Fewer Dutch move to Britain, but Brits keep on coming here

The number of Dutch nationals moving to Britain has dropped sharply since the Brexit vote in 2016, but more British nationals are moving to the Netherlands, according to national statistics agency CBS.

Until 2016 there was a steady increase in Dutch immigration to the UK, but last year 3,000 made the move, the lowest number since 2009. Since the Brexit vote, Dutch emigration to Britain has fallen almost 30%, the CBS said.

At the same time, the number of British nationals coming to the Netherlands continues to rise. In 2018, 5,800 people made the move, a 40% increase on 2015.

More British nationals are also returning home – some 3,000 went back to the UK last year, the CBS said.

Earlier this year it emerged that record numbers of British nationals are also becoming Dutch to beat Brexit. In January alone, 80 British citizens in the Netherlands gave up their British nationality to become Dutch nationals, compared with just 19 in the whole of 2015.

In 2018, 200 British nationals agreed to renounce their British nationality and become Dutch. A further 1,128 British people became dual nationals last year after becoming Dutch using the alternative option route.

Two passports

Research by this website last October showed that just 10% of British nationals had applied for Dutch nationality and that the rules on having two passports are a major stumbling block.

Asked why they had not done so, 41% said they did not want to give up their British passport. A further 14% said they were worried that becoming Dutch would affect their right to return to Britain for a longer period and 20% had not lived in the Netherlands long enough to qualify.

Some 86,000 people with British nationality currently live in the Netherlands, of whom 47,000 are first generation migrants, according to figures from the national statistics office CBS.