57 percent more passports granted by UK immigration

The number of British passports that will be given to immigrants is set to touch the record 220,000 figure in year 2009 as applicants willing to move to the country are hurrying to prevent the new stringent conditions which are planned to be imposed in 2010.

The number of British passports that will be given to immigrants is set to touch the record 220,000 figure in year 2009 as applicants willing to move to the country are hurrying to prevent the new stringent conditions which are planned to be imposed in 2010.

The prediction was done after the UK Home Office granted fifty-five percent more UK passports in the first quarter of 2009, when compared with the same period in 2008.

In the initial three months of the year 2009, the Home Office approved 54,615 citizenship applications, and its is estimated that if this continues with the same rate then the number of people granted passports will surpass the record 164,540 applications set in the year 2007.

According to UK immigration officials, the current increase in numbers is observed because immigrants are speeding up in order to get UK citizenship status prior to the introduction of the stringent conditions next year.

Under the present rules, people working in the UK must stay in the country for a minimum of five years prior to applying for British citizenship. But under the new system that will be introduced in 2010, the minimum requirement will be raised to between six and eight years.

The top five countries whose immigrants acquired citizenship in the past two years are India, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Somalia.