British People Rushed for EU Passports in Brexit Vote Year

A British passport is pictured in front of an European Union flag in this photo illustration taken in Brussels, Belgium, June 20, 2016. Reuters/Francois Lenoir/Illustration/File Photo

LUXEMBOURG---The number of Britons becoming citizens of another EU country more than doubled in 2016, data showed, and more than quadrupled in Germany in a development Berlin put down to Brexit.

In the year Britons voted to quit the European Union, 6,555 of them acquired citizenship in another of the bloc’s states, up 165 percent from 2,478 in 2015, statistics office Eurostat said on Monday.