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'Flood' of passport enquiries over Brexit

September 1, 2016 10:42
Portuguese passport

By

Josh Jackman,

Josh Jackman

3 min read

Hundreds of British Jews have enquired about or tried to obtain EU passports following the Brexit referendum.

One synagogue head said she had received a "flood" of requests for assistance in obtaining foreign citizenship, and German, Polish and Portuguese sources have reported a surge of passport applications from the Jewish community.

Around 500 British Jews had taken formal steps towards securing a German passport since the referendum result, compared to a usual annual total of around two dozen, the country's embassy said.

And a Porto-based community organisation reported that while just five British Jews applied for Portuguese citizenship in 2015, roughly 300 had submitted applications since the Brexit vote.