Amendments to the Citizenship Act in December 2025 – stricter requirements concerning sufficient financial resources, establishment of identity and integrity

The Finnish Parliament has approved a set of amendments to the Citizenship Act that will enter into force on 17 December 2025.

The amendments will introduce stricter requirements for acquiring Finnish citizenship. The amendments concern the requirement for sufficient financial resources, the integrity requirement, the establishment of identity and the loss of citizenship.

All citizenship applications that have been submitted before 17 December 2025 will be processed in accordance with the current Citizenship Act. In other words, the amendments to the Citizenship Act will not apply to your application if you have submitted your application before 17 December 2025. The new requirements will apply if you submit your application on 17 December 2025 or later. More details about the new requirements will be published on our website after the amendments have entered into force.

General changes

• Requirement for sufficient financial resources
  • Applicants for Finnish citizenship must meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources. The applicant’s financial resources are not considered sufficient if the applicant has resorted to unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months in total during the past 2 years. The applicant must provide a reliable account of his or her livelihood in Finland during the past 2 years. Exceptions to the income requirement can be made in certain cases.
• Establishment of identity
  • Applicants who have been issued with an alien’s passport for obtaining a national passport are required to present a valid national passport or similar document to prove their identity.
• Integrity requirement
  • Offences will have a more substantial impact on whether the applicant can be granted Finnish citizenship. The importance of national security will also be emphasised. The waiting periods resulting from offences will be longer. In future, a waiting period of 1–8 years can be imposed in connection with a negative decision. Citizenship is not normally granted during the waiting period.
• Loss of citizenship
  • The loss of Finnish citizenship will become more common in cases where the person has given false information or otherwise acted fraudulently when applying for citizenship. Serious offences, including terrorist, treason or high treason offences punishable by 6 years of imprisonment, can lead to the loss of citizenship.

Check the requirements for acquiring citizenship before you apply

It is important to make sure that you meet all the requirements for acquiring Finnish citizenship before you apply for citizenship. If you apply for citizenship before you meet the requirements, you may receive a negative decision. A large number of citizenship applications that do not meet the requirements will make our processing times longer.

For more information, see the page Finnish citizenship.

Further information

• Press release by the Ministry of the Interior: Sufficient financial resources to be required for Finnish citizenship (intermin.fi)
• Reform of the Citizenship Act (intermin.fi)

The reform of the Citizenship Act consists of three phases. The third phase of the reform is still to be completed. You can follow the reform on the website of the Ministry of the Interior. We will publish information about upcoming changes when they become relevant.

Edited on 7 November 2025 at 10.30: The text under the heading ‘Integrity requirement’ (‘Oförvitlighetsvillkor’) in the Swedish translation has been replaced with the correct text. Previously, the bulletin contained the same text twice, both under the said heading and under the next heading.