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Starting from 7 January 2019, daily allowances and other benefits compensating for expenses are not counted towards specialists’ salaries

Publication date 4.1.2019 12.23
Press release

One of the requirements for obtaining a residence permit as a specialist is that the applicant’s salary must be higher than average. To obtain a residence permit as a specialist, the applicant must have a salary of approximately 3,000 euros per month.

Taxable fringe benefits provided by the employer can be counted towards the employee’s salary. Such fringe benefits may be, for instance, a company car or a housing benefit. However, daily allowances or other similar compensations for travelling or for the costs caused by residing in Finland will not be counted towards the employee’s salary starting from 7 January 2019.

The reason for the change is that foreign daily allowances are a compensation for the costs that the work causes the employee. These allowances are not part of the salary, and they are not taxed as salary.

The change applies to applications submitted on 7 January 2019 or later

The policy change affects both first and extended residence permits. Applications submitted on 7 January 2019 or later will be processed and decided as before.

When deciding whether an extended residence permit can be granted, one of the factors that the agency will always assess is whether the terms of employment given in the application for the first residence permit have been met. An extended permit cannot be granted if, for example, the employee’s real salary has not been as high as was stated in the first application.