The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) quietly flipped the switch on a landmark overhaul of the Citizenship Act at 00:01 on 17 December. From that moment, every naturalisation request must be lodged through the Enter Finland portal—paper forms, walk-in counters and postal submissions have been abolished. The reform is designed to cut average processing times from eight to roughly six months and to trim back-office costs by an estimated 12 percent thanks to automatic data exchange with the population registry and tax authorities.
Substantive requirements have been tightened in parallel. Applicants now need six consecutive years of lawful residence (up from five), proof of sustainable earned income that is not based on social assistance, and Finnish or Swedish language skills at CEFR level A2. Migri reserves the right to summon candidates for a spoken-language interview if test results look suspect. A narrow grandfathering clause protects foreigners who had already reached the five-year threshold before 17 December; everyone else is reset to the new six-year track.
For employers, the change upends workforce-planning assumptions—particularly in ICT, gaming and engineering where fast access to citizenship has been a retention lever. HR managers must now budget for an extra year of social-security contributions and help employees gather fully digital proof of income, residence and language ability. Consulting firms report a spike in demand for “done-for-you” filing services that shepherd applicants through the 100 percent online workflow, including biometric appointments and e-signatures.
![Finland launches fully-digital citizenship process and raises eligibility bar]()
VisaHQ can play a pivotal support role here. Through our Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) we provide individual applicants and corporate mobility teams with document pre-screening, deadline reminders and real-time status tracking that plug directly into Migri’s Enter Finland platform, helping to minimise the risk of auto-rejections and reducing administrative overhead.
The digital model also introduces risks. Applicants with weak internet access or limited tech literacy no longer have an in-person fallback, and incomplete e-files are automatically rejected after 30 days. Migri will run a formal impact review in late 2026, but policy-makers have hinted that the tougher income rule could be relaxed if naturalisation numbers fall sharply without measurable labour-market gains.
Companies sending talent to Finland are advised to begin ‘digital readiness’ training during pre-assignment briefings, add language tutoring to benefit packages and extend rotational programme timelines by at least 12 months while the new regime beds in.
Substantive requirements have been tightened in parallel. Applicants now need six consecutive years of lawful residence (up from five), proof of sustainable earned income that is not based on social assistance, and Finnish or Swedish language skills at CEFR level A2. Migri reserves the right to summon candidates for a spoken-language interview if test results look suspect. A narrow grandfathering clause protects foreigners who had already reached the five-year threshold before 17 December; everyone else is reset to the new six-year track.
For employers, the change upends workforce-planning assumptions—particularly in ICT, gaming and engineering where fast access to citizenship has been a retention lever. HR managers must now budget for an extra year of social-security contributions and help employees gather fully digital proof of income, residence and language ability. Consulting firms report a spike in demand for “done-for-you” filing services that shepherd applicants through the 100 percent online workflow, including biometric appointments and e-signatures.
VisaHQ can play a pivotal support role here. Through our Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) we provide individual applicants and corporate mobility teams with document pre-screening, deadline reminders and real-time status tracking that plug directly into Migri’s Enter Finland platform, helping to minimise the risk of auto-rejections and reducing administrative overhead.
The digital model also introduces risks. Applicants with weak internet access or limited tech literacy no longer have an in-person fallback, and incomplete e-files are automatically rejected after 30 days. Migri will run a formal impact review in late 2026, but policy-makers have hinted that the tougher income rule could be relaxed if naturalisation numbers fall sharply without measurable labour-market gains.
Companies sending talent to Finland are advised to begin ‘digital readiness’ training during pre-assignment briefings, add language tutoring to benefit packages and extend rotational programme timelines by at least 12 months while the new regime beds in.
