Indians were the nationality most likely to acquire the citizenship of an OECD country in 2021, a new report from the organization has shown. In the latest year available, more than 100,000 Indians became citizens of the U.S., Australia and Canada - the most popular destinations for people emigrating from the country. More than 11,000 Indians also received a passport of the United Kingdom.
While this made India the top origin country of new citizens for the four aforementioned nations, the rest of the list looks different. 2,700 new citizens originating from India made them the second-largest group of naturalized New Zealanders in 2021, while just under 2,000 newly minted Spanish citizens of Indian origin only amounted to rank 19. The Netherlands and Sweden accepted just as many new Indian citizens - around 1,700 and 1,600, respectively - ranks 5 and 12.
India remained the most common former nationality of new OECD citizens despite a drop of 15 percent compared with 2019 naturalization numbers. As these data points have not returned to pre-pandemic levels across the board, Mexico remained in second spot with a similar drop and "virtually all" former Mexican nationals becoming U.S. citizens, according to the OECD. With a rise of more than 150 percent opposite 2019, Syria was the third most common former nationality of new OECD citizens. After many Syrians left their home country in the mid-2010 due to the country's civil war, they are now becoming citizens in their new countries of residence, for example Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
