Queue here for citizenship

EU migrants have begun queuing up to take out British citizenship in the year since the EU referendum.

For the first time since largescale Eastern European migration to Britain began in 2004, there is strong evidence that tens of thousands of Europeans wish to gain the full rights of British nationality, the ONS said.

In the past, EU citizens have had no need to become British because they had full rights through EU rules.

In the year to the end of June, applications from EU citizens for permanent residency went up fivefold, from 27,200 to 145,400. The ONS said the leap ‘ is likely to be because of more people wanting to obtain confirmation of their rights following the referendum result’.