Finnish Nationality Act to change on 1 September 2011

The Finnish Nationality Act will change on 1 September 2011. The purpose of the amended Act is to make it more flexible to gain citizenship. The most significant change is to the residential period requirement.

Former Finnish citizens can now regain their lost citizenship by simply filing a declaration, and residence in Finland is not required. The declaration process does not apply to the descendants of former Finnish citizens.

The Finnish Immigration Service anticipates that the number of citizenship declarations by former Finnish citizens will increase immediately this autumn. Also the number of citizenship applications is expected to increase, with a short delay, from the beginning of 2012.

Shorter residential period requirement, language skills an advantage

The period of residence in Finland required for citizenship will come down from 6 years to 5 years, assuming that the period of residence is uninterrupted. Moreover, any person who has lived in Finland for 4 years and can demonstrate sufficient command of Finnish or Swedish can obtain Finnish citizenship.

Any person who has lived in Finland for a total of 7 years after his/her 15th birthday is also eligible for citizenship (accumulated period or residence; formerly 8 years). Of these 7 years, the person must have lived in Finland for the last 2 years without interruption.

Half of the period of residence under a temporary residence permit (B permit) will be taken into account in calculating the period of residence without interruption. A person living in Finland on a continuous residence permit must have lived here for at least one year to be eligible.

Language skills requirement revised

Persons using sign language are no longer required to have skills in written Finnish or Swedish – satisfactory proficiency in Finnish or Finnish-Swedish sign language will be sufficient.

There are now more ways of demonstrating language skills, as all competence-based qualifications (vocational qualifications provided for by law) completed in Finnish or Swedish are now accepted as proof of competence in that language (Vocational Adult Education Act 631/1998).

The following are no longer accepted as proof of language competence:

15 credits of university-level studies in Finnish or Swedish (only a satisfactorily completed examination in ‘Finnish/Swedish for civil servants’, or a maturity examination completed in Finnish or Swedish, will be accepted),
university-level studies abroad,
an authorised translator’s certificate, or
studies in Sweden.

Petty fines no longer matter

As of the beginning of September, petty fines are no longer taken into account in determining whether a person is eligible for citizenship. An applicant under a conditional sentence or subject to a restraining order cannot be granted citizenship until these have expired.

Simpler citizenship application for children

An application for citizenship on behalf of a child can now be filed not only by a guardian but also by a trustee. Citizenship can be granted to a child even in cases where the child is not living with his/her guardian or trustee and in cases where the guardian or trustee is not a Finnish citizen himself/herself. However, there must be compelling reasons for granting citizenship in such cases, and this will be assessed from the perspective of the child’s best interests.

Permanent declaration procedure for former citizens

Under the new Act, a former Finnish citizen may be granted citizenship by declaration irrespective of whether he/she lives in Finland or abroad. Former Finnish citizenship is the only requirement for regaining Finnish citizenship by declaration.

However, the declaration option does not apply to people who originally lost their Finnish citizenship due to annulment of paternity. The declaration option also does not apply to people who originally lost their Finnish citizenship because they provided incorrect information to the authorities or concealed information when applying. A person in this position can apply to have citizenship restored by application.

The declaration process does not affect the descendants of former Finnish citizens who are of age.

The Act will be applied as of 1 September to all applications, including pending ones

The new Act will be applied as of 1 September 2011 to all applications, even those that were filed before the Act entered into force.

However, the good character requirement and language skills requirement in the previous version of the Act shall be applied if they are more advantageous for the applicant.

Further information for the media:

Tiina Suominen, Director, Nationality Unit tel. 071 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

18.8.2011