Applying for Citizenship 2024

[Anonym1234]

Finally my time has come too!

Application submitted: 12.8.2023
Migri visit: 25.8.2023 in Tampere
Customer number: 104xx/310/2023

Application went to stage 2 on 2.2.2024 and about hour later I got a positive decision!
Queue number at the time of decision: 54XX

I came to Finland to study six years ago, studied for 3,5 years, started working almost immediately after graduation in the same specialty as studies. Originally have a Russian citizenship.

Might be useful for some: I got the decision on Friday afternoon and on Saturday had a planned trip abroad (had notified migri about it but I guess they don’t really consider your upcoming trips). As you know, once the citizenship decision is made, the residency permit is immediately cancelled. So I was basically left without a travel document and I wouldn’t have time to get even an express passport.

So I called the police and explained my situation to them - they told me that there is such thing called temporary passport (väliaikainen passi) that you can get in 10 minutes at the police station and it works as a travel document to most EU countries and some others (need to check). They even can print it in the Helsinki airport’s police station. So I got my temporary passport and could finally celebrate the citizenship!

Congratulations!

And thanks for the extra info. For sure it could help someone!

Do you by chance remember your beginning que number?

Thanks! I think the initial queue number was around 8600

[TUserFin]

This week's stats:
Total processed: ~174
Total processed with queue >4000: ~118
Approximate processing range with queue >4000: 10600/310/2023 - 10800/310/2023

In other words, nothing really new.

Thanks for posting this. By the way, regarding your case, the people in the process will not be affected by shifting towards 5 and 8 years of residency for citizenship, as it is stated in this law draft which should go into force in Aug 2024

https://api.hankeikkuna.fi/asiakirjat/9 ... 123501.PDF

[sillygoose]

This week's stats:
Total processed: ~174
Total processed with queue >4000: ~118
Approximate processing range with queue >4000: 10600/310/2023 - 10800/310/2023

In other words, nothing really new.

Thanks for posting this. By the way, regarding your case, the people in the process will not be affected by shifting towards 5 and 8 years of residency for citizenship, as it is stated in this law draft which should go into force in Aug 2024

https://api.hankeikkuna.fi/asiakirjat/9 ... 123501.PDF

Thank you for the info. Can you quote the part of the draft where it says that applications in process will not be affected by the proposed law?

[Toololainen]

This week's stats:
Total processed: ~174
Total processed with queue >4000: ~118
Approximate processing range with queue >4000: 10600/310/2023 - 10800/310/2023

In other words, nothing really new.

Thanks for posting this. By the way, regarding your case, the people in the process will not be affected by shifting towards 5 and 8 years of residency for citizenship, as it is stated in this law draft which should go into force in Aug 2024

https://api.hankeikkuna.fi/asiakirjat/9 ... 123501.PDF

Thank you for the info. Can you quote the part of the draft where it says that applications in process will not be affected by the proposed law?

Technically, for most of the people, there is almost no change. They are in practice changing the 4 years to 5 years. Person who has a Finnish spouse, a kid who completed 15 years old, person who demonstrates the language knowledge, the residence period is 5 years. 8 years would apply to people who are for example over 65 years old and have easier way of demonstrating the language knowledge as well as people who has exception from the language knowledge such as illiterates, some strong learning ability/cognitive problems.

In my opinion, what's really changing is less flexibility on the days you spend outside Finland. Try to use google translate, I leave it below:

Asumisaikaan hyväksyttävät ulkomaanpäivät
Kansalaistamisen edellytyksenä olevaan asumisaikaan hyväksytään Suomen ulkopuolella
oleskelua yhteensä enintään 365 vuorokautta. Hakemuksen ratkaisemista edeltävän vuoden
ajalta hyväksytään ulkomailla oleskelua kuitenkin yhteensä enintään 90 vuorokautta. Näiden
määrien ylimeneviä ulkomaanpäiviä ei oteta mukaan asumisaikaa laskettaessa.
Yli viiden vuoden yhtäjaksoinen oleskelu Suomen ulkopuolella katkaisee asumisajan laskemisen. Asumisajan laskeminen alkaa tällöin uudelleen siten kuin 14 §:n 1 momentissa säädetään.

[Oussbe7]

The draft about extending staying period to 8 years for citizenship application is published. The law is planned to enter into force on August 1, 2024.

'Laki on tarkoitettu tulemaan voimaan 1.8.2024'

However, for people who have YKI, the requirement is only 5 years (increase 1 year from 4 years under the current law), similar to spouse... I already ask several Finnish people to read the law for checking since it is not bad after all. The Finnish people also mentioned that the law change might be to satisfy the voters (True Finns) only and not to make it too hard for foreigners. However, there are some changes about how long you can leave Finland without make the duration interrupted. Generally, if you only stay in Finland and have the YKI, that is not a big problem at all.

At the end, the title of the increase from 5 to 8 seems to be misleading a bit but that it is totally not too bad news. Nonetheless, this is just the first change. The next change will be about citizenship test which might be introduced next year 2025.

https://valtioneuvosto.fi/hanke?tunnus=SM034:00/2023

https://api.hankeikkuna.fi/asiakirjat/9 ... 123501.PDF

https://api.hankeikkuna.fi/asiakirjat/9 ... 123501.PDF

[just_passing_by]

.

[TUserFin]

Thank you for the info. Can you quote the part of the draft where it says that applications in process will not be affected by the proposed law?

Kansalaisuushakemusten käsittelyajat
vaihtelevat muutamista kuukausista yli kahteen vuoteen. Ehdotettujen muutosten tullessa voi-
maan on siten vireillä sellaisia kansalaisuushakemuksia, joiden tekijät ovat jättäneet hakemuk-
sensa siksi, että he ovat arvioineet täyttävänsä edellytykset voimassa olevien kansalaisuuslain
säännösten ja Maahanmuuttoviraston verkkosivuilla olevien tietojen perusteella. Tässä esityk-
sessä ehdotettuja muutoksia on siten perusteltua soveltaa niihin hakemuksiin, jotka tehdään
tässä esityksessä ehdotettujen muutosten tultua voimaan.

[TUserFin]

Technically, for most of the people, there is almost no change. They are in practice changing the 4 years to 5 years. Person who has a Finnish spouse, a kid who completed 15 years old, person who demonstrates the language knowledge, the residence period is 5 years. 8 years would apply to people who are for example over 65 years old and have easier way of demonstrating the language knowledge as well as people who has exception from the language knowledge such as illiterates, some strong learning ability/cognitive problems.

In my opinion, what's really changing is less flexibility on the days you spend outside Finland. Try to use google translate, I leave it below:

Asumisaikaan hyväksyttävät ulkomaanpäivät
Kansalaistamisen edellytyksenä olevaan asumisaikaan hyväksytään Suomen ulkopuolella
oleskelua yhteensä enintään 365 vuorokautta. Hakemuksen ratkaisemista edeltävän vuoden
ajalta hyväksytään ulkomailla oleskelua kuitenkin yhteensä enintään 90 vuorokautta. Näiden
määrien ylimeneviä ulkomaanpäiviä ei oteta mukaan asumisaikaa laskettaessa.
Yli viiden vuoden yhtäjaksoinen oleskelu Suomen ulkopuolella katkaisee asumisajan laskemisen. Asumisajan laskeminen alkaa tällöin uudelleen siten kuin 14 §:n 1 momentissa säädetään.

They make a lot of "cuts" for refugees and people on temp protection with this law - at least, this is the feeling I get.

[Toololainen]

Technically, for most of the people, there is almost no change. They are in practice changing the 4 years to 5 years. Person who has a Finnish spouse, a kid who completed 15 years old, person who demonstrates the language knowledge, the residence period is 5 years. 8 years would apply to people who are for example over 65 years old and have easier way of demonstrating the language knowledge as well as people who has exception from the language knowledge such as illiterates, some strong learning ability/cognitive problems.

In my opinion, what's really changing is less flexibility on the days you spend outside Finland. Try to use google translate, I leave it below:

Asumisaikaan hyväksyttävät ulkomaanpäivät
Kansalaistamisen edellytyksenä olevaan asumisaikaan hyväksytään Suomen ulkopuolella
oleskelua yhteensä enintään 365 vuorokautta. Hakemuksen ratkaisemista edeltävän vuoden
ajalta hyväksytään ulkomailla oleskelua kuitenkin yhteensä enintään 90 vuorokautta. Näiden
määrien ylimeneviä ulkomaanpäiviä ei oteta mukaan asumisaikaa laskettaessa.
Yli viiden vuoden yhtäjaksoinen oleskelu Suomen ulkopuolella katkaisee asumisajan laskemisen. Asumisajan laskeminen alkaa tällöin uudelleen siten kuin 14 §:n 1 momentissa säädetään.

They make a lot of "cuts" for refugees and people on temp protection with this law - at least, this is the feeling I get.

They do the right thing. People with permits regardless of their status except the temp permit should get the same treatment. I don't see any reason why it should be 3 or 4 years for refugees or people who got international protection, they still have right to live in the country. There is no pressing reason.

[TUserFin]

They do the right thing. People with permits regardless of their status except the temp permit should get the same treatment. I don't see any reason why it should be 3 or 4 years for refugees or people who got international protection, they still have right to live in the country. There is no pressing reason.

One thing is to make things equal other thing is to make more complex. As I understood, while refugee status is pending processing, residence time is not counted and so on... also, time on international protection is not counted as residence time, only residence permit time is counted. So, for some people waiting time might go much above 8 years in reality. And this is just the first law out of 3 coming... with salary, language and civic test requirements next

[Toololainen]

They do the right thing. People with permits regardless of their status except the temp permit should get the same treatment. I don't see any reason why it should be 3 or 4 years for refugees or people who got international protection, they still have right to live in the country. There is no pressing reason.

One thing is to make things equal other thing is to make more complex. As I understood, while refugee status is pending processing, residence time is not counted and so on... also, time on international protection is not counted as residence time, only residence permit time is counted. So, for some people waiting time might go much above 8 years in reality. And this is just the first law out of 3 coming... with salary, language and civic test requirements next

I still don't see any problem. Until, the decision is made for refugees or for any other resident permit applicants, you are just waiting for the decision. Residence period should always be tied to your residence permit. The new government is fixing these existing problems. They are doing a great job.

[TUserFin]

I still don't see any problem. Until, the decision is made for refugees or for any other resident permit applicants, you are just waiting for the decision. Residence period should always be tied to your residence permit. The new government is fixing these existing problems. They are doing a great job.

It depends how much in reality people will be waiting for citezenship. But I understand that this topic worries only some people. There are a lot of people who came here for work from countries which take 0 refugees. Does not make sense to discuss here foreign topic.

[sillygoose]

Thank you for the info. Can you quote the part of the draft where it says that applications in process will not be affected by the proposed law?

Kansalaisuushakemusten käsittelyajat
vaihtelevat muutamista kuukausista yli kahteen vuoteen. Ehdotettujen muutosten tullessa voi-
maan on siten vireillä sellaisia kansalaisuushakemuksia, joiden tekijät ovat jättäneet hakemuk-
sensa siksi, että he ovat arvioineet täyttävänsä edellytykset voimassa olevien kansalaisuuslain
säännösten ja Maahanmuuttoviraston verkkosivuilla olevien tietojen perusteella. Tässä esityk-
sessä ehdotettuja muutoksia on siten perusteltua soveltaa niihin hakemuksiin, jotka tehdään
tässä esityksessä ehdotettujen muutosten tultua voimaan.

This is great! Now I can wait in peace knowing that these changes won’t affect my application in any way.

[applicant2024]

Hi,

I have applied for F citizenship last week according the current law I have met all the requirements. will the new law affect on me in August 2024? does someone know or can confirm it please?

[Aasinkinttu]

Hi,

I have applied for F citizenship last week according the current law I have met all the requirements. will the new law affect on me in August 2024? does someone know or can confirm it please?

According to the freshly provided information, which can be read immediately above your asked and answered question; no.