When you apply for citizenship, you must provide a reliable account of your livelihood in your application. You need to prove how you have earned your income over the past 5 years. If the required period of residence is shorter than that, provide documents on your income covering the shorter period. Read more about proving your financial resources and the attachments required on the page Means of support.

When you apply for Finnish citizenship, you must meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. For example, if you have received unemployment benefit or social assistance for 4 months during the past 2 years, you do not have sufficient financial resources. For more examples of sufficient financial resources, see the questions and answers below.

In your application, you must provide an account of how you have earned enough money to live in Finland for the past 2 years.

When we examine whether you meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources, we also verify whether your spouse has been paid social assistance during the past 2 years. This is because all family members are considered to be recipients of social assistance from the date of payment of the social assistance. A spouse refers to a married spouse, a cohabiting partner and a registered partner.

Read more about proving your financial resources and the attachments required on the page Means of support.

No, they do not. There are no specific income thresholds for acquiring Finnish citizenship. However, your income must be legal and enough to live on.

The Citizenship Act was amended on 17 December 2025. If you have submitted a citizenship application on or after 17 December 2025, you must not have received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years.

If you are applying for citizenship, read more about proving your financial resources and the attachments required on the page Means of support.

You are not required to have a specific amount of money but you must have enough funds and income for living in Finland. You must be able to provide a reliable account of the sources of your funds and income. You can prove that the source of your financial resources is legal, for example, by providing an account of your employment, entrepreneurship, pension or other assets.

The Citizenship Act was amended on 17 December 2025. If you have submitted a citizenship application on or after 17 December 2025, you must not have received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years.

See the application form for further details on what documents you must submit as proof of your income sources.

After the amendment of the Citizenship Act on 17 December 2025 entered into force, citizenship applicants are required to have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. Other benefits paid by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela) or, for example, by a wellbeing services county, do not affect the assessment.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that you have received unemployment benefit for 2 months and social assistance for 1 month. In total, you have received benefits for 3 months during the past 2 years, which means that you have received benefits for a permitted number of months. You meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources provided that your financial resources also are sufficient for living in Finland and legal.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that you have received unemployment benefit for 2 months and social assistance for 2 months. Since you have received both benefits at the same time in May, you have received benefits for a total of 3 months during the past 2 years. You meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources provided that your financial resources also are sufficient for living in Finland and legal.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that, during April-June, you have received unemployment benefit for 3 months and social assistance for 3 months. You have received both benefits at the same time for 3 months during the past 2 years. You meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources provided that your financial resources also are sufficient for living in Finland and legal.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that you have received unemployment benefit for a total of 4 months during the past 2 years. Therefore, you do not meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

When we process your citizenship application, the social assistance your spouse has received is also taken into account as a benefit paid to you. If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that you have received unemployment benefit for 2 months and your spouse has received social assistance for 2 months. In May, you have received both benefits at the same time, thus, in total you have been paid benefits for 3 months during the past 2 years. You meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources provided that your financial resources also are sufficient for living in Finland and legal.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

When we process your citizenship application, the social assistance your spouse has received is also taken into account as a benefit paid to you. If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, it means that you have received unemployment benefit for 2 months and your spouse has received social assistance for 2 months. You have received benefits for a total of 4 months during the past 2 years and do not, therefore, meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

When we process citizenship applications, the social assistance received by a spouse is also taken into account if the person applying for citizenship and his or her spouse have lived together at the time when the spouse received social assistance. A spouse refers to a married spouse, a cohabiting partner and a registered partner. 

You and your spouse did not live together when he received social assistance. If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, the social assistance your husband received does not have any effect on whether you meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources.

To meet the income requirement, you must have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years. You must meet the requirements for citizenship when your application is decided.

When we process citizenship applications, the social assistance received by a spouse is also taken into account if the person applying for citizenship and his or her spouse have lived together at the time when the spouse received social assistance. A spouse refers to a married spouse, a cohabiting partner and a registered partner.

If your application is decided, for example, on 1 April 2026, you do not meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources because you have lived with your wife at the time when she received social assistance.

The past 2 years are calculated from the date the application is decided.

The requirement for sufficient financial resources does not apply to you.

We are unable to speed up the processing of a citizenship application on the grounds that the applicant is about to become unemployed.

In order to process all applications as fast as possible, we can rarely speed up the processing of an application. For more information, see the page Request to expedite application.

It is possible to derogate from the requirement for sufficient financial resources on the basis of very serious grounds. An example of very serious grounds could be a situation where the applicant has been given notice after submitting a citizenship application, but has worked in Finland for several years before being given notice. If, in a situation like this, the applicant has had to rely on unemployment benefit or social assistance for at most a few months longer than the maximum time of 3 months permitted by law, derogating from the requirement for sufficient financial resources may be possible.

When we process your application, we will examine whether derogating from the requirement for sufficient financial resources is possible. We will ask you for more information if necessary.

You are required to have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years.

• Unemployment benefit refers to labour market subsidy, basic unemployment allowance and earnings-related unemployment allowance. 
• Social assistance refers to basic social assistance that you or your spouse or partner have received from Kela, and complementary and preventive social assistance paid by the wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki or Åland.

Any other social security benefits paid to you or your spouse or partner do not prevent obtaining Finnish citizenship. However, please note that you must have sufficient funds for living in Finland and your funds must come from a legal source.

You are required to have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years.

• Unemployment benefit refers to labour market subsidy, basic unemployment allowance and earnings-related unemployment allowance.
• Social assistance refers to basic social assistance that you or your spouse or partner have received from Kela, and complementary and preventive social assistance paid by the wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki or Åland.

The student financial aid paid to you does not prevent you from obtaining Finnish citizenship. However, please note that you must have sufficient funds for living in Finland and your funds must come from a legal source.

You are required to have sufficient financial resources. Sufficient financial resources means that you have not received unemployment benefit or social assistance for longer than 3 months during the past 2 years.

Your financial resources cannot be considered sufficient if you have received earnings-related unemployment allowance for over 3 months in addition to your wages from your part-time job. Therefore, you do not meet the requirement for sufficient financial resources.

We recommend that you do not apply for citizenship until over 2 years have passed since you last received unemployment benefit. If you apply for citizenship before you meet the requirements, you may receive a negative decision. It will also lengthen the processing time of your application.