There has been a steep drop in the number of foreign nationals being awarded British passports.
The number was at its lowest level in 13 years.
Analysis of official data showed that 125,800 foreign nationals were awarded citizenship last year, a fall of 40% over 2013 when the number of people becoming naturalised British citizens was nearly 208,000.
The numbers naturalising in 2013 was the largest since record began in 1962. The Home Office believes that many foreigners pushed forward their applications that year to beat the incoming changes to language requirements.
Oxford University’s Migration Observatory think-tank said the recent fall was partly due to the "pool" of potential applicants being smaller than in previous years.
Indian nationals were the largest group (17%, or 36,000) receiving British citizenship. People from Pakistan (10%, or 22,000) comprised the second biggest cluster.
Eastern Europeans made up about 6.5% of the total when 8,300 became British. This was up considerably from the 869 who did so in 2009.
Half of naturalisations as British citizens were by migrants who have lived here for the required five years plus one additional year as a “settled resident”.
The other half is divided between spouses or civil partners of British citizens, and children.
The study did not analyse the effect of Government policy on the numbers.
