How Finland's citizenship test became law

Finland already tried this once. In 2019, then-Interior Minister Kai Mykkänen floated the idea of a citizenship test as part of a wider crime-prevention package, suggesting the government study how other countries ran theirs and build something similar for Finland. Nothing came of it. The government changed, and the idea sat untouched for four years.

It came back to life on 16 June 2023, when Petteri Orpo's incoming four-party government wrote a citizenship test, alongside a tougher language requirement, into its government programme. That single sentence in a coalition agreement is where the current law actually starts.

From idea to ministry project

By July 2023, the Ministry of the Interior had begun looking seriously at how other countries handle this. Interior Minister Mari Rantanen pointed out that Finland would be joining a well-established club: 13 EU countries already required some form of citizenship test. The ministry's early comments made clear the test would take time to design properly, not something to bolt on overnight.

The project became official on 16 October 2023, when the ministry launched a full reform of the Citizenship Act, split into three stages: residence requirements, other naturalisation conditions like income and conduct, and, as the third and most complex stage, the citizenship test itself. A cross-administrative working group was set up to figure out what kind of test would actually work in Finland and who would run it. Rantanen described the philosophy behind the reform simply: citizenship should follow successful integration, not precede it.

The first stage moved fastest. In July 2024, Parliament extended the residence requirement for naturalisation from five years to eight.

What the test would actually look like

The working group took until February 2025 to publish its findings. Its proposal: a digital test using multiple-choice and true/false questions, covering fundamental and human rights, Finnish society, history, geography, everyday practical knowledge, values and customs, public safety, and digital skills. The requirement would apply to applicants aged 18 to 64, with exemptions for some circumstances, and the ministry promised preparation material would be published well before anyone had to sit the test.

By July 2025, the shape of the test had narrowed further. An early idea to include a personal interview component had quietly disappeared. What remained was a computer-based test in Finnish or Swedish, multiple-choice and true/false questions, and a fee to take it.

Parliament passed the second reform stage, on income and conduct requirements, on 15 October 2025.

The draft goes public

The Ministry of the Interior sent the actual citizenship-test legislation out for public comment on 22 December 2025. By this point the subject areas were locked in: Finnish society and its founding principles, individual rights and responsibilities, key legislation, fundamental and human rights, equality, gender equality, Finnish history, and Finnish culture. The draft also built in an off-ramp: people with a Finnish or Swedish matriculation exam, or a degree from Finnish- or Swedish-language higher education, wouldn't need to take the test at all. Comments were open until 6 February 2026.

That consultation period is when the pushback started. In February 2026, integration specialists and immigrant advocacy groups raised concerns that ran deeper than the usual grumbling about new bureaucracy. The government's own cost estimate put the price of running the test at roughly 2.3 million euros a year, and one advocacy group calculated that could translate to somewhere between 235 and 470 euros per applicant once passed on. Combined with existing language-certification costs, critics argued the test risked pricing lower-income applicants out of citizenship altogether. There was also concern about whether preparation material would be ready in time and whether the test would be accessible to people with limited digital skills.

Parliament takes it up

The government submitted the citizenship-test bill to Parliament on 16 April 2026. Parliament's Administration Committee finished its report on 27 May 2026, and on 10 June 2026 the full chamber voted to approve the reform, 153 votes in favor to 21 against. President Alexander Stubb signed it into law on 16 June 2026.

That closed the loop that started with Orpo's government programme three years earlier. What began as one line in a coalition agreement had become an actual, enforceable requirement for Finnish citizenship.

What's still ahead

The law doesn't spring into existence fully formed just because it's signed. In August 2026, the University of Helsinki won the competition to build the exam, with roughly 800,000 euros allocated to developing the test and its study materials. The Finnish Immigration Service, Migri, is expected to publish detailed guidance and preparation material in autumn 2026, before anyone sits down to take the real thing.

Two dates matter most for anyone tracking this. The law itself takes effect on 1 January 2027. But the citizenship test requirement only applies to applications filed from 1 March 2027 onward, leaving a two-month gap for people who want to get their application in under the old rules. For the full sequence of events, including what happens after 2027, see the timeline.