The Finnish government has proposed to lengthen residency requirements for foreigners living in the country who want to obtain citizenship.
In its proposal, the government has recommended that individuals seeking Finnish citizenship must reside in Finland for at least eight years instead of the current five to be eligible, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
During the period that foreigners are residing in Finland and plan on submitting their citizenship applications, they can spend only one year outside Finland.
Moreover, it has been stressed that only the period spent within Finland while holding a residence permit will count towards the qualifying period for obtaining Finnish citizenship.
The Government has proposed an amendment to the Citizenship Act that would extend the period of residence required for Finnish citizenship from the current five years to eight years. In addition, only time lived in Finland under a residence permit would be taken into account when calculating the period of residence.
As Yle News explains, in line with the proposal, the residency period requirement will also increase for children and spouses of Finnish citizens and stateless persons. They will be required to legally reside in Finland for five years, up from the current four, in order to qualify for Finnish citizenship.
On the other hand, the two-year requirement will continue to remain the same for Nordic citizens and spouses of Finnish embassy staff who want to apply for citizenship.
Commenting on the immigration changes that the country plans on making, the Minister of Interior of Finland, Mari Rantanen, said that the country aims to introduce the best practices.
The same revealed that the citizenship measures are expected to affect around 10,000 individuals each year.
Government Wants to Also Prevent People From Switching From One Residence Permit to Another
In addition to tightening the citizenship rules, the Finnish government has also proposed to introduce stricter measures for those who want to switch their residence permit and for foreigners applying for international protection.
In the proposal, the government said that it wants to prohibit asylum applicants from switching to an education-based or work-based application to apply for another permit.
Additionally, the government also wants to make it possible for the authorities to deny asylum or revoke asylum status for refugees who present a danger to society as well as to decide and refuse asylum claims at the border.
Regarding international protection, the Finnish government has proposed to shorten the length of international protection permits.
