Withdrawal of residence permits
You must meet the requirements for your permit during your entire stay in Finland. Your permit may be withdrawn if you do not meet the permit requirements. . If your residence permit is withdrawn, it expires once the Finnish Immigration Service has made a decision on the withdrawal. The withdrawal of your permit means that your right of residence in Finland based on the withdrawn permit has ended. If you do not have the right to reside in the country on other grounds, you will be issued a deportation decision and you must leave Finland.
However, if you have right of residence in Finland on some other grounds, you may continue your stay in Finland. This may be the case, for example, if you have a valid residence permit on some other grounds.
If your residence permit is withdrawn, your right to work based on the residence permit will also end when the Finnish Immigration Service issues the decision on the withdrawal of your residence permit. If you have a valid residence permit on some other grounds, your right to work based on that permit is still valid.
If you reside in Finland and you receive a deportation decision in connection with the withdrawal of your residence permit, your right to work does not end immediately when the decision on permit withdrawal is made. Your right to work is valid until the deportation decision is enforceable. Read more about how deportation affects your right to work.
When can a residence permit be withdrawn?
The Finnish Immigration Service may withdraw your residence permit in the following cases:
We may cancel your residence permit if:
- you have knowingly given false information about your identity or about other matters relevant to the decision when you applied for a residence permit; or
- you have concealed information that might have prevented the issue of the residence permit.
We may withdraw your fixed-term residence permit if the grounds on which the permit was issued have not existed or no longer exist. Your residence permit may be withdrawn, for example, in the following cases:
- You hold a residence permit on the basis of family ties but your family ties have broken.
- You hold a residence permit that requires sufficient financial resources but you no longer meet the income requirement. Read more about the income requirement.
- You have committed a crime in Finland.
In general, we do not withdraw residence permits that will expire in less than 6 months.
Read more about applying for a residence permit on new grounds.
Your employer must submit an announcement about end of employment if your employment relationship ends before your residence permit granted on the basis of work expires. Read more about the employer’s role and obligations.
The Finnish Immigration Service may start to consider the withdrawal of your residence permit if your employer submits an announcement about end of employment. If your residence permit has been issued on the basis of work and you become unemployed, you must find a new job within 3 or 6 months, depending on the grounds for your permit and how long you have lived in Finland. Therefore, we will not begin to consider withdrawing your permit before the three-month or six-month protection period has ended. Read more about the end of employment and the protection period.
We will not withdraw your permit if you have been laid off temporarily for a short time and the end date of your lay-off is known.
Unemployment will only affect fixed-term permits that have been granted on the basis of employment. If you have a permanent residence permit, for example, the end of your employment will not affect your permit. Read more about residence permit types.
If it is brought to our attention that obtaining a residence permit may have involved a serious abuse of rights, the withdrawal process may be initiated without delay.
We may withdraw your residence permit if another Schengen country requests Finland to do so. This may happen if you have been prohibited from entering the Schengen area and ordered to be removed from it because of crime or because your conduct endangers safety.
Your fixed-term or permanent residence permit will be withdrawn if you move out of the country permanently or if you have continuously resided outside Finland for over 2 years for permanent purposes.
If you hold a long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P-EU), it will be withdrawn if you have resided outside the territory of the European Union for 2 consecutive years or outside Finland for 6 consecutive years.
We will withdraw your fixed-term or permanent residence permit, even if you live outside Finland, in the following cases:
- You are found guilty of an offence carrying a maximum sentence of imprisonment for a year or more.
- You are found guilty of repeated offences.
- You have, through your behaviour, shown that you present a danger to other people’s safety.
- You have been engaged in, or there are reasonable grounds to suspect that you may engage in activities that endanger Finland’s national security.
Your long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P-EU permit) will be withdrawn if you pose an immediate threat to public order or security in Finland, even if you live outside Finland.
We will withdraw your fixed-term or permanent residence permit or your long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P-EU permit) if your refugee status has ended because you have committed or there are reasonable grounds to suspect that you have committed:
- a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity
- an act which violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
We will withdraw your residence permit also if your refugee status has ended because you have induced or otherwise participated in one of the acts mentioned above.
