If you are planning to apply for your first residence permit in Finland, you must apply for the permit abroad before arriving in Finland. You can submit the application and prove your identity only at a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate).
If there are no Finnish missions in your country, you need to visit a Finnish mission in a country where you reside legally. You cannot submit your application to a mission of another country, for example to a Swedish mission. Please note that honorary consulates do not handle residence permit matters.
Click here to see a picture of the application process.
You can see the network of Finnish missions and your nearest embassy or consulate on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Online application saves time
You can apply for a residence permit for studying or working via the e-service of the Finnish Immigration Service. At the moment, it is not possible to apply for a residence permit on the basis of family ties via the e-service.
By applying online, you can save time and money compared with applying on paper. You can even follow the processing of the application online.
Even if you apply for a residence permit electronically, you must visit a Finnish mission to prove your identity and to have your fingerprints taken.
Do not worry if your application is not immediately pending in the e-service. The application will show in the system when we have started to process the application. The processing will start as soon as possible after you have proved your identity.
If we need additional information for your application, we will contact you.
Wait for the decision abroad
You need to wait for the decision abroad. The mission will contact you when a decision has been made on your application.
If you are issued with a residence permit, you will receive a residence permit card, which you need in order to travel to Finland. It takes a couple of weeks for the residence permit card to arrive. It is not possible to expedite the manufacturing process.
