Longer period of residence required for citizenship as of 1 October 2024
The Citizenship Act has been amended, and the amendments entered into force on 1 October 2024. The period of residence required for Finnish citizenship is now 8 years.
In some cases, the required period of residence is shorter than 8 years. See the page Period of residence to check how long you must have lived in Finland before you can become a Finnish citizen.
The rules regarding residence abroad during the required period of residence are changing, too. Once the amendments have entered into force, a total of 365 days abroad will be accepted as part of the required period of residence. Up to 90 of these days may be from one year immediately preceding the citizenship decision. If you spend more time abroad, the exceeding days will not be counted towards your period of residence.
The processing of citizenship applications from beneficiaries of international protection and stateless applicants will change, too. In future, their applications will be processed as urgent: a decision will be made within one year of the day when the application was submitted.
For applicants who have been granted international protection, the period of residence will no longer be calculated from the day when the asylum application was submitted. Instead, the period of residence will be counted from the day when the applicant was granted a first continuous residence permit (an A permit).
Applications submitted before 1 October 2024 will be decided in accordance with the old version of the Citizenship Act
The amendments to the Citizenship Act will not affect your application if you have submitted your citizenship application before 1 October 2024. See how long you must have lived in Finland before you can become a citizen: Period of residence: application submitted before 1 October 2024.
Applications submitted on or after 1 October 2024 will be decided in accordance with the new period of residence requirement.
Backlogs in processing of applications, check the requirements before you apply
At the moment, there is backlog in the processing of citizenship applications. Approximately 28,000 citizenship applications are waiting for processing. There is a long waiting time because the number of incoming applications has been exceptionally high in recent years.
Another reason for longer processing times in citizenship applications is that we have received lots of applications that do not meet the requirements. Before you apply for citizenship, please make sure that you meet the requirements for becoming a Finnish citizen. The decision may be negative if your application does not meet all the requirements.
The Finnish Immigration Service aims to clear the backlog of citizenship applications gradually by 2027.
By applying online, you may be able to skip a service point visit
You may avoid having to visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service if:
- you are at least 18 years old and apply for citizenship for yourself by submitting a citizenship application
- you submit your application via the Enter Finland online service
- you use strong electronic identification, such as Finnish online banking credentials, to log in to the online service and
- you pay for your application before you submit it.
For more information, see the page Identification.
For further information
- Customer bulletin of the Finnish Immigration Service: Required period of residence becomes longer when amendments to Citizenship Act enter into force on 1 October 2024
- Press release by the Ministry of the Interior: Stricter requirements for acquiring Finnish citizenship: the required period of residence to be extended (intermin.fi)
A reform of the Citizenship Act will be implemented in three phases. The second and third phase of the reform are still to be completed. You can follow the reform on the website of the Ministry of the Interior (intermin.fi). We will publish information about upcoming changes when they become relevant.
