THE STORY WAS UPDATED
According to media reports, Finland is on the verge of forming its most right-wing and anti-immigration government, which is proposing a requirement for migrants seeking Finnish citizenship to earn an annual income of 40,000 euros.
CORRECTION: The media, which reported earlier that the new government plans to place a 40,000-euro annual salary threshold to qualify for citizenship, is wrong.
The National Coalition Party (NCP), Christian Democrats, and possibly the Swedish People’s Party today will give the nod to stricter immigration policies that would force residents to earn an average salary of 40,000 euros per year.
However, it is worth noting that foreigners in Finland typically earn about 20% less than Finns, as indicated by statistical data. If this new government implements such a minimum income threshold, it would effectively exclude many foreigners in Finland from obtaining citizenship.
What do you do when you make citizenship more difficult? For one, parties such as the Perussuomalaiset,* NCP, Christian Democrats, and very likely the Swedish People’s Party are apprehensive about granting citizenship to foreigners because it would grant voting rights to these people and voters against such parties.
Many parties in Finland are misguided believing there is a mad rush to move to Finland.
Implementing these stricter regulations will only make Finland even less appealing to foreign labor. It will exacerbate the existing problem of sourcing foreign labor.
