Process citizenship applications quicker

Between January and June 2009 6,825 people were granted Finnish citizenship. By contrast, in the whole of last year the Finnish immigration authorities granted fewer than 6,000 people citizenship. The processing of citizenship applications should be speeded up further, the daily Turun Sanomat believes: "For a foreigner living here, obtaining Finnish citizenship is important for many reasons, of which the feeling of relief at the prospect of permanent employment is probably the most important. ... Although the average time required to process an application fell by 30 percent last year, the process should be speeded up still further. Immigrants who have already lived in Finland for a certain period of time feel more closely connected with their new homeland and society if they have citizenship. This benefits everyone in the long term. Even if growing unemployment is currently our main problem, according to demographic prognoses there will be a labour shortage in the future."

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