Trump drives surge in Americans seeking alternative citizenship
Lawyers, especially in Canada but also the UK, have also noticed a spike in inquiries from Americans wanting to renounce their US nationality.
The phenomenon has been described as the 'Donald Dash' by experts.
According to the Immigration News Canada website, the most prominent group seeking citizenship are from the LGBTQ community, fearing challenges to same-sex marriage and transgender health care.
The highest profile 'refugees' to the UK were Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, her wife, who decamped to the Cotswolds.
Berardi Immigration Law, which has offices in the US and Canada, used to get one or two inquiries a month from Americans wanting to become Canadians, but now they get a couple every week.
Older Americans with roots over the border are also pursuing Canadian citizenship.
In the 1960s and 1970s an estimated 125,000 Americans moved to Canada, rather than be drafted to fight in Vietnam. Despite the amnesty granted to draft dodgers by Gerald Ford, many have remained in Canada.
Another lawyer, Douglas Cowgill, told the Canadian broadcaster CBC that renunciation inquiries had doubled in the immediate aftermath of the US election.
Alexander Marino, director of US tax law at Moodys Tax Law in Calgary, said the prime motive for renunciation was to avoid the potential liability for US tax, even while living abroad. Nevertheless, he told CBC there had been a bump since Mr Trump won the election.
'Donald Dashers' are also coming to the UK. According to figures released by the Home Office, there was a 40 per cent jump in applications in the final quarter of last year, with around 1,700 requests in the final three months of the year.
Over the year 6,100 applications were submitted – a 26 per cent increase and the highest number since the figures were first compiled two decades ago. Immigration experts also noticed a sharp rise in the number of online inquiries about how to secure British nationality.
The rules for acquiring British nationality are strict. For those who do not satisfy existing residency requirements, applicants must prove family connections with at least one British parent or grandparent.
One survey of 1,000 Americans found 25 per cent were considering moving abroad. As soon as Mr Trump won the election, there was a sharp increase in interest in Americans wanting to live elsewhere.
This reflected what happened after Mr Trump's first election victory in 2016.
'It's certainly a trend we have been seeing, as we did eight years ago,' Sophie Barrett-Brown, of immigration lawyers Laura Devine, told The Telegraph.
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