The citizenship test from 2027: the civic-knowledge requirement and how it is met

Applying for Finnish citizenship gains a new condition, the civic-knowledge requirement, which a citizenship test is one way to meet. Act 552/2026 takes effect on 1 January 2027, and the new rules apply to applications submitted on or after 1 March 2027. The test is one of three ways to meet it.

Who needs to take it

The act does not require the test directly. It sets a civic-knowledge requirement on applying for citizenship, and the test is one of three ways of showing that the requirement is met. The requirement applies to citizenship granted on application (hakemus). Under a provision of the Nationality Act, a foreign national may, on certain conditions, acquire Finnish citizenship by declaration (ilmoitus).

Act 552/2026 (section 17 b, subsection 2) states that the civic-knowledge requirement does not apply to a person under 18 or to a person who has reached 65.

The test is not the only way to meet it. Subsection 1 of the same section also accepts a Finnish- or Swedish-language matriculation examination taken in Finland, and a Finnish- or Swedish-language higher education degree taken in Finland. If you hold either, you do not sit the test.

Subsection 3 of the same section adds a further route out: citizenship may be granted even though the requirement is unmet, where the applicant's state of health or a disability prevents them from meeting it on a long-term basis, or where there is otherwise an exceptionally weighty reason. That exemption is discretionary, not automatic.

A separate provision covers someone who turns 18 only while their application is pending: the civic-knowledge requirement does not apply to them at all. That one is not in section 17 b but in section 25 of the act, which deals with what reaching majority does to a pending application.

The civic-knowledge requirement does not apply to applications made before 1 March 2027 — the act takes effect on 1 January 2027, but the requirement does not apply to applications made within 2 months of that date. That two-month period is measured from the act's entry into force. An application already pending when the act took effect is a different case: it is decided under the previous rules entirely.

Which language the test is taken in

The test is taken in Finnish or Swedish. There are no other language options. This is worth keeping in mind while preparing: knowing a fact in your own language is not the same as recognising it when it is put to you in the exam language.

Format

The test is a multiple-choice test. Act 552/2026 describes it in those terms: the questions in the multiple-choice test are based on the published study material, and a pass requires that most of the multiple-choice answers be correct. The test is taken electronically, unless something stands in the way of an electronic sitting.

The number of questions and the pass mark are not yet set. Section 25 a, subsection 2 of the act requires that most of the answers be correct. The act's Finnish text says valtaosa, the bulk of them; its Swedish text says majoriteten, the majority. More detailed provisions on the test's content and on a passing result may be given by government decree. The draft decree annexed to government proposal HE 54/2026 vp proposes 20–40 questions and a 70% pass mark.

On who runs it: the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) handles the official tasks around the test, but the test sittings are arranged by a contracted organiser — section 25 d of Act 552/2026 requires Migri to contract the sittings out to bodies with sufficient expertise and the means to run them, while section 25 e sets out what those organisers must then do. Section 25 d, subsection 1 does not say that Migri may contract but that it contracts: in Finnish, "Maahanmuuttovirasto sopii…". The subsection's second sentence guarantees no coverage, though: when the contracts are made, it must be taken into account that sittings are available often enough and, regionally, in sufficient numbers (the Finnish text) or to an extent sufficient with regard to regional needs (the Swedish text). That binds Migri as it contracts; it does not promise a sitting in any particular town. So the sitting is not run by Migri itself.

How to prepare

The most effective preparation uses the same language and the same formats as the real test. Translations and plain-language explanations help you understand the material, but read the question in the exam language first.