Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
According to a press release by the Interior Ministry, the citizenship test would prove that the candidates have “successfully integrated” into Finnish society, including here labour market. The new measures are part of a reform that plans to tighten rules for citizenship as well as permanent residents. Previously, the Finnish authorities discussed introducing more stringent requirements for permanent residence permit applicants, including here language requirements.
Candidates for Finnish citizenship already have to prove they have mastered the Finnish or Swedish language to some extent like most EU Member States have similar requirements for citizenship candidates. Of the other Nordic countries, Denmark and Norway have citizenship tests in place while Sweden is also planning to tighten the rules for those acquiring Swedish citizenship.
The working group is considering that along citizenship test, more requirements should be added or the regulation on the integrity requirement to be more stringent. Some restrictions for financial resources that a candidate must earn every month could be introduced as well as a regulation that complies with reasons for how someone can lose Finnish citizenship.
In recent months, Finland has made several changes for candidates for residence permits and citizenship acquisition. For example, candidates for Finnish citizenship must have spent eight years as residents of Finland before applying for citizenship. Prior to this change, the residency requirement was five years.