Seminar series Language and citizenship testing for naturalisation Navigating ongoing restrictive changes in the Nordics Add to calendar 2025-09-18 12:00 2025-09-18 13:00 Europe/Rome Language and citizenship testing for naturalisation Sala Triaria Villa Schifanoia YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Sep 18 2025 12:00 - 13:00 CEST Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia Organised by Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies GGP: Global Governance Programme GlobalCit: Global Citzenship Observatory Join Nina Carlsson to explore how language and citizenship tests are reshaping access to naturalisation in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark Language requirements are among the most common criteria for naturalisation—largely uncontested, yet often perceived as challenging to overcome. The Nordics, once considered lenient, are undergoing increasingly restrictive shifts. Sweden will introduce language requirements and a Swedish-language citizenship test in 2026. Bilingual Finland plans stricter language requirements and Finnish/Swedish-language citizenship testing from 2025/26. Denmark, a long-standing policy hardliner and role model for both, is further extending its assessments of Danish values.Drawing on 70 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2023 and 2025 with test-takers and test designers, this study examines how these ongoing restrictions are navigated in the three countries. In Sweden, participants and designers of existing high-stakes language tests are critical of the proposed citizenship-related requirements. In Finland, applicants strategically attempt the ‘easier’ Swedish-language test in anticipation of the changes. In Denmark, test-takers tactically engage with exclusionary political logics to find the correct answers. Responses differ by policy context but reflect shared challenges around language, belonging, and membership.