Brexit, Consul Bellantone: “Italian passport in vogue among the English to guarantee their future in Europe”

“Ten years after the vote, the physiognomy of our community in the United Kingdom has obviously changed”, begins the Consul, recalling how before it was enough to pack your bags to seek your fortune in London, or in some other British city, without the need for visas or specific authorizations. “Today the scenario is profoundly different and those who land in this country do so with a new awareness. Above all, an Italian population arrives with a high level of professional qualification, with an already sponsored work visa and with a certain salary level, as required by the new points scheme wanted by the Home Office, the British Ministry of the Interior”, continues Bellantone.

“Italians continue to arrive, but they are certainly more selective arrivals, compared to past decades when even the youngest arrived perhaps only for a few months, to improve their language and do some odd jobs. All this is no longer possible.” Although the community seems to have handled the blow of leaving the European Union well, in the first phase the consular offices were literally stormed due to a specific need for legal and practical protection. “Since Brexit onwards, the request for passports has also increased greatly – admits the Consul – so much so that in the last four years the London office has become the first in the world for the volume of documents issued. Last year we issued 40,500. This rush for the document is not accidental. There are those who do it to avoid getting stuck, because the passport has become a guarantee for being able to enter and exit the country, especially for many compatriots, residents in the United Kingdom, who previously moved around with a simple identity card”.

And there are those who instead look at marriage as a community lifeline to keep one foot in England and one in Europe. “The Consulate in fact manages the practices of many British citizens married to Italians who have requested citizenship by right of marriage, in order to be able to move freely in Italy, as well as in the other 27 member states, with a European passport that does not impose duration constraints or barriers”.

This urgency to keep all doors open takes on even more marked and interesting contours when it comes to the new generations. The Italian community in the United Kingdom is young and vital, so much so that it records “a birth rate double that of Italy”, as the Consul states. It is precisely by looking at newborns that one perceives the clear will of parents to protect their children from the unknowns of tomorrow. Bellantone points out that “after Brexit, the number of first passports for minors and newborns has also increased, because we have many children born to mixed couples. The change in mentality is clear. While previously, the child who was born here to parents of mixed nationalities immediately received an English passport and for an Italian passport they perhaps waited a few years before requesting it, if not even letting the child take care of it as an adult, now it is requested immediately”.

The Italian burgundy booklet is demanded in parallel to the British blue one for a reason that goes beyond attachment to the roots: “It guarantees ease of movement towards Europe and stability in our country. An invaluable pass to ensure that these future adults never feel cut off from the rest of the continent”, concludes the Consul. (by Alessandro Allocca)