What is meant by ‘estimated processing time’?

Estimated processing time includes the time your application is in the queue and the time it takes for us to process it. The estimated processing times are approximate estimates. The actual processing time of an application may differ from the estimate.

The estimated processing times are based on:

• how long it has taken for most cases to be decided in the preceding months, and
• how many similar applications the Finnish Immigration Service has received during the past 2 months.

We calculate two types of estimates: application processing time in most cases and application processing time in a minority of cases. This is because in a small percentage of cases, the decision will be issued clearly faster or clearly slower than in a majority of cases, for various reasons. 

• If we do not need to request additional information for your application, the estimated processing time will likely be the shorter one of the two estimates.
• If we have not started processing your application during the shorter estimated processing time, the longer estimate is valid in your case.