Finnish authorities proposed new tightened conditions for obtaining a permanent residence permit.

Key Points:

  • As BAL reported, the government previously introduced updated requirements for issuing residence permits through amendments to the Aliens Act.
  • Officials are now proposing further amendments to the Aliens Act tightening the conditions for a permanent residence permit by extending the continuous period of residence required, requiring additional language skills and a work history of a certain length.
  • The government proposal was sent out for comments on Jan. 27, and the proposed changes require further legislative review before being enacted.

Additional Information: In the announcement officials outlined several changes, including extending the continuous period of residence required for a permanent residence permit from four to six years, altering the requirement concerning a work history of a certain length to include a requirement that an applicant must have accumulated their work history without recourse to unemployment security or social assistance other than for a maximum of three months, and adding a language skills requirement (in Finnish or Swedish) to obtain a long-term resident’s EU residence permit.

Officials stated that the proposed changes will still allow certain applicants to obtain a permanent residence permit based on a four-year period of residence if they meet additional requirements. Certain applicants can obtain a permanent residence permit without meeting the period of residence requirement if they have certain educational backgrounds and language skills. BAL will continue to monitor developments and will provide more information once it becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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