Finland tightens citizenship rules, extends residency requirement to 8 years, effective October 2024

If you are applying for Finnish citizenship, the new rule, effective from October 1, 2024, requires you to have a residency period of eight years. For anyone applying from this date onward, prioritising language proficiency and extended residency will act as crucial factors in the naturalisation process. Applicants who meet the language proficiency requirement will be eligible to apply after five years of residency.

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It’s important to note that one of the major changes in the citizenship rules is that only time spent in Finland with a valid residence permit will count towards the residency requirement. Time spent while awaiting asylum decisions will no longer be included. Also, in case of refugees or those with international protection, residency will now be counted only from the date a continuous residence permit is granted.

Mari Luukkonen, the Process Owner in charge of the citizenship application process, stated that the goal is to ensure the residency requirement is founded on documented legal residence, which will bring fairness and consistency to the process.

If reports are to go by, the law also limits the time applicants can spend abroad. Up to 365 days outside Finland will still be allowed, but up to 90 of those days can be in the year immediately preceding the citizenship decision.

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Luukkonen also addressed Finland’s current backlog of 28,000 pending citizenship applications. Processing times range from 9 to 31 months, depending on case complexity. As per reports, the concerned authorities are working towards reducing the backlog as soon as they can, and are trying to process most of the applications within a year’s time.

Also, as an effort towards expediting processing of citizenship applications, a new system will be introduced where those applications that meet all requirements and do not require additional documentation, will be processed in less than a year’s time. The effort includes prioritising applications from beneficiaries of international protection and stateless persons.

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The amendments will not impact citizenship declarations for Nordic citizens or former Finnish citizens. The amendments also focus on ensuring fairness and transparency in Finland’s citizenship process.