Retaining Finnish citizenship 

If you are a citizen of both Finland and another state, you may automatically lose your Finnish citizenship when you turn 22. However, you will not lose your Finnish citizenship as long as you have a sufficient connection with Finland.  

If you suspect that you may have lost your Finnish citizenship, contact a Finnish mission or us. We cannot disclose personal data by email. You can see your citizenship and other personal data by checking your personal data.  

If you also have a citizenship of another country, please notify us of this following the instructions on the Registration of citizenship page. 

What is a sufficient connection with Finland? 

You have a sufficient connection with Finland if any of the following conditions are met: 

• you were born in Finland and have a municipality of residence in Finland when you turn 22 
• you have lived in Finland or some other Nordic country (Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) for a total of seven years before you turn 22  
• you have received or applied for a Finnish passport or identity card between the ages of 18 and 21 
• you have obtained Finnish citizenship between the ages of 18 and 21 
• you are doing or have completed your military service, non-military service or a voluntary military service for women between the ages of 18 and 21  
• you notify us or a Finnish mission between the ages of 18 and 21 that you wish to retain your Finnish citizenship. 

You can submit the notification to us when you have turned 18 but not yet 22. The notification is too late if we receive it on your 22nd birthday. 

Do the following 

1. Write a free-form message stating that you wish to retain your Finnish citizenship. Include your full name, date of birth, address of residence and other citizenships in the message. You can write the message in Finnish, Swedish or English. 

2. Send the message using your own email address that can be identified or is registered in the Finnish Population Information System. Do not send the message from your parents' email address, for instance. If it is not directly visible from the email address that it is yours, you can write a letter, sign and scan it, and send it from any email address. 

3. Use secure mail to send the email so that your information is encrypted. Select [email protected] as the recipient of the secure email. 
   The Digital and Population Data Services Agency's secure mail