Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) attended a plenary session in the Parliament House in Helsinki on Thursday, 13 October 2023. Rantanen on Monday held a press conference to shed light on the amendments the government is planning to citizenship criteria, viewing that the tighter requirements should have no impact on work-based immigration to Finland. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)
- Next Article Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari passes away at 86
MINISTER of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) on Monday shed light on how the government plans to tighten citizenship requirements, report YLE and Helsingin Sanomat.
“I reckon it’s clear that tightening the requirements and encouraging integration is likely to cause that you can’t get citizenship as easily as currently. And that’s very much the goal,” she outlined at a press conference in Helsinki.
“The goal is that successful integration is a requirement for citizenship. Citizenship is the reward of that.”
The government intends to raise the residence requirement from five to eight years while reducing the number of days the applicant may have spent abroad during that period and specifying that only residence on a residence permit is counted toward the requirement. The exemption that has enabled people granted international protection to receive citizenship after a residence of four years will be removed.
Rantanen reiterated yesterday that the changes to the residence requirement are in line with those planned in the rest of the Nordics.
Minna Hulkkonen, the director general of immigration at the Ministry of the Interior, viewed that the government can facilitate the naturalisation of people granted international protection in other ways, such as by supporting them with the costs of the application.
The government will require aspiring citizens to pass a language and citizenship test.
“I reckon the intention is to determine if the person has understood the values and principles of Finnish society, that the person has factually orientated themselves with Finnish society,” summed up Rantanen.
The government will also revise the income and integrity requirements. Presently, the processing of a citizenship application can be discontinued or suspended for a certain time period if the applicant is found guilty of a criminal offence. The Ministry of the Interior is exploring the possibility of lengthening the waiting period or expanding the category of crimes that could invalidate the application altogether.
Citizenship applicants are currently also required to “reliably” demonstrate their
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
