Check list for student’s residence permit applicants

Submit your application to a Finnish mission abroad once you have received confirmation of a student place in a Finnish educational institution. However, make sure before submitting your application that you have assembled all the necessary appendices for inclusion in your application.

Fill in application form OLE_OPI carefully. You may also apply for a residence permit online at https://e-asiointi.migri.fi. Remember to sign the form and include your contact details. Include all the necessary appendices listed in Section E of the form. Please note that any missing item will delay the processing of your application. However, do not add any unnecessary appendices to your application. The Finnish Immigration Service will ask you to provide further clarification, if needed. Do not forget to mention the planned date of your arrival in Finland on your application form.

Give your fingerprints at a Finnish embassy. An application submitted via e-service cannot be processed until you have given your fingerprints for the biometric residence permit card. You also need to verify your identity and present the original copies of any supplements needed for the application.

Your health insurance and passport must be valid during your entire stay in Finland. If your studies take one year or longer, your health insurance and passport must be valid for at least one year from your date of arrival in Finland. If your studies take less than one year, the validity of your insurance and passport must cover your entire stay in Finland.

Your livelihood must be secured. For a one-year residence permit you will need to have 6,000 euros available. For studies taking less than a year you will need 500 euros for each month. You must have the required sum deposited in an account under your name or a certificate of a scholarship or bursary granted by an official body. Sponsorship guarantees given by private persons, such as relatives, friends or employers, will not be accepted.

You cannot expedite the processing of your application, for example because you have already purchased a flight ticket. Applications are processed in the order in which they are received. You cannot expedite the processing of your case by contacting us by email or telephone. Please note that 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.

Follow the progress of student application processing at the Finnish Immigration Service at http://www.migri.fi/processingtimes. If you applied via e-service, you can check the status of your application online by logging in to 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.

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.

If you have questions, check the frequently asked questionson the website of the Finnish Immigration Service for possible answers. If you cannot find an answer to your question, you may contact the service numbers of the Finnish Immigration Service.