Period of residence

The period of residence required for becoming a Finnish citizen was extended from 5 years to 8 years. 

In some cases, the required period of residence is shorter than 8 years. Your required period of residence is 5 years if:

• you have the required language skills
• you are the spouse of a Finnish citizen 
• you are stateless. 

For co-applicants aged 15 to 17, the required period of residence is 5 years. A co-applicant is a child whom you have custody of and for whom you apply for Finnish citizenship at the same time as you apply for citizenship for yourself. 

Your required period of residence is 2 years if:

• you are a Nordic citizen or
• you are the spouse of a Finnish diplomat.

Further amendments were made to the period of residence required of applicants who have been granted international protection. If you have been granted international protection, your required period of residence is 8 years. In addition, the way the period of residence is calculated has changed for applicants who have been granted international protection. The counting no longer begins from the day when you submitted your asylum application. Instead, the period of residence is counted from the start date of your first continuous residence permit (an A permit).

Residence abroad

The amendments to the Citizenship Act changed the duration of residence abroad that can be included in the period of residence. Your period of residence may include a total of 365 days spent abroad. Up to 90 of these days may be from a one-year period immediately preceding the submission of your citizenship application.

We will count the days that you have stayed outside Finland, from the start of the required period of residence to the day when you submit your online application through Enter Finland. If you submit a paper application, we will count the days that you have stayed outside Finland from the start of the required period of residence to the day when you visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service to submit your application.

Processing time of applications

Citizenship decisions for persons who have been granted international protection or who are stateless must be made within one year of the submission of the citizenship application.

No, those who can apply by declaration are not affected. The reform of the Citizenship Act only affects those who seek to acquire Finnish citizenship on application.

Your application will be decided in accordance with the old version of the Act because you submitted your application before 1 October 2024. 

In this case, we will consider your child’s application to have become pending at the same time as your own application. The previous version of the Citizenship Act will be applied to your child’s application, too.