Effects of Brexit in Finland? It’s too soon to tell
The customer service of the Finnish Immigration Service has been contacted by several people asking about the effects of the upcoming withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU), the so called Brexit, on British citizens living in Finland. Unfortunately, we are unable to answer these enquiries at this time, as no information is yet available about the time schedule for the withdrawal or its effects on everyday life. The only thing we know for sure is that there will be no immediate changes. We will publish more information as soon as it is available.
Information about the EU is available in many places
You can enquire about EU matters by e-mail to the information service of the European Commission representation in Finland. You can find information on current EU-related matters on the website of the representation (available only in Finnish and Swedish). The Europe Information service provided by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland also monitors the development of Brexit and other EU-related matters (available also in English).
The information service Europe Direct answers EU-related questions of a general nature by e-mail or by phone: 00 800 67 89 10 11. Your questions will be answered free of charge and in all official EU languages.
The number of citizenship applications has remained stable
The result of the vote for the UK to leave the European Union has not yet affected the number of citizenship applications in Finland.
An average of 20 British citizens per year are granted Finnish citizenship. This year, we have received a total of about 20 applications, of which a few have been submitted after the result of the vote. There has thus not been a significant increase in the number of applications, but we have been contacted with questions about the possibility of being granted Finnish citizenship.
Finland is one of few countries where language skills is a requirement for citizenship. This requirement does not exist in, for example, Sweden, where there has been an increase in citizenship applications submitted by British citizens. A number of attachments are also required for the citizenship application to prove that the applicant meets all the necessary requirements, such as living in Finland for the required amount of time. It takes time to collect all the attachments, which means that the number of applications may rise at a later stage.
A former Finnish citizen can regain his or her Finnish citizenship by declaration, even if he or she lives abroad. However, descendants of Finnish citizens do not have this possibility, even though this is the case in, for example, Germany, Italy and Ireland. At the end of last year, nearly 4,500 British citizens were living in Finland. Since 1990, 451 British citizens have been granted Finnish citizenship. Of all EU citizens, Estonians submit the most applications for Finnish citizenship.
Edited 22.7.2016: Link to the Europe Information service added.
