Finland
Guidance for citizenship applicants
The immigration authority (Migri) has issued guidance for foreign nationals applying for citizenship before amendments to the Citizenship Act enter into force on 17 December 2025.
The Finnish Parliament has approved a set of amendments to the Citizenship Act that will enter into force on 17 December 2025. The amendments will introduce stricter requirements for acquiring Finnish citizenship. The amendments concern the requirement for sufficient financial resources, the integrity requirement, the establishment of identity and the loss of citizenship.
Migri will process all applications submitted before 17 December 2025 in the Enter Finland online service or at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service according to the old, unamended Citizenship Act.
Applications will be processed under the old Act even if the applicant is unable to prove their identity at a service point before the amendments enter into force.
Applicants who have submitted an application in Enter Finland but are unable to book an appointment in the appointment system do not need to go to a service point and queue. They can book an appointment later if the desired times are not yet available in the appointment system.
More information about the amended citizenship requirements is available here.
Ireland
Changes to citizenship for people granted International Protection
Immigration Service Delivery has announced that, following government approval of proposed policy changes and legislative developments relating to international protection and citizenship, the following change will come into effect from8 December 2025:
- People granted International Protection must generally have five years of reckonable residence in the State before they can apply for citizenship.
Applications received before 8 December 2025 will continue to be processed under the previous three-year rule, while applications submitted from 8 December 2025 onwards will be assessed in line with the new five-year residency requirement.
Italy
Babysitters now eligible for entry outside quotas
On 1 December 2025, with the publication of Law No. 179/2025, the parliament converted Decree-Law No. 146 of 3 October 2025.
Decree-Law 146 introduced significant reforms and updates to Italy’s immigration framework, particularly regarding employment-based entry through the quota system, commonly known as the decreto-flussi.
As with all decree-laws, the Italian parliament had 60 days to approve and convert the measure, during which it introduced the following key amendments:
- The trial measure which permits entries outside the quotas of the flow decree (up to 10,000 per year) for foreign workers to be employed in the assistance of people over the age of eighty or disabled, which has been extended for the three-year period 2026-2028, has also been expanded to include those employed to take care of children from birth to six years old. It is to be noted that the work permit application in this cases has to go through authorised employment agencies or employers’ associations.
- The employer is now required to confirm the request for work clearance at the one-stop shop for immigration within fifteen days (previously seven days) of the communication of the conclusion of the usual investigations on the entry visa application submitted by the worker.
- The employer and the foreign worker must now sign the residence contract within fifteen days (previously eight days) from the date of entry of the foreign worker.
Switzerland
Federal Council approves reinforcement of mechanism for temporarily reintroducing visa requirements for third countries
As part of the Schengen Association Agreement, Switzerland has decided to adopt an amendment to a European Union (EU) regulation aimed at reintroducing the visa requirement for third countries in certain circumstances. These circumstances may include exceeding migration thresholds, threats to public order and security, or human rights violations.
On 17 November 2025, the EU approved an amendment to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 on the mechanism for temporarily suspending visa-free travel for short stays in the Schengen area. The EU notified Switzerland of this amendment as a further development of the Schengen acquis. The amendment adjusts the thresholds for triggering the mechanism and introduces new grounds for reintroducing the visa requirement for crossing the external borders of the Schengen States.
The thresholds for activating the mechanism for migration-related reasons have been adjusted. The visa exemption granted to a third country may be suspended as soon as an increase of 30% (compared to 50% previously) in the number of its citizens who are residing illegally in the Schengen area or who have been refused entry to the territory of a Member State has been observed. The suspension mechanism may also be activated against a third country in the event of a substantial increase in the number of asylum applications from that country for which the recognition rate is less than 20% (compared to 3% previously).
In addition, new grounds for activating the suspension mechanism may be invoked. These include threats to public order and security in EU member states arising from the instrumentalization of migrants by foreign governments, the ending of the conditions that led to the visa exemption, and the deterioration of the EU’s relations with a third country due to human rights violations.
In urgent cases, the European Commission will also be able to reintroduce the visa requirement for certain third countries for a period of 12 months, using a simplified procedure. This measure would then apply to the entire Schengen area.
On 5 December 2025 the Federal Council approved this transposition of European law, which requires an amendment to the Ordinance on Entry and the Granting of Visas (EGVO). This amendment will come into force on 17 December 2025.
United Kingdom
New statement of changes requires visa for visitors from Nauru
On 9 December 2025, the government published a statement of changes in immigration rules (HC 1491) introducing a visit visa requirement for nationals of Nauru, closing the Service Providers from Switzerland route and making changes to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).
Visit visa for Nauru
Effective 10 December 2025, nationals of Nauru will need to apply for and obtain a visa prior to visiting the UK. Nationals of Nauru will also be required to obtain a Direct Airside Transit Visa if they intend to transit via the UK having booked travel to another country.
Nationals of Nauru will no longer be eligible to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for travel to the UK. There will be a six-week, visa-free transition period for those who already hold an ETA and have a confirmed booking to the UK obtained on or before 15:00 GMT 9 December 2025, where arrival in the UK is no later than 15:00 GMT 20 January 2026. Nationals of Nauru who meet these criteria will not be required to obtain a visit visa before travel. Amending the date of travel on a confirmed booking to an earlier date that falls within the transition period would still require the person to have a visa.
This decision has been driven in response to the country’s decision to introduce a new Citizenship by Investment programme, which the UK government considers vulnerable to misuse and exploitation by criminal actors or individuals seeking to circumvent UK immigration controls without genuine intent to comply with UK law.
Closure of the Service Providers from Switzerland route
The Service Providers from Switzerland (SPS) route (in Appendix Service Providers from Switzerland) will close on 31 December 2025 and then be deleted from the Immigration Rules on 1 January 2026. Any pending application for entry clearance or administrative review in respect of that route will then be rejected as invalid.
The route was created in December 2020 in accordance with the UK-Switzerland Citizens’ Rights Agreement. This required that UK and Swiss companies be allowed to continue to service contracts with their respective clients in Switzerland or the UK, where the contract was signed and commenced before the end of the post-EU exit transition period on 31 December 2020. This was intended to be a transitional arrangement ceasing on 31 December 2025, unless the UK and Switzerland agreed to extend it by a further five years. With alternative routes in place for UK businesses to provide services in Switzerland (and vice versa), the UK and Switzerland have agreed that such an extension is not required and the SPS route will therefore close on 31 December 2025. Under the existing rules for the route, any visa issued under it will expire on that date where it has not already done so.
Changes relating to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
The changes for the EUSS (in Appendix EU) will align the grounds for cancelling pre-settled status under the EUSS on or before the holder’s arrival in the UK with those for curtailing it in-country.
Additionally, all EUSS status holders will be able to obtain an EUSS travel permit where they are unable to update their UK Visas and Immigration account, for example with the details of a new travel document, from outside the UK.
Other minor technical changes are listed in the Explanatory Memorandum.
