Record British Citizenship Grants: What Is Actually Published
This entry exists to attach a number to a claim. British citizenship grants did reach a record — in the year ending June 2025 — and the latest release puts the year after it 4% lower. Here is the published figure, the source, and the limits of what it supports.
- Section
- Costs, English & General
- Reading time
- 7 min
- Last checked
- 9 March 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- 245,520 grants of British citizenship in the year ending June 2026, a 4% decrease on the record year before it.
- 171,435 through naturalisation (down 7%); 74,085 through registration (up 1%).
- The record year is the year ending June 2025 — July 2024 to June 2025 — not calendar 2025.
- Naturalisation grants remain over 45% above the annual average for 2010 to 2019.
- These are grants, not applications received. The two are different measures.
- GOV.UK publishes one timing figure: a decision usually within 6 months, some longer.
The Home Office published 245,520 grants of British citizenship in the year ending June 2026: 171,435 through naturalisation and 74,085 through registration. The release describes the previous year, ending June 2025, as the record. Grants are not the same measure as applications received, and the release does not publish an actual-decision-time distribution — GOV.UK's only published timing figure is that a decision usually comes within 6 months.
The Published Figure
There were 245,520 grants of British citizenship in the year ending June 2026, 4% below the record levels of the year before. The breakdown, from the same release:
- 245,520 grants of British citizenship in total, a decrease of 4% on the year ending June 2025.
- 171,435 of those through naturalisation, a decrease of 7%.
- 74,085 through registration, up 1% and described in the release as broadly stable.
Source: Home Office — Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026, published 27 August 2026. The release states plainly that grants in the year ending June 2026 “were slightly lower than the record levels observed in the previous year”.
Two Things That Are Routinely Confused
“2025” is not calendar 2025
Home Office immigration statistics are reported by year ending a given month. The year ending June 2025 covers 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. So the record was set across a period that begins in 2024 and ends halfway through 2025. Any headline that says “a record in 2025” without saying which twelve months it means is imprecise about a figure that is otherwise perfectly well defined.
Grants are not applications
The chapter's headline commentary reports grants. A grant is a decision made; an application is a request submitted. They are counted at different moments and an application received in one year is frequently granted in the next, so a rise in one does not translate into the other. This entry quotes grants because that is what the release states.
What the Release Says About the Longer Trend
The Home Office attributes the increase to the pipeline behind it: higher numbers of people granted indefinite leave to remain, who subsequently applied for citizenship. Naturalisation grants in the year ending June 2026 remain over 45% higher than the average annual number for the decade 2010 to 2019.
On nationalities, the release names Indian (24,851) and Pakistani (18,489) nationals as the two largest groups granted British citizenship in the year ending June 2026 — consistently the largest across the series since 2005. Among EU nationals the largest groups were Italian (12,698), Romanian (8,285) and Polish (8,092), which the release says is consistent with those being among the largest groups granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme since it opened in 2018.
The release also notes that the underlying casework systems are being changed, so published numbers may be revised in future quarters.
What Is Not Published
The most useful thing this entry can do is say where the numbers stop.
- No applications-received headline. The chapter reports grants. Do not convert one into the other.
- No published backlog figure for citizenship casework, and no published average decision time. GOV.UK's only timing statement is: “You'll usually get a decision within 6 months - some applications can take longer.” Any “8 to 12 months” or “10 to 14 months” figure circulating elsewhere has no published source, and this entry does not repeat one.
- No published refusal rate for citizenship applications in this chapter.
- No published statement that the Home Office added caseworkers, streamlined processing, or expanded ceremony capacity in response to volumes. Those claims used to sit on this page. They had no source and have been removed.
The Costs and Requirements, Which Are Published
GOV.UK states that naturalisation costs £1,839 — £1,709 to apply and a £130 citizenship ceremony fee — and that you will usually get a decision within 6 months. Registration as a British citizen costs £1,000 for a child and £1,540 for an adult.
The knowledge of language and life requirement is the Life in the UK test plus English at B1 in speaking and listening. Neither is affected by application volumes. The super priority service is not available for citizenship applications at all, and the priority service takes 30 working days rather than 5 on them; see our priority services entry.
Related Entries
Questions and answers
How many people were granted British citizenship?
245,520 in the year ending June 2026, according to the Home Office release published on 27 August 2026. That is a 4% decrease on the year before. 171,435 of those were grants through naturalisation, down 7%, and 74,085 were through registration, up 1%.
Was 2025 really a record year?
The release says grants in the year ending June 2026 'were slightly lower than the record levels observed in the previous year' — so the record is the year ending June 2025, which covers July 2024 to June 2025, not calendar year 2025. The Home Office reports by year ending a given month, and the distinction matters when a figure is quoted.
How many applications were received, as opposed to granted?
The chapter's headline commentary publishes grants, not an applications-received total. Applications and grants are different measures and are not interchangeable: an application received in one year may be granted in the next. This entry quotes grants because that is the figure the release states.
How long does a citizenship decision take?
GOV.UK says: 'You'll usually get a decision within 6 months - some applications can take longer.' That is the only published figure. The Home Office does not publish an average or a distribution of actual decision times, so this entry gives no other number.
Why are naturalisation numbers so much higher than they used to be?
The release attributes the longer-term increase to higher numbers of people granted indefinite leave to remain who subsequently applied for citizenship. It notes that naturalisation grants in the year ending June 2026 remain over 45% higher than the annual average for the decade 2010 to 2019.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.