UK citizen: apply for right of residence under the withdrawal agreement 1 October 2020 – 30 September 2021
Due to the UK leaving the European Union, you may apply for either right of residence or right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement.
If you have registered your EU citizen’s right of residence and wish to continue residing in Finland after 2020,
- you must change your EU registration into a right of residence under the withdrawal agreement. See the application instructions at migri.fi/right-of-residence-under-the-withdrawal-agreement.
If you have legally resided in Finland for an uninterrupted period of five years but do not have a certificate of your right of permanent residence as an EU citizen,
- you should apply for a right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement. See the application instructions at migri.fi/application-for-right-of-permanent-residence.
If you have a certificate of your EU citizen’s right of permanent residence issued before 1 January 2021,
- you can apply for changing your residence status into a right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement. The application is free of charge. See the application instructions at migri.fi/changing-status-of-right-of-permanent-residence.
Submit your application in the online service Enter Finland or fill in a paper application, and book an appointment at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service. For detailed instructions on how to book an appointment, see the customer bulletin How to book a Brexit appointment.
Apply for a residence permit if you are coming to Finland after 31 December 2020
If you arrive in Finland for the first time after 31 December 2020, you will no longer be able to apply for right of residence under the withdrawal agreement. You must apply for a residence permit in the same manner as other persons coming from non-EU countries.
In some cases, you may also apply abroad
You may submit your application abroad if you are legally residing in Finland but are temporarily staying abroad. In that case, you should submit your application at your nearest Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) or at an application centre of an external service provider. Contact information for these can be found on the website finlandabroad.fi.
Applications from family members
If your family member is a third-country national and residing in Finland with a residence card for a family member of an EU citizen, he or she must apply for a right of residence under the withdrawal agreement between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021.
If your family member is residing abroad, he or she may apply for a right of residence under the withdrawal agreement at any time under certain conditions. Instructions on how to apply can be found at migri.fi/application-for-family-member.
Processing fees for the applications
The payment decree laying down the processing fees for the applications has not yet been finished. We will update the information on the processing fees for the applications on the page migri.fi/processing-fees-and-payment-methods as soon as the payment decree enters into force.
You will be issued with a residence permit card as proof of your right of residence under the withdrawal agreement
If you are granted a right of residence or right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement, your permit will be valid as of 1 January 2021. This means that you will receive your residence permit card only after 31 December 2020, even if the decision on your application has been made already earlier. If you are in Finland, the card will be mailed to you.
The chip on the residence permit card will contain biometric identifiers, for example your facial image and two fingerprints. To guarantee the data security of the card chip, the residence permit card must be replaced every five years.
More information
Detailed instructions on how to apply can be found on our website at migri.fi/brexit/en. We will update instructions also in Swedish on the website as soon as possible.
