Applications for a residence permit on the basis of family ties can be submitted online from 11 November
From 11 November 2016, you can apply online for a residence permit on the basis of family ties. When you submit your application online, you only need to prove your identity in person, but you have to commit to following the status of your application in the e-service.
How to submit your application online:
- Visit our e-service: enterfinland.fi
- Choose ‘First residence permit’ when you apply abroad.
- Please read the instructions for the service carefully before starting to fill in the application as well as while filling in the application.
- Collect all the necessary documents, legalise them and convert them into an electronic format.
- Create a user account. All adults (who are 18 or older) must create a user account for themselves. Only a guardian may apply for a residence permit on behalf of his or her underage child.
- Fill in the application carefully. Requests for additional information slow down the processing of your application.
Identify yourself at a Finnish mission
If you apply online, you still need to visit a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) in order for us to confirm your identity and take the biometric identifiers required by law. Visit the mission to prove your identity within three months of submitting your application. Bring with you a passport photo and original copies of the documents that you attached to your online application. You may be required to visit the mission again for an interview.
Follow the status of your application in the e-service
All adults (who are 18 or older) must log in to the e-service themselves and make their own applications. You commit yourself to this when you accept the terms of use for the e-service.
Follow the status of your application regularly by logging in to your account. If you ask someone to help you fill in the application, please also ask him or her to show you how to follow the status of your application.
If we need additional information to process your application, you will be notified of this only in the e-service. If you do not answer the request for additional information, you will get a negative decision for your application.
In the e-service, you can see the processing stage of your application in real time. Immediately when the decision has been made, you can see it in your account in the e-service. Our customer service cannot give you any more information about the processing stage of your application than what you can see in the e-service Enter Finland.
The family member of a refugee has to have information about the sponsor’s decision
If your family member who has arrived in Finland has come to the country as an asylum seeker or a quota refugee, you must have the following information about your family member’s decision when submitting your application:
- the grounds for his or her residence permit (for example asylum, subsidiary protection)
- the date when his or her decision was made
- the date when he or she was informed of the decision
If your family member has been granted refugee status on or after 1 July 2016, you may apply for a residence permit within three months without an income requirement, if your family was started before your family member who has been granted asylum came to Finland or before your family member was accepted as a quota refugee.
Submit your application online within three months of your family member being informed of his or her decision and use the first available appointment at a Finnish mission to prove your identity.
If you apply using a paper application, you can find instructions here.
More information:
Video: Presentation of the Enter Finland e-service
Correction on 10 November 2016: Applications can be submitted online starting from 11 November. The technical update will be carried out on 10 November.
