Finland's new citizenship act is setting the country back

Let’s talk about Finland's new citizenship act. As you guys may have heard as soon as Orpo’s government took over they proposed changes to the current citizenship act. One of the biggest changes is time of residency in Finland which is to be modified from previously 5 years to now 8 years. There are 2 other phases of the act, one concerning security assessment, dual citizenships, and grounds for citizenship revoke, as well as a citizenship test and raising the language requirement.  

Let’s dissect the much-needed parts, the language test. I think this change is crucial seeing how many neutralized Finns do not speak Finnish. Tightening security concerns and assessments is also a step in the right direction. A citizenship test to evaluate the applicant's knowledge about Finland (history, culture and politics) is also important. 

Now to the residency period, as you may know most European populations are rapidly aging, prospective pensioners are retiring at a rapid rate and waiting to cash out thier pensions, only problem is; there is not enough young taxpayers to fund those pensions and theses countries are not increasing their birth rates at all.  

So, smart countries sought after highly skilled professionals that are properly filtered out to work, pay taxes and support the economy of dying countries in exchange for security, stability and a higher quality of life. In these countries (Norway, Sweden and just recently Germany) the required period of residence is 5 years and Germany is even considering 3 years for highly skilled professionals. 

To highly skilled professionals, there are many options to choose from, I would dare and say on paper “more attractive” options than Finland (keyword on paper 😉). Non-EU professionals seek stability, and citizenship grants that. It aids paperwork, mobility for work and helps you lay your anchors to establish life with a family somewhere.  

This is a failure step in the wrong direction for the future and prosperity of Finland, as someone working in R&D in big pharma, this is something that is making me re-evaluate my decision to be here, which is unfortunate since I am learning the language and I love the culture here (maybe not the social life lol) but nature, sauna, respect and politeness. I have entrepreneurial plans and an EU citizenship makes so many steps easier, even with collaborations overseas and waiting another 8 years will set me back. I wish something would happen in these 2 days before the parliament approves the first phase (due date is 30/6/24), which concerns the period of residency.