Period of residence

If you have the language skills required for becoming a Finnish citizen, you need to have lived in Finland for the past 5 years.

If your spouse is a Finnish citizen, you need to have lived in Finland for the past 5 years.

You must have lived together with your spouse for at least 3 years. If your spouse has died, you need to have lived together with your spouse for at least 3 years before he or she died.

‘Spouse’ refers to your husband or wife, your cohabiting partner or your registered same-sex partner.

If you are a citizen of Denmark, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, you need to have lived in Finland for the last 2 years.

If your spouse is a Finnish citizen and a diplomat, you need to have lived in Finland for the past 2 years. 

Add to your application a certificate issued by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs of your Finnish spouse’s employment with a Finnish mission.

‘Spouse’ refers to your husband or wife, your cohabiting partner or your registered same-sex partner.

If you are stateless (you do not have a citizenship), you need to have lived in Finland for the past 5 years.

In some rare cases, it is sufficient if you have lived in Finland for the past 3 years. In that case, 1 of the following conditions must be met:

• You have permanent full-time work in Finland and it would be unreasonably difficult to be engaged in this work without Finnish citizenship. Add to your application a statement issued by your employer.
• There are otherwise very serious reasons for an exception. Add to your application your own free-form statement explaining that there are very serious reasons why an exception to the period of residence requirement should be made in your case.

• If the residence permit was granted to you before you moved to Finland, the start date of your period of residence is the date when you moved to Finland. 
• If you arrived in Finland before you were granted a continuous residence permit, the start date of your period of residence is the date when you were granted your first residence permit.

• When you apply for Finnish citizenship, you must have either a valid continuous residence permit (A) or a permanent residence permit (P).
• You must have lived in Finland with either a continuous residence permit (A) or a permanent residence permit (P) for at least 1 year before your citizenship application is decided.
• The start date of your period of residence is the date when you were granted a continuous (A) residence permit.
• Half of the time you have lived in Finland with a B permit before getting an A permit will be counted towards your period of residence.

The start date of your period of residence is the date when you were granted a continuous residence permit (an A permit).

• If you are a citizen of an EU country or a Nordic country, the start date of your period of residence is either
  • the date on which you moved to Finland, or
  • the date on which your notification of move was registered.
• The start date of your period of residence depends on which of these took place later. 
• If you are an EU citizen, you need to have applied for registration of your right of residence within 3 months of entering the country. This requirement also applies to your underage children living in Finland.

• If you are a family member of an EU citizen, the start date of your period of residence is 
  • the date when you moved to Finland, or 
  • the date when your notification of move was registered, depending on which of these has taken place later.

You must submit an application for a residence card for a family member of an EU citizen to the Finnish Immigration Service within three months of entering the country.