Peak season for student applications has started
The period from June to September is peak season for the Finnish Immigration Service to receive student applications for residence permits. In 2011, some 5 000 applications, that is, about 90 per cent of the total number of student applications during the year, were submitted during that period.
The Finnish Immigration Service treats all student residence permit applications as urgent, and processes and decides upon them accordingly, so no special request for urgency is needed. Applications are decided on in the order in which they are received. You cannot expedite the processing of your case by contacting us by email or telephone. For example, the fact that you have already purchased a flight ticket will not expedite the processing of your application.
Apply via e-service or use the application form
Submit your application to a Finnish embassy abroad as soon as you have received confirmation of a place of study in a Finnish educational institution. You may also apply for a residence permit online at https://e-asiointi.migri.fi.
Read the instructions for filling in the application form provided in the check list for student’s residence permit applicants.
It takes an average of one month to decide on the application after it has reached the Finnish Immigration Service, provided that you have completed your application correctly and enclosed the necessary appendices. If you have not applied for a permit via e-service, it takes an average of one month for applications submitted at diplomatic missions to reach the Finnish Immigration Service. The majority of applicants obtain a residence permit before studies begin.
Give your fingerprints at a Finnish embassy
Finland introduced biometric residence permit cards at the beginning of 2012. Your application cannot be processed until you have given your fingerprints at the embassy. You also need to verify your identity and present the original copies of any supplements needed for the application.
Wait for the decision abroad. You may not come to Finland while your application is being processed and receive a residence permit card here. A favourable decision on a residence permit cannot be delivered immediately after it is made, because the manufacturing and posting of a residence permit card takes approximately three weeks.
Follow the status of processing queue on www.migri.fi
You can follow the progress of student application processing on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service at http://www.migri.fi/processingtimes. The information is updated every week. If you applied via e-service, you can check the status of your application online by logging into e-services.
Our website is also where we provide information and instructions if there are exceptional changes in average processing times and if the decisions cannot be made before the studies begin.
