Finland's parliament has voted in favour of a government bill aimed at tightening the rules around obtaining Finnish citizenship in relation to an applicant's financial self-sufficiency.

The motion was passed by 103 votes to 58 at a plenary session on Wednesday.

The amendment to the Citizenship Act means that, in future, applicants must be able to prove they can support themselves through employment or entrepreneurship.

Previously, social welfare payments were also accepted as a source of income when applying for Finnish citizenship — but they will not be in future.

In addition, an application will be refused if the applicant has relied on social welfare benefits — such as unemployment benefit or social assistance payments — for more than three months over the two years prior to when the citizenship decision is made.

In practice, this means the two years prior to the date of the processing of the application.

"In future, the requirement is not fulfilled if the applicant has received unemployment benefit and/or social assistance for more than three months over the two-year period. However, other social welfare benefits such as student or family benefits will not affect granting of citizenship," Hanna Pihkanen of the interior ministry told Yle News in an email.

Higher threshold for offences, crimes

The reform also sets a higher bar for an applicant's "integrity", meaning that committing offences or crimes will have a more substantial impact on whether they can be granted citizenship.

When drafting the law changes, the government said it wanted to make successful integration a prerequisite for being granted a Finnish passport.

"Finnish citizenship is not something that can be granted automatically. It requires successful integration, work, and compliance with the rules of Finnish society," Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) said last year.

The new changes regarding financial self-sufficiency do not however apply to children or people aged 65 and over.

Three-step reform of Citizenship Act

These reforms mark the second phase of the government's three-step strategy aimed at tightening the rules around obtaining Finnish citizenship, which were laid out in the four-party coalition's government programme, after forming in the summer of 2023.

The first phase focused on the amount of time an applicant should live in Finland before applying for citizenship.

According to the Interior Ministry's information, the third phase will see the introduction of a citizenship test.

Although the layout and content of the proposed citizenship test is still in the works, Yle reported in July that it will likely be a multiple-choice, true or false format covering topics such as history, culture and Finnish laws.

Edit note: Article updated at 13:26 on 17.10.2025 to clarify that a citizenship application may be denied if the applicant has relied on social welfare payments for more than three months over the past two-year period.

Edit note: Article updated at 14:28 on 20.10.2025 to further clarify that the two-year period ends when the decision on the citizenship application is made. Also added quote from ministry official.