Subject: FW: Request for Estonian Naturalization and Language Examination Documents (since 1991)
From: "Siiri Leskov" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Cc: "SiM info" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2026 09:25:23 +0200

Dear Hana Syla,

According to § 8 of Citizenship Act, a person can apply for Estonian
citizenship, if he/she has passed the Estonian language proficiency (B1
level) examination (this exam is not required, if he/she has acquired the
basic, secondary or higher education in the Estonian language). This
requirement (B1 level) entered into force on 01.08.2012.

Until this date there was not exact level enacted in the law. It was
enacted in Citizenship Act § 8 like that:

(1) Within the meaning of the Estonian Language Skills Act, the Estonian
language is a language necessary for everyday life.

(2) The requirements for proficiency in Estonian are as follows:

1) understanding what is heard (official statements and announcements;
danger and warning notices, news, descriptions of events and explanations
of phenomena);

2) speaking (conversation and narration; asking questions, explanations,
assumptions and orders; expressing opinions; expressing wishes);

3) understanding what is read (official statements and announcements;
public notices, news, sample forms, journalistic articles, messages,
catalogues, user manuals, traffic information, surveys, minutes,
regulations);

4) writing (writing statements, authorisations, explanatory letters,
biographical notes; completing questionnaires, household forms, tests).

The organization of exams is within the competence of Education and Youth
Board: https://harno.ee/en

For further questions, please contact them.

Best regards,

Siiri Leskov
Adviser

Border Guard and Migration Department
Ministry of the Interior
Pikk 61, 15065 Tallinn, Estonia

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From: Syla Hana <[email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> >
Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2026 3:53 PM
To: SiM info <[email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> >
Subject: Request for Estonian Naturalization and Language Examination
Documents (since 1991)

TÄHELEPANU! Tegemist on väljastpoolt asutust saabunud kirjaga. Tundmatu
saatja korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada!

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Hana Syla, and I am a research assistant at ETH Zürich,
European Politics Research Group. I am currently assisting research on
migration and naturalization policies across the European Union, with a
particular focus on how naturalization requirements have evolved over time
(e.g. pre-, during, and post-EU accession). For this, we require
information about the required language proficiency as well as the general
naturalization exam questionnaires since the 1990s.

We thus kindly ask you to share any examples of Estonian language and
naturalization examination documents from 1991 onwards. We are especially
interested in documents from the pre-accession period, as they have been
harder to find.

If these materials are held by another competent institution, we would be
grateful if you could kindly redirect us accordingly.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Kind regards,

Hana Syla
ETH Zürich
European Politics Research Group