Brexit: Mayors report British surge in interest for Belgian nationality

Within just hours of the UK's Brexit referendum vote, the mayors of several communes in and around Brussels have reported a surge in British residents seeking information on how to obtain Belgian citizenship.

In Waterloo, where there are 450 registered Britons, mayor Florence Reuter told Le Soir that five people had submitted the paperwork to begin the procedure on Friday morning. Dozens of others had called in to ask for information. "The registry office has dealt with nothing else this morning," she added.

Woluwé-Saint-Pierre received three submissions on Friday - having received none at all from British residents in the past four months. In Ixelles, 15 Brits sought information on becoming Belgian by lunchtime on Friday.

There were two requests for info at Brussels city hall, where 1,200 British citizens are on the population register.

Olivier Deleuze, mayor of Watermael-Boitsfort, said he had three Britons on Friday morning asking to begin the procedure to become Belgian. "It's exceptional," he told Le Soir. "Normally we never get this sort of request. We had one in 2013 and one back in March."

He added: "I said to them (in English): you are most welcome. And I reassured them that we wouldn't be asking them to support the Red Devils."

Tempted? Read the Bulletin's guide to applying for Belgian nationality here.