{"id":426942,"date":"2025-09-15T18:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/426942\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T18:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:49:10","slug":"record-numbers-of-americans-have-applied-for-uk-citizenship-because-of-londons-values-says-khan-sadiq-khan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/426942\/","title":{"rendered":"Record numbers of Americans have applied for UK citizenship because of London\u2019s values, says Khan | Sadiq Khan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship following the election of Donald Trump<\/a>, which he attributed to the city\u2019s \u201cliberal values\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an opening salvo ahead of the US president\u2019s state visit, Sadiq Khan<\/a> said he wanted to challenge the idea that London was in turmoil and said that more Americans than ever were seeking to make it their home.<\/p>\n

He said liberal Americans identified with London<\/a> because of the city\u2019s \u201cfundamental values, like adhering to the rule of law, being proud of our diversity and championing the rights of minority communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

New figures from the Home Office show a rise of 50% in citizenship applications from Americans \u2013 putting it at the highest since records began. Between April-June, there were a record 2,194 applications, compared to 1,465 the previous year.<\/p>\n

Khan and Trump have clashed publicly, including over the US president\u2019s \u201cMuslim ban\u201d in his first term. Trump has called Khan \u201c<\/strong>a nasty person\u201d who has \u201cdone a terrible job\u201d and rightwing commentators in the US have routinely attacked crime rates in London and the diversity of the capital\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Guardian, Khan said there were many Americans who took the opposite view of London.<\/p>\n

\u201cProminent figures in the US and UK deliberately talk down our country, and in particular our capital city. Yet the latest evidence is clear \u2013 a record number of US citizens are now applying for citizenship here in the UK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many Americans I speak with, it\u2019s because of our values,\u201d he said. \u201cAs well as being the UK\u2019s financial, legal and governmental centre, in London we offer an ecosystem that is unparalleled around the world, from our brilliant universities to our culture and our creative industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also our liberal values that make us stand out \u2013 celebrating our diversity in London as a strength, not as a threat to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the start of 2025, the Home Office has received citizenship applications from 4,125 US citizens, a rise of 40% compared to 2024.<\/p>\n

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, intervened to defend Khan when Trump mentioned him during their meeting at the White House, saying: \u201cHe\u2019s a friend of mine, actually\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has frequently made social media posts about Khan, calling him a \u201cstone cold loser who should focus on crime in London\u201d.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the day\u2019s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

A mass demonstration is planned in London by the Stop Trump Coalition which will take place on Wednesday, the first day of the US president\u2019s state visit, when he will spend time with King Charles and Starmer.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the demonstration has condemned the British government for offering the president a second state visit \u2013 the first time in history such an honour has been extended. The visit will take place over parliamentary recess, meaning that the government swerves the question over whether he should address parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Trump is deeply unpopular with the public,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe mobilised hundreds of thousands of people against Trump during his first term, and he has only got worse since then. We are working at speed to bring together all the movements \u2013 for democracy, for equality, against climate change, for a free Palestine \u2013 to show our unity against Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

The march will come less than a week after a mass far-right rally in London, which was addressed by former Trump adviser Elon Musk, who warned of a potential violent uprising. His remarks have been condemned by the prime minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-426942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115209814984926161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}