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Other grounds for an exception to the language skills requirement

1. Work-related grounds

You can request an exception to the language skills requirement if you have a permanent full-time job in Finland that is unreasonably difficult to attend to without Finnish citizenship.

Exceptions for this reason are very rare, however, because there are very few jobs that require Finnish citizenship.

2. Other very weighty reasons

You can request an exception to the language skills requirement if there are very weighty reasons why it is impossible for you to acquire sufficient language skills.

State all the weighty reasons in your application and attach all documents that support them to your application.

In addition, attach to your application a statement of your studies in the Finnish or Swedish language and the certificates you have received for them.

Exceptions to the language skills requirement are made very rarely

The following are examples of reasons that are not sufficient grounds for making an exception to the language skills requirement:

  • You have lived in Finland for a long time or have not committed any crimes.
  • Travelling with your current passport is difficult.
  • Other members of your family already have Finnish citizenship.
  • A difficult life situation prevents you from studying at the moment. 
    • The obstacles to learning languages have to be permanent, which means that taking care of a relative or being the parent of small children, for example, are not sufficient reasons for an exception.