As RIA Novosti reports, the test will consist of 24 questions, which the future citizen must answer within 45 minutes. According to the explanatory note to the draft regulation, the test questions will be simplified so that they are understandable to a person with limited knowledge of the Estonian language.
According to the authors of the regulation, the current exam is more complex and consists of 10 test questions (choose the correct answer from the options) and 10 open-ended questions (free-form answers), with 60 minutes allotted.
Samples of the new test will be available online on the page of the Examination and Qualification Centre. At the same time, graduates of Russian-language gymnasiums will have the opportunity to take this exam during the state exam in social studies. Those interested will answer 16 additional questions in 30 additional minutes.
Recently, Estonian authorities have expressed concern that the number of people wishing to obtain Estonian citizenship is decreasing every year. According to the Citizenship and Migration Board (CMB), while in 2005, 7,072 people became Estonian citizens, last year 4,229 people received citizenship, and in the first six months of this year, just over 600 non-citizens came for the exam. According to CMB officials, this is explained by the fact that after Estonia joined the Schengen zone, non-citizens gained the right to visa-free travel to EU countries, which sharply reduced the motivation to obtain Estonian citizenship.
According to the country's Citizenship and Migration Board, since 1992, 148,175 people have received Estonian citizenship through naturalization. As of today, the number of non-citizens in Estonia is more than 113,000 people.