Hello everyone,

I was born in 12th March 1994. I am 28.5 years old as of now, and have fulfilled the requirements for getting the citizenship.

I am about to apply for citizenship but I am just concerned about the military service. I have refused to do it in my home country, and I don’t see myself doing it here.

I know this topic has been posted quite few times, and I have read few, but I have seen a bit of a conflicting opinions.

If I apply for citizenship now, in the best case scenario, I will be 29.5 when I get it. the callups for next year are between August-December 2023, and the first starting date for military afterwards is 2.1.2023 according to this [https://intti.fi/en/call-ups](https://intti.fi/en/call-ups)

So my question is, will I be exempted from service since I am turning 30 in March 2023? and what does “until the end of the year in which you turn 30” mean? Does it mean the end of 2023 in my case?

7 comments

  1. I believe if you are 29 when you get called up then it will be evaluated there. So yes it’s a possibility for having to serve even when you’ve already turned 30.

  2. You need to be able to finish the service before the end of the year you turn 30, so I find it highly unlikely they’d make you start anymore at January 2023. You can ask your local Aluetoimisto to be sure.

  4. If you want to be sure, keep your old passport and leave the country temporarily just after receiving the citizenship, then return a couple of months before you turn 30.

  5. You are not going to be called up, and if you are. Say you smoke weed and your service will be postponed, and then you’ll deffo not be called in.

    Worst case scenario, you have to serve 6 months. Its not the end of the world and your employer is obligated to offer your se the same job once you are moved into the reserve.

    Only really tough aspect is the financial bit, which I admit would probably be difficult to handle unless you live home with your parents. Now that I think of it, I wouldn’t want to serve even for 6 months in that circumstance.

  6. The law is “asevelvollisuuslaki”.

    13 § says that if one is ot citizen when he turns 18 years, one is not eligble for call ups, but can be ordered to service according to 26 §.

    28 § states that the service should be started on the year one turns 29.

    So if you get citizenship in second half of year 2023, the first possible date for you to start is 1/2024, which is too late, since you turn 30 on that year.

  7. If you are under 30 and get citizenship, you can be sure that the defence forces somehow will get the memo and invite you to military service. This happened to my friend.

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