Finnish citizenship

Apply for citizenship by submitting an application that suits your situation, or by declaration. The Application Finder will help you find the right application. 

Submit the application in the online service Enter Finland or on paper.

After you have filled in the application, you must visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

• If you have applied through the online service, visit the Finnish Immigration Service to prove your identity and show the originals of the documents that you have attached to your application. If you submit your application through the online service, pay for it there.
• If you have filled in a paper application, you need to bring it to our service point and. At the same time, you need to prove your identity, show the originals of the documents that you have attached to your application, and pay the processing fee.

If you are applying for citizenship together with your child or only for your child, you must bring the child with you to a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

Do not submit a citizenship application if you do not fulfil every requirement for becoming a citizen.

The application will be put in the processing queue of the Finnish Immigration Service. Processing Time Checker will tell you the expected processing time of your application. In addition, you will usually receive automated messages at the different processing stages of your application.

Do not submit an incomplete application. If an obligatory attachment is missing, it will slow down the processing and you may receive a negative decision. If we notice that any obligatory attachments are missing or if we need additional information from you while we are processing your application, we will contact you.

If you have submitted your application through the e-service, you may also supplement it there. If you have submitted a paper application, you may supplement it by post.

You may cancel your application at any time during its processing. Read more on the page Cancelling an application. The processing fee will not be returned to you even if you cancel your application.

If you have applied for citizenship through the e-service Enter Finland, you will get an e-mail or a text message when a decision has been made. You will also see it in your user account in the online service.

If you have submitted a paper application, you will be notified of the decision by post. Some decisions will be sent by post with an advice of delivery.

If you receive a positive decision, the information about your Finnish citizenship will be automatically entered into the Population Information System.

A Finnish citizen cannot have a residence permit in Finland. If you are granted Finnish citizenship, your residence permit will be cancelled. Submit your residence permit card, the registration certificate of your right of residence, or your residence permit sticker to the Finnish Immigration Service for cancelling.

Finnish passports are granted by the police (poliisi.fi).

The processing fee will not be returned to you even if you receive a negative decision.

If you receive a negative decision, the Finnish law gives you the right to appeal against the decision to an Administrative Court. Instructions on how to appeal will be attached to the decision.

The majority of decisions made by the Administrative Courts are subject to a fee. Contact an Administrative Court to find out more about court fees.

In citizenship-related matters, send your appeal directly to an Administrative Court.