Finnish citizenship may be granted to an alien if the applicant is over the age of 18 and has permanently resided in Finland for the last five years continuously or for seven years after reaching the age of 15, the last two years of which are without interruption. 

If the applicant demonstrates satisfactory knowledge of Finnish or Swedish, citizenship can be granted after four years of residence in Finland.

After living in the country for the required period of time, a foreigner must:

1. Get documentary proof of your language skills. This can be, for example, a certificate of completion of a general education school, a university diploma, or a certificate of passing a language exam;
2. Get confirmation of the existence and legality of sources of income and housing;
3. Collect a package of necessary documents;
4. Pay the state fee for submitting an application;
5. Apply for citizenship in any prescribed way.
6. If this is an electronic registration of an application for citizenship, you must additionally report to the Migration Service to confirm your identity, submit original documents and check your language skills. This must be done within three months after submitting the application, and admission is made by appointment.
7. Wait for a decision to be made;
8. If the decision is positive, contact the local Civil Police Department to apply for a Finnish passport;
9. If the decision is negative, the foreigner has the right to appeal it.

Where should I Apply?

Issues of granting Finnish citizenship are handled by the local Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttoviraston) at the place of residence of the foreigner. However, they can contact any office that is convenient for them. Admission for citizenship issues is carried out by appointment. You can book a place and a convenient time for reception using the electronic queue service. The addresses and opening hours of the Migration Service offices can be found on the website. 

If you do not want to visit Maahanmuuttoviraston in person, you can apply electronically on the Enter Finland website. To do this, you need to pre-register on the resource, identifying your identity in any convenient way, for example, by phone number or bank account, or by e-mail.

When submitting an electronic application, a person will still have to visit the Migration Service to identify their identity, check their language skills, and submit original documents. Pre-registration is also required for this purpose.

Package of required documents

The main document when applying for citizenship is an application. It must be completed in Finnish or Swedish and meet the established requirements in the form (form KAN 1). The following documents are submitted together with it:

• passport or other identity document in the absence of a passport;
• language certificate, University diploma or certificate of basic education;
• documents which are confirmed the sources of funding for living in Finland.

This is the minimum package of documents that the applicant needs. Depending on the circumstances, the Migration Service may ask you to provide other documents, such as a certificate of non-criminal record, documents on the right to use housing, some medical or travel documents, and others. You don't need to provide photos, residence permits, or any other documents yourself.

Cost and terms of processing the application

Finns charge applicants a state fee for processing the application. Its size depends on the application form: when submitting an online application, a person pays 350 euros, and a paper application costs 440 euros.

In addition, the applicant will have to pay for a language exam. The cost of passing it depends on the level of knowledge that the applicant plans to confirm with a certificate. In any case, the cost of the exam will be from 100 to 160 euros. No other mandatory expenses are provided.

As for the terms of consideration, they are individual in each case. The average application processing and decision-making time is 5-9 months.

If the Migration Service needs additional information, it will contact the applicant independently. If a written application is submitted, the applicant will be notified of the decision by mail.

If an electronic application has been submitted, notification of the decision is sent by text message to the email address.