Finland ponders easier citizenship requirements

Proposal would grant citizenship more quickly than in many other EU countries

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From 2011, Finland is to grant citizenship to immigrants who have been in Finland for a shorter time than is the case in many other countries of the European Union, if a proposal drawn up by the Ministry of the Interior is implemented.
      The four parties in the Finnish government have agreed in the government’s policy programme to ease requirements for citizenship as a means if better integrating foreign residents into Finland. The proposal is also aimed at attracting more foreign students to stay in Finland after graduation.
     
Under current law, a foreign national applying for citizenship in Finland is required to have lived in this country for six consecutive years.
      The residence requirement is going down to five years, and it would be possible to become a naturalised Finn after just four years in Finland if the applicant demonstrates a good knowledge of one of the official languages - Finnish or Swedish.
     
Time spent in Finland on a temporary, or type B residence permit, would also be taken into account in the residency requirement. Under the proposal, a year spent in Finland with a temporary permit would be seen as the equivalent of six months of permanent residence.
      The residence requirement in the EU countries varies considerably. In Sweden it is five years, and in Denmark it is nine.
      “Denmark has a different way of thinking than we do. There a person can become naturalised only after fully integrating into the country”, says Sonja Hämäläinen at the Ministry of the Interior.
     
Language requirements would also be eased in certain special situations.
      An applicant with an “especially weighty reason” would not be required to have even an oral knowledge of Finnish or Swedish. Such reasons could include diagnosed learning disabilities, for instance.
      Currently, Finnish citizenship can be granted to someone without a knowledge of a national language only if the applicant is over 65 years of age, and has been granted a residence permit because of refugee status, or other need for protection.
     
Former Finnish citizens are again to be allowed the right to have their citizenship restored simply by declaring their desire to do so. Such a possibility was offered temporarily, between 2003 and 2008, and now this possibility is to be made permanent.
     
Officials expect that if enacted, the changes will lead to an increase in applications for Finnish citizenship.
      The government is scheduled to put the proposal for a new citizenship law before Parliament in early 2010.
      The proposal is likely to lead to intense debate in Parliament.


Links:
  Immigration Service: Finnish Citizenship Requirements

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