Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) announced a raft of measures tightening immigration policy at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
If enacted, the proposals would lengthen the qualifying period for obtaining citizenship, make it easier to revoke asylum status, and to decide and reject some asylum claims at the border.
The government is also planning to prevent people from switching from one track to a residence permit to another. This would stop, for example, a person whose asylum claim is rejected from applying for a residence permit based on employment.
The government also wants to make it possible to deny or revoke asylum status if a refugee is regarded as a danger to society.
"Whether it happens as part of some agreement is not as relevant as the fact that it happens," said Rantanen. "So the idea is that if you don't have a residence permit to be in Finland, then the starting point is that you go back or you are deported."
Eight years' residency
People applying for citizenship would in future have to reside in Finland for eight years, up from the current requirement of five years' residency.
They could spend a maximum of one year in total outside Finland during that period, and only time spent in Finland with a residence permit would count towards that qualifying period.
Children, spouses of Finnish citizens, and stateless individuals will have a residency requirement of five years, up from the current four.
Nordic citizens and spouses of Finnish staff at Finnish embassies will have a qualifying period of two years, unchanged from the current arrangements.
That means the qualifying period would start once asylum status or another visa is granted, not when an asylum seeker arrives in the country.
The Interior Ministry estimates that the citizenship measures would affect around 10,000 people each year.
Further tightening of the rules on self-sufficiency and good character are on the way after the summer, according to the Interior Ministry.
The government's immigration policies have been a source of friction between the radical right-wing Finns Party and more liberal elements among their coalition partners, the Swedish People's Party and the National Coalition Party.
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