The number of people taking the intermediate level YKI test in Finnish has increased – tests become fully booked fast

YKI tests have been organised since 1994. Since 2003, it has been possible to use the YKI certificate to prove sufficient proficiency when applying for Finnish citizenship. Sufficient language proficiency can be proved, for example, with the intermediate level YKI certificate in Finnish or Swedish. The number of people taking the intermediate level test in Finnish has therefore increased significantly since 2003. In 2003, the number of people who took the intermediate level test in Finnish was 960, whereas in 2023, their number had already risen to 7,392.

Although it is possible to use the YKI certificate for many different purposes, such as applying for a job or a study place, customer feedback reveals that the majority of those who take the intermediate level test in Finnish and Swedish need the certificate specifically for a citizenship application.

The increasing demand for YKI tests is visible especially when registration for the intermediate level test in Finnish or Swedish begins. Because of the growing interest in YKI tests, the test events become fully booked faster time and time again.

Registration for the YKI test organised on 18 May 2024 started on Monday, 22 April 2024. The test events became fully booked in about 15 minutes and unfortunately, based on the number of visitors on the website and the contact requests the Finnish National Agency for Education has received from customers, many did not get a place in the test they wanted.

The language proficiency required for applying for Finnish citizenship can be proved in many different ways

The YKI certificate in Finnish or Swedish is often used to prove language proficiency when the person applies for Finnish citizenship.  However, the YKI certificate is only one way of proving language proficiency in connection with the citizenship application. Language proficiency can also be proved through studies completed in comprehensive school, general upper secondary education, vocational education and training or higher education in Finland.

The Citizenship act also mentions another language test system managed by the Finnish National Agency for Education that can be used for proving language proficiency when applying for citizenship, the Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificates (VKT).  The VKT certificate at the level of satisfactory skills can also be used to prove the language proficiency required for applying for citizenship. Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificates are mainly aimed at enabling the personnel in public administration to prove their command of the other national language, in other words, Finnish or Swedish. For this reason, the questions in the VKT test are primarily related to work tasks in public administration, whereas the questions in the YKI test are related to everyday situations. The VKT test may be suitable for a person who can relatively easily read, for example, texts on the websites of the different Finnish authorities.

For more information about proving the language proficiency related to applying for citizenship and other matters related to applying for citizenship, you should primarily visit the website of the Finnish Immigration Service, which is responsible for matters concerning Finnish citizenship.  

The Finnish National Agency for Education aims to find more organisers for YKI tests

Especially because of the increasing demand for tests at the intermediate level in Finnish and Swedish, the Finnish National Agency for Education is looking for new organisers for YKI tests in different parts of Finland. The organiser of the test must meet certain statutory requirements in terms of competence, facility resources and equipment, among others. The Finnish National Agency for Education always conducts a thorough initial examination to verify these.

YKI test days are organised locally across Finland. Currently, there are 55 organising cooperation partners. The parties organising YKI tests are usually different educational institutions or education providers. Their principal task is to provide education and the YKI activities are just one form of operation among others. The test organisers’ teaching activities may impose restrictions on when YKI tests can be organised in each test location and on how many tests can be organised.

YKI registration system is developed by consulting the customers

The purpose of the YKI registration system is to enable the  seats in test events to be booked up as efficiently as possible and to make registration smooth for customers. The registration system underwent a more extensive reform in autumn 2023 and it is constantly being developed on the basis of experiences from the registration periods and feedback from users. The Finnish National Agency for Education has collected feedback also from the registration period that began on 22 April 2024.

We continue to collect feedback to improve the registration system. You can give us feedback between 3 and 17 May 2024 by using the online form available under Further information. We are grateful for all the valuable feedback and go through it carefully.

We also aim to digitalise the National Certificates of Language Proficiency system as soon as possible. The objective of digitalisation is to make completing the test more flexible and to speed up the delivery of the results, among other things.