At least three quarters of a million migrants from the ‘small boat nations’ of Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Eritrea have obtained citizenship of an EU Member State since free movement ended in Britain at the end of 2020, new analysis by the Centre for Migration Control reveals.
The revelation comes as the Sunday Times reports that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is open to adopting free movement as part of his efforts to move Britain closer to the EU.
His argument is predicated on the assumption that freedom of movement generally entailed younger Europeans coming to Britain for a few years “then going back”.
However, whilst this may very well have been the case for Bohemian poets and French artists coming here to study, German industry leaders, or indeed certain groups of Eastern European migrants coming here to work, we know that since 2020 non-Europeans have become increasingly likely to migrate to Britain on a long term basis.
And this is the point which needs to be recognised during the forthcoming debate on freedom of movement — the demographics of European citizenry have changed. There are now millions of people in possession of an EU passport who arrived from other parts of the world.
The Centre for Migration Control also revealed last week that the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood’s new senior advisor on migration and borders previously wrote several papers that called for Britain to “retain” freedom of movement rules after Brexit.
Under EU rules the citizens of member states have the right to live and work freely in other member states, with those permanently resident abroad enjoying the right to access welfare, job opportunities and healthcare on the same basis as if they were citizens of that country.
What the data shows
Non-European citizenship grants
Between 2021 and 2024, a total of 3,529,831 non-Europeans were awarded citizenship of an EU member state.
The top five nationalities receiving EU citizenship grants between 2021 and 2024 were Morocco, Syria, Albania, Turkey and Ukraine, which together account for 1.2 million acquisitions.
Over two million migrants from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia were given EU citizenship between 2021 and 2024, and there are at least 3.57 million from these regions who received citizenship since 2015.
Small boat nationalities
Since 2018 56% of migrants crossing the English Channel have come from just five nations: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Eritrea.
Between 2021 and 2024, the EU27 member states issued 624,897 citizenship grants to migrants from these countries. This accounts for over a sixth of the total number of non-Europeans obtaining EU citizenship during this period.
Further data for 2025, taken from national data releases shows that at least a further 134,000 migrants received grants that year, although many member states are yet to report the figures.
This means that at least three quarters of a million migrants from these five nations are now in possession of an EU passport, who were not before the end of the transition period, and would have the right to move and reside in Britain should Burnham take the country back into the single market.
A total of 935,200 grants were made between 2015 and 2024.
By far and away, citizenship grants to Syrians have seen the most dramatic increase. In 2015, 5,636 Syrians were given a passport by an EU27 member state. By 2024, this figure was 110,083. An increase of 1,853%.
This was the inevitable outcome of the disastrous policies pursued by Angela Merkel in 2015 and her call to the German people, “Wir schaffen das” (“we can do this”), as over one million Syrian migrants were admitted to the country.
These individuals are now eligible for German citizenship and the result is that, in 2025, a fifth of all German naturalisations were Syrians.
Comparing figures from 2015 with those from 2024, the annual number of Afghans receiving an EU passport went from 7,185 to 23,069 (221% increase). The number of Eritreans went from 2,183 to 12,320 (464%). The number of Iraqis from 14,965 to 21,044 (40%), and the number of Iranians went from 6,811 to 14,702 (115%).
