Hi everyone and a belated Happy New Year!
I’ve been reading these forums on and off over the last few months while waiting for my citizenship application to be processed. There seems to be a lot of confusion and uncertainty about how the system actually works, mainly because Migri is intentionally unclear on the subject. Based on my own experiences and on correspondence with Migri, this is what is actually happening and what you can do about it, should you choose to:
1. The queue allocation is not random. An application is allocated to a certain work queue (and yes, there is more than one). This allocation is made using assisted automation, although at the stage it is used it is essentially full automation, as there is no human involvement. The automation checks the application against the requirements for citizenship but, and this is the really important bit, it only checks some of the ways in which an applicant can legally fulfil the requirements. For example, when an automation rule checks whether an application meets the residency requirements, it only checks continuous residency and not accumulated residency. When another automation rules checks the means of support requirements, it only checks personal taxable income, and not other legally-allowed means of support. So if, for example, you have applied on the basis of continuous residency and personal taxable income your application will go into one queue with a shorter processing time, and if you have applied on the basis of accumulated residency and some other source of income it will go into another queue with a longer processing time.
2. You can find out what is happening, in detail, to your application. Migri even provides the form:
https://migri.fi/en/document-and-information-requests Under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities you have the right to your diary entry showing what has happened to your application.
3. Migri has a duty to act lawfully and to treat applications equally. You can read all the relevant laws on the Finlex site
https://www.finlex.fi/en/ (including the act mentioned above) and decide whether you think what Migri is doing in your case is lawful. If you think it isn’t, and are prepared to argue persuasively and persistently for your legal rights, you can dramatically speed up the processing of your application. (I did.)
Each case is individual, of course, and the automated queue allocation process does not explain all of the differences in processing times, but I hope this helps at least some of you who are wondering, like I was, why your seemingly straightforward application is taking so long to process while others are decided so much more quickly.
The persistently-arguing-with-Migri stage of my application has been pretty exhausting, and I hope you’ll understand that, now that I have received my positive decision, I’m keen to put it all behind me now so won’t be returning here to respond to any comments, but I wish you all success in your applications!
is my application stuck there forever?
I just need to be a little more patient.
Not quite sure as I had a friend who applied 2 years ago at the same time with her husband. Her husband got the citizenship after 5 months but she waited for 10 months wo updates, even when both of them had the same background (Master students then SWE with good salary). She called or emailed to Migri (not quite remember) and it turned out she had mistakenly input that she did not have RP when first coming to Finland so they had to move her from asylum seeker to normal queue. She got decision later very quickly. Not sure if it may help your case.
is my application stuck there forever? 
