page_title: Somalis in the United Kingdom
section_title: Naturalisation and grants of settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Somalis in the United Kingdom / History and settlement / Naturalisation and grants of settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Chart of grants of British citizenship to Somali nationals, 1990-2012
context_page_description: Somalis in the United Kingdom include British citizens and residents born in or with ancestors from Somalia. It is thought that the United Kingdom is home to the largest Somali community in Europe, with an estimated 108,000 Somali-born immigrants residing in the UK in 2018 according to the Office for National Statistics. The majority of these live in England, with the largest number found in London. Smaller Somali communities exist in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Cardiff.
  The earliest Somali immigrants in the UK were lascars and merchants who arrived in the 19th century. A second small group of seamen came during the Second World War with the Royal Navy, and stayed in search of employment from the British Somaliland. During the 1980s and 1990s, the civil war in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK.
  The Somali community represents one of the largest Muslim groups in the UK. While faced with several social challenges, community members include notable sports figures, filmmakers, activists and local politicians.
context_section_description: Between 1983 and 1994, the number of Somalis granted British citizenship was generally low, ranging from 40 in 1987 to 140 in 1994. However, in 1995 the number of grants of citizenship started to rise significantly, reaching a peak of 11,165 in 2004, before falling somewhat in the following years. In 2018, 2,746 Somali nationals were granted British citizenship, accounting for around 1.75 per cent of all naturalisations and making Somali the 18th most common nationality amongst those granted citizenship that year.
  According to the 2011 UK Census, 71.5 per cent of Somalia-born residents in England and Wales hold a UK passport. This is the sixth highest proportion amongst foreign-born groups.
  In addition to naturalisation, the British government can grant settlement to foreign nationals. This confers upon foreign nationals permanent residence in the UK, without granting them British citizenship. Grants of settlement are made on the basis of various factors, including employment, family formation and reunification, and asylum (including to deal with backlogs of asylum cases). The total number of grants of settlement to Somali nationals was 1,952 in 2017, out of a total of 65,102 for all foreign nationals, compared to 4,900 out of 241,192 in 2010.
caption: Grants of British citizenship to Somali nationals, 1990–2018
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