Finnish language & permit residency permit

[charlesirwin22]

Do I have to know finnish to become a permanent resident in finland? And how long does it take to learn the language as well as how difficult it is to learn as a adult?

[browndude]

Do I have to know finnish to become a permanent resident in finland? And how long does it take to learn the language as well as how difficult it is to learn as a adult?

You do not need to know Finnish to become a permenant resident in Finland. If you want to become a citizen then you do have to know either Finnish or Swedish to a specified level (mid-fluency). For the average monolingual English speaker, it would take maybe 4 years or so. Some people have done it in a year or so with a lot of effort and some degree of natural language acquiring ability. It is difficult to learn as an adult.