A record number of immigrants got Finnish citizen in 2012, rising by 4,530 to 9,090 persons, according to Statistics Finland. The lion’s share of these naturalized Finns were Russians (2,480) followed by Somalis (610), Estonians (520) and Afghanis. While citizenship grants many rights to an immigrant, it does not mean that the person will be accepted and treated as an equal member of Finnish society.
Source: Statistics Finland
Citizenship granted to foreign nationals 2011-06. Source: Statistics Finland
Statistics Finland reported that 7,990 (+4,160 versus 2011) of the persons granted citizenship were from outside the EU versus 1,100 (+370) who were from EU countries.
While Finnish women were the first in Europe to get the right to vote in 1906, they had to wait till 1984 to have the same rights as men to grant automatic citizenship to their children.
Finnish citizenship is not determined by place of birth (jus solis) but by the citizenship of their parents (jus sanguinis).
A citizenship test in the late-1980s included an interview with the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo).
Even if my mother is a Finnish citizen, the first question the Supo agent asked me was why I seek Finnish citizenship.
“It’s my right,” I answered.