Canadian national Silvie Kroeker finds herself in a catch-22 situation.

While she should be looking forward to the birth of her first child later this spring, the joyful event is being overshadowed by the challenges she faces in applying for Finnish citizenship — a long-held ambition.

Kroeker will finally meet the length-of-residence condition for applying for citizenship in May, when she will have lived in Finland for five years, and she intends to submit the application as soon as she can.

However, the government has repeatedly changed and tightened the laws around applying for a Finnish passport over the past two years — including a provision passed into law last year which means that citizenship could be denied if the applicant has collected unemployment benefits for a period of three months over the previous two years.

This is the stipulation that leaves Kroeker facing a stark choice: should she apply for unemployment benefits, or citizenship? Because she cannot do both.

Hurdle after hurdle

Kroeker moved to Finland in 2015 to study at the University of Tampere.

After graduation however, she was unable to find work in Finland and moved to Germany, where she had managed to secure employment. She stayed there for three years, before returning to Finland in 2021.

"My spouse is Finnish, and I moved here to be with him," she said. "At first I was unemployed and studied Finnish. After about nine months I got a job, and since then I've been employed most of the time."

Her time spent working in Germany interrupted the residency period required for Finnish citizenship.

This was previously Kroeker's only obstacle to obtaining a Finnish passport, as she had already proved her language proficiency by passing the YKI test in 2023.

But then the rules changed.

Now, with the birth of her first child imminent, Kroeker must decide whether to apply for unemployment benefits when her fixed-term contract with her current employer ends in March.

Doing so, however, would jeopardise her chances of obtaining Finnish citizenship because even one month of receiving benefits would push her into the new law's catchment as she was unemployed for two months over the past two years in between projects.

"It's easier if I don't apply for it. I'll get maternity allowance anyway before the baby is born," she said, though added that she and her Finnish partner could certainly do with the extra income with a baby on the way.

The fear of becoming unemployed

The government's continued changes to and tightening of Finland's citizenship laws have been a source of growing concern and frustration for the country's immigrant community.

"I feel that every new law and rule that they've made recently surrounding integration of foreigners and citizenship have been made to make it harder for us, more difficult, and it's already difficult, and I feel that we're just not wanted," Bronwyn Vainionpää, who moved to Finland in 2023 to be with her Finnish husband, told Yle News' All Points North podcast in November — echoing the views of many others.

The introduction of the three months limit on receiving unemployment benefits has been cited as especially unreasonable, particularly in light of Finland's dire employment situation — currently the worst in the EU.

The language requirement also proves tough for many, especially as the Finnish government also wants to cut the integration funding that helps municipalities to provide Finnish language instruction for foreigners.

According to figures from Statistics Finland, only about 30 percent of people who sat the YKI test in Finnish last year passed the exam.

Taking the intermediate-level YKI test costs 190 euros per attempt, and many people have to sit the exam several times.

The conditions for receiving a permanent residence permit were also tightened in January. The new rules require applicants to have lived in Finland for longer, demonstrate some proficiency in Finnish or Swedish, and have a work history of a certain length.

In addition, a citizenship test is also in the works — with the government planning to roll it out next year.

This represents another hurdle to Silvie Kroeker's hopes of becoming a Finnish citizen.

"I've learned quite a lot about Finland. I've lived here for a total of nine years, and I have many Finnish friends, a Finnish spouse and his family. I've learned quite a lot about Finnish society and culture during that time," she said.

Migri processing times take almost three years

There is currently a significant backlog of citizenship applications at the offices of the Finnish Immigration Service Migri.

According to the agency's own figures, there are just under 23,000 citizenship applications waiting to be processed.

This is due, the agency noted, to the exceptionally large number of applications that have been submitted in recent years.

However, the number of applications is falling — from more than 18,000 in 2023 to just 11,000 last year. This has coincided with the government's changes to Finland's Citizenship Act, which went into effect in 2024.

Migri spokesperson Anna-Lena Lindberg noted that the government's changes have in fact increased the number of applications — as people want to get their documents in before the rules are tightened.

This puts extra pressure on the agency, Lindberg said.

"As a result of legislative changes, there are more requirements for permanent permits and citizenship. This naturally brings changes to the processing of applications, as there is more to investigate and clarify," she said.

Processing a citizenship application currently takes up to 34 months, or almost three years, for most applicants.

And at the end of those three years, the result might be negative.