Only apply for citizenship when you meet the requirements

It is important to ensure that you meet all the requirements for citizenship before you submit your application.

If you apply for Finnish citizenship before you meet the requirements, your application may be refused. 

Requirements for citizenship

1. Certificate of language proficiency: 

You must have a certificate of sufficient Finnish or Swedish skills. You must attach the certificate to your application. If you do not attach a certificate of language skills to your application or if the certificate you attach does not show a sufficient level of skill, your application may be refused. For example, your own or your employer’s account of your language skills is not enough. If you ask for an exception from the language skill requirements, your application may be refused. The Finnish Immigration Service rarely makes exceptions from the language skill requirement (in 2024, exceptions from this requirement were granted for 2.2% of applications). Read more about certificates that are accepted to prove that you have sufficient language skills on the page Language skills.

2. Identity: 

Your identity must have been established reliably before you submit your application. For example, you can do this with your national passport, in other words an identity document. Your identity may also have been established reliably without an identity document if the information you have given about your personal data has been reliable and consistent. Read more on the page Establishment of identity.

3. Time living in Finland: 

You can apply for citizenship if you have lived in Finland for the past 8 years. In some cases, an exception may be made from the required period of living in Finland. If you apply for citizenship before you have been living in Finland for the required period, your application may be refused. Calculate your years of living in Finland carefully and take into account any days on which you have been travelling outside Finland. Read more on the page Period of residence.

4. Information on income:

You must give information on your income for the past five years in your application. If the period of living in Finland required of you is shorter than 5 years, give information on your income during this period. The Finnish Immigration Service can get information on the salaries and benefits you have received from the Incomes Register. This means that you do not need to attach any documentation on the salaries or benefits you have received. If there are periods for which you cannot provide information on your income, your application may be refused. Read more on the page Means of support.

5. Integrity

You must meet the integrity requirement to get Finnish citizenship. This means that you have not been guilty of any crimes and there are no restraining orders against you. If you have committed a crime, your application may be refused. Offences for which you have been given a petty fine will not affect the citizenship decision. Read more on the page Integrity.

6. You have paid your taxes and fees:

A requirement for getting Finnish citizenship is that you have paid your taxes, any fines, hospital fees and similar payments. You may also not have debts that are being collected by enforcement. If you have not paid your taxes and fees, your application may be refused. Read more on the page Payment obligation.

We receive a high number of applications in which one of the conditions is not met, which means that we have to ask for more information. This makes the processing times longer. 

The processing time of your application will also be longer if we have to ask for more information. If you have already submitted your application and you notice that some attachment is missing, please attach it to your application in Enter Finland under "Submit additional information".

There is a backlog in the processing of citizenship applications. If you have not yet received a decision on your application, please keep on waiting. We will contact you if we need more information for your application.

You may not need to visit a service point if you apply for citizenship using Enter Finland

You may not need to visit a service point when applying for citizenship if

• you are aged 18 or over and you are applying for citizenship for yourself with a citizenship application, and
• you can use strong identification in the e-service, for example Finnish online banking credentials, and
• you pay the fee for your application before submitting it.

Read more on the page Identification.