get it all straightened out. And if they've made similar false assumptions for the other countries in the comparison, then entire document is worthless and will have to be rewritten.

[fwd079]

Britain granted more migrants citizenship in 2012 than any other country in the European Union, official figures have revealed.
Records released by Brussels showed that 193,900 people were granted UK passports over the year - nearly one in four of those issued across all member states.

Well there is a big problem with this information right here. The number of passports granted by the UK government is vastly larger than the number of people granted citizenship, due to people getting renewed passports, getting their first passports (as adults or children), and even the rare passport issued to those who are not citizens. Not to mention that not everybody granted citizenship actually follows through and gets their appointment in time or attends the ceremony. Likewise, there is also a disconnect between the number of people who get citizenship and the number of those who subsequently go on to apply for a passport, something that may not at all happen in the same calender year due to timing (a person applying for their passport in December, especially a first passport, is unlikely to have it issued to them that year), if ever (if that new citizen has no plans to leave the UK, they may not ever bother to get a passport). If this report based its number on passports issued, instead of the actual number of people granted, and who attained, citizenship, then someone somewhere is going to have to do a big revisit of their facts and get it all straightened out. And if they've made similar false assumptions for the other countries in the comparison, then entire document is worthless and will have to be rewritten.

So glad we have senior members like you to kill these UKIPped sounding posts. Thanks!

[t123456789]

Also many EU countries have national IDs which are usually cheaper than passports (and sometimes mandatory) and are valid for travel throughout the EU, so they are less inclined to apply for passports.

[secret.simon]

In this case, the headline figure of 193,900 is for new citizens of the United Kingdom, not for new passports. I guess the reporter for the Gruaniad, err, sorry, the Guardian, (from which the text of the original post appears to be sourced indirectly) used new passports as a metonymy for new citizens.

That includes 5.4% of people who are already citizens of another country within the EEA.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statis ... itizenship