Do you want the Finnish passport, one of the best passports globally? Anyone can become Finnish citizenship and get a Finnish passport. Today, I will teach you how to become a Finnish citizen with seven steps.
And a quick disclaimer. I’m not an immigration specialist, so I’m just going to give you some general guidelines on how the stuff works. And if you want to get more detailed information, check out the link in the description. Okay, let’s get started.
The criteria for Finnish citizenship
1. Be at least 18 years old and have a valid ID
First of all, there are several criteria that you need to fulfill to be eligible for Finnish citizenship. And the first criteria is that you need to be at least 18 years old, which is adult age in Finland. So nothing really, especially in this one. Be an adult. That’s 18 years in Finland, and your ID needs to be verified. Have a passport or some I. D. so people can verify your ID. So nothing extraordinary in this one.
2. Satisfactory Finnish or Swedish skills
Next, you need to have good skills, either in Finnish or Swedish. And this includes both oral and written skills, and Finnish, or Finland Sweden Sign language is also acceptable.
How to get an official certificate for your language skills? This test is called the National Certificate of Language Proficiency, also known as the YKI test (yleinen kielitutkinto). This is like this national test where we can test your Finnish skills with different levels, and the level you need is at least level three or higher (the range is 1-6). So the mid-levels are not too high requirements. At least you don’t need to be fluent. T level three is comparable with this European standard B1 or B2 (scores 1-2 being equivalent to A1/A2 and scores 5-6 to C1/C2. And what is measured in this Yki test?
The Yki test measures your reading comprehension, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking skills. In addition, there is an interesting detail I’ve heard. When you go to the immigration office to submit your citizenship application, they also test your skills to know how to manage everyday life in Finnish or Swedish. So they also do kind of this small test there. Yki test is the typical way foreigners usually get their Finnish skills verified. But there are also some other ways. For example, suppose you have done your education, primary education, upper secondary vocational, or even higher education in Finnish. In that case, your Finnish skills are high enough for citizenship. But if you do the Yki test, you need at least three.
3. You need to live in Finland long enough
Okay, it doesn’t sound that difficult. You need to be in Finland. Let time pass. Pretty simple, right? And there are two ways to do this. The first way you need to live in Finland for five years without interruption is the continuous residence period. The second way is in a total of seven years after you turn 50 out of the seven years, the last two years with constant residence residency in Finland. So basically, you need to have a continuous residence in Finland for five years without interruptions. And these interruptions allow holiday trips, so you don’t have to stay in Finland for five years without leaving the country. Usually, moving out of the country breaks the continuity.
If you are a Nordic citizen like you know, Sweden Denmark Norway, you need only two years of continuous residence city, and then you can become Finnish with this criteria. There are a few other exceptional cases that you can read more about on Migri.
4. You haven’t committed a punishable act, and you have no restraining order issued against you
This criterion is about integrity. You haven’t committed any serious crimes, and you are not placed under a restraining order.
So these kinds of small like high-speed speeding tickets or these kinds of things are entirely okay in terms of the Finnish citizenship application. If you have done something serious, you might be placed under a waiting period. This depends on factors such as the severity of the punishment and the nature of your crime.
5. You have met your payment obligations
The following criterion involves money; Commonly, this means that you have paid your taxes, your fines, hospital fees, and so on. If you have some payment problems, this is still not a deal-breaker.
For example, if you’ve been following a payment plan to get these payments done, then it should be fine. But if they see that you’re neglecting your payment stuff, it can cause trouble.
6. You have informed Migri about your means of support.
You have to inform the Finnish Immigration Service about your sources of income. And basically, this means that you can support yourself financially while living in Finland. And basically, what they require you is to list your sources of income support, and we have a job. It would be best to list some of your payment slips and social security benefits/allowances if you get any. If you run a business, you need to send them business documents about your business. You know that these financial statements prove that you can live in feel and financially.
The application
Once you meet the criteria, you can make the application relatively straightforward. Get your basic documents ready, your passport, and your certificates, such as language skills and income statement. Then you go online, fill the application, and pay. When writing this blog, the application costs 460€ when applied electronically.
After applying, you need to book an appointment at the service point where Migri will verify the application and your ID. The expected processing time when writing this is 6-20 months.
Conclusion
The most challenging obstacle for citizenship is the language skills and just time. The other criteria will most likely sort out themselves. The effort is worth it as the Finnish passport is one of the best in the world.
Read more about citizenship on Migri’s website: https://migri.fi/en/citizenship-application
