Finland scraps interview for new digital citizenship test

By admin On Jul 9, 2025

Photo: ICPonline

Finland’s interior ministry will introduce a digital citizenship test for applicants seeking naturalisation, removing the earlier proposal to include a mandatory personal interview.

The test will consist of multiple-choice and true-or-false questions. According to Ulla Vainikka, a special expert from the immigration unit of the interior ministry, the test will be administered digitally in either of the country’s official languages, Finnish or Swedish.

Applicants will pay a fee to sit the test. There will be no new teaching materials produced. The ministry intends to use existing re assessing possible test topics. Since then, the core structure has remained unchanged. While early discussions involved conducting personal interviews to assess applicants’ values and views on security, these plans have been dropped for most candidates.

“Then, of course, we’ll have to consider that maybe not all applicants will be able to take the test digitally,” Vainikka said.

The ministry is currently preparing a draft law that defines who will develop and administer the test. The responsible organisation must ensure that the language demands do not exceed the existing requirements for citizenship.

Vainikka said the design of the test must be handled by an entity with appropriate expertise. The goal is to create a fair process that reflects the legal and social expectations of Finnish citizenship.

A completed draft law is expected by the end of the year. It will then be subject to public consultation before being submitted to Parliament.

The test forms part of a broader package of proposed amendments to Finland’s Citizenship Act. These reforms are being driven by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government. The objective is to tighten the criteria for acquiring citizenship.

Planned changes include extending the minimum residency period required before applying, introducing stricter income thresholds, and enforcing clear standards of legal conduct. Applicants must demonstrate a clean criminal record since arriving in Finland.

Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi