In an effort to tighten the standards for citizenship candidates, a working group assigned by the Finnish Interior Ministry is investigating the potential of implementing a citizenship test.
The citizenship test would demonstrate that the applicants have “successfully integrated” into Finnish society, including the labor market, according to a news statement from the Interior Ministry.
The new policies are a part of a reform that aims to make citizenship and permanent residency requirements more stringent. The Finnish government had previously considered imposing stricter conditions, such as language proficiency, on applicants for permanent residency permits.
Language Tests Could Be a Part of the Finnish Citizenship Exam
As with the majority of EU member states, applicants for Finnish citizenship must demonstrate that they have some level of proficiency in the Finnish or Swedish language.
While Sweden plans to strengthen the requirements for persons obtaining Swedish citizenship, Denmark and Norway, two other Nordic nations, already have citizenship examinations in place.
The following are the requirements that applicants for Finnish citizenship must fulfill.
The working group is thinking that in addition to the citizenship test, there should be further standards or stricter regulations regarding the integrity requirement. A rule that meets with the grounds for losing Finnish citizenship could be implemented, together with some limitations on the monthly income that a candidate must have.
Finland has changed a number of requirements for applicants seeking citizenship and residency cards in recent months. For instance, before submitting an application for citizenship, applicants for Finnish citizenship must have lived in Finland for eight years. The residency requirement was five years prior to this modification.
While the government bill is anticipated to be presented to Parliament in the coming months, the Interior Ministry will be working with other offices to prepare for the test’s introduction.
Leave a Reply