Citizenship after 4 years of residence

[lintu224]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone has already obtained citizenship after 4 years of living in Finland and without having a Finnish spouse/other significant close ties (kiinteät siteet) with Finland. For example, people who have divorced Finnish citizens or have work RP with a temporary work contract.

Migri website provides rather unclear information about this, but the FAQ section contains the following:

9. I have been residing in Finland for four years. May I acquire Finnish citizenship?

You can acquire Finnish citizenship after four years of continuous residence in Finland if you possess the language skills required for citizenship.

19. I have lived in Finland for four years and want to apply for Finnish citizenship. How do I prove my language skills?

The standard residency requirement is five years. If you have attained the language skills required for citizenship before you have been a resident for five years, you may apply for citizenship earlier, that is, after four years of continuous residence in Finland.
Read more about the methods of proving language skills.

(source: http://www.migri.fi/services/faq/citizenship)

So, is the actual requirement 4 years and language rather than 5 years? Any experiences?

Thanks!

[vitaliysh]

My wife got her passport after 1 year of type B visa and 4 years of type A.

[wolf80]

If Migri says so, then yes, you can. And how you prove your language skills is also on the Migri website: http://www.migri.fi/finnish_citizenship ... age_skills

[Upphew]

My wife got her passport after 1 year of type B visa and 4 years of type A.

Visa is for visiting, up to three months, residence permit is for residing.

[Upphew]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone has already obtained citizenship after 4 years of living in Finland and without having a Finnish spouse/other significant close ties (kiinteät siteet) with Finland. For example, people who have divorced Finnish citizens or have work RP with a temporary work contract.

Migri website provides rather unclear information about this, but the FAQ section contains the following:

9. I have been residing in Finland for four years. May I acquire Finnish citizenship?

You can acquire Finnish citizenship after four years of continuous residence in Finland if you possess the language skills required for citizenship.

19. I have lived in Finland for four years and want to apply for Finnish citizenship. How do I prove my language skills?

The standard residency requirement is five years. If you have attained the language skills required for citizenship before you have been a resident for five years, you may apply for citizenship earlier, that is, after four years of continuous residence in Finland.
Read more about the methods of proving language skills.

(source: http://www.migri.fi/services/faq/citizenship)

So, is the actual requirement 4 years and language rather than 5 years? Any experiences?

Thanks!

I'm not lawyer, but does the Citizenship law 18 a § override the 5 year rule in almost every case?

[betelgeuse]

I'm not lawyer, but does the Citizenship law 18 a § override the 5 year rule in almost every case?

So it seems to me but would require someone familiar with actual migri decision making and case law for a more concrete answer.

[Beep_Boop]

From multiple foreigners' circles/forums/groups, it seems that there's a big deal of inconsistency. More than half of the stories I've heard are about people getting the citizenship after 4 years (married to a Finnish man/woman, manager in some Finnish company, has a Finnish kid, etc.). However, there's a good number of cases where the person has other close-ish ties like just working in Finland constantly for 4 years under A RP.

Now the interesting part is that some others are in similar situations (4 years working under A RP) and still rejected. By the time they got the rejection, there was no point to appeal since the next time their application will be processed they'd have 5 years. So I haven't heard of any appeals based on 4-5-year thing.
Sadly, I don't have enough statistical information to reach any reasonable conclusion, but so far it seems like living in some parts of Finland affects the way the 4-5-year thing is applied (likelihood of ending up with specific case officers who interpret what "close ties" mean)

[betelgeuse]

Now the interesting part is that some others are in similar situations (4 years working under A RP) and still rejected. By the time they got the rejection, there was no point to appeal since the next time their application will be processed they'd have 5 years. So I haven't heard of any appeals based on 4-5-year thing.

A successful appeal would save from paying the application fee again.

[Beep_Boop]

A successful appeal would save from paying the application fee again.

Indeed.
I guess the perception of an appeal is that it's a lengthy legal battle. People would generally avoid the hassle and uncertainty of it. Personally, if I were in such situation, I would pay the money and avoid the hoops (really or merely perceived).

[Karhu123]

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset ... 030359.pdf

[Upphew]

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset ... 030359.pdf

Please note that translation has amendments up to 2007. There were stuff done to law in 2011 too.

[intern101]

Interesting. What about a non-eu spouse of an eu citizen who has a 5 year renewable permit? Can the non-eu spouse apply for citizenship after 4 yrs of residing here as the permit is neither type A or B?

[lintu224]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

From multiple foreigners' circles/forums/groups, it seems that there's a big deal of inconsistency. More than half of the stories I've heard are about people getting the citizenship after 4 years (married to a Finnish man/woman, manager in some Finnish company, has a Finnish kid, etc.). However, there's a good number of cases where the person has other close-ish ties like just working in Finland constantly for 4 years under A RP.

Now the interesting part is that some others are in similar situations (4 years working under A RP) and still rejected. By the time they got the rejection, there was no point to appeal since the next time their application will be processed they'd have 5 years. So I haven't heard of any appeals based on 4-5-year thing.
Sadly, I don't have enough statistical information to reach any reasonable conclusion, but so far it seems like living in some parts of Finland affects the way the 4-5-year thing is applied (likelihood of ending up with specific case officers who interpret what "close ties" mean)

When did the rejections happen, was it a long time ago?


I also called Migri and what they said was that basically the language certificate already lowers the requirement from 5 to 4 years, which is weird enough since it is always required also after 5 years.

[Frankenstein]

I know a buddy of mine who received his citizenship decision yesterday. He had applied in early November 2015.

[tavastia]

I know a buddy of mine who received his citizenship decision yesterday. He had applied in early November 2015.

Great! Soon they will start to process 2016 applications