Residence permit application based on family ties when your spouse has a residence permit in Finland

Apply with this application for a residence permit if your spouse has a residence permit in Finland. Your husband or wife, your registered same-sex partner or your cohabiting partner who you have lived with for at least two years in a marriage-like relationship or with whom you have joint custody of a child is considered a spouse.

Expected processing time for electronic application

First permit 6 months / extended permit 6 months
Expected processing time for paper application

First permit 6 months / extended permit 6 months
Electronic application fee

470 €
Paper application fee

520 €

Cohabiting partner in Finland with a residence permit

This is what you should do

1

Make sure you meet the requirements for the residence permit you are applying for.

2

Make sure you have all the attachments needed. If necessary, have them translated and legalised. The processing time may be longer if you have not filled in your application sufficiently.

3

Fill in your application in the online service Enter Finland or use a paper application form.

4

Pay for your application in the online service Enter Finland, at a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) or at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

5

If you are abroad, visit a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate). If you are already in Finland, book an appointment at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

6

Wait for a decision. The Finnish Immigration Service will contact you if necessary.

7

Read what happens after you have applied. Check the estimated processing time of your application. You can follow the processing of your application with the help of our chatbot Kamu. In addition, you will usually receive automated messages at the different processing stages of your application.

8

You should wait for the residence permit in the same country or locality where you submitted your application and proved your identity.

General requirements for entry into Finland

Make sure you meet the general requirements for entry into Finland before you submit an application.

Requirements

Make sure you also meet the following requirements:

You and your cohabiting partner have lived together for at least two years. Show for example your rental agreement as proof of living together. If you and your partner are permanently living in different countries, living together for example during holiday trips is not considered to be sufficient grounds for granting a residence permit.
You and your cohabiting partner have a child in your joint custody. In this case, the requirement of living together for at least two years does not apply.

Income requirement

You have secure means of support.

You cannot secure your means of support with benefits paid by the society.
Your means of support may for example be secured by the income from employment or business activities of a sponsor living in Finland.

Right to work

You have an unrestricted right to work. You cannot start working before you get a residence permit.

General attachments

Valid passport (you must present it when you submit the residence permit application)
Passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police, or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop, OLEL_PK
Colour copy of the passport page containing your personal data and copies of all passport pages with notes
Colour copy of your spouse’s passport page containing personal data and copies of all passport pages with notes
Form for clarification of family ties PK1_plus (to be filled in and signed by your spouse living in Finland)
Document showing that you are legally staying in the country where you submit the application
Form MP_1 (if you already are in Finland and apply for your first residence permit)

Application-specific attachments

Document showing that you have lived together for at least two years (e.g. tenancy agreement, extract from a register of occupants or similar reliable document); or
Birth certificate with information on the child's parents (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries or in an EU Member State) and a certificate of joint custody of the child (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries); or
Grounds for referring to other weighty reasons
Statement on income in Finland:
- Your spouse’s bank statements from the past six months, for all Finnish bank accounts the spouse can use
- Copy of your spouse’s latest tax card, tax decision and tax return
- Copy of your spouse’s employment contract
- Documents concerning your/your spouse’s business
  - income statement, balance sheet, audit report, number of employees and salaries paid to them, private withdrawals and deposits, bank statements, contact information of the accountant, trade register extract, bill of sale, tenancy agreement for the premises
- Copy of your employment contract (if you work in Finland)
- Documents concerning your/your spouse’s pension
- Documents concerning other income or assets that you can transfer to Finland (for example, pensions, dividends, rents)
Divorce certificate (if you or your spouse has previously been married and have divorced) (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries or in an EU Member State)
Certificate of dissolution of registered partnership (if you or your spouse has previously been in a registered partnership that has been dissolved) (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries or in an EU Member State)
Death certificate (if you or your spouse has previously been married/in a registered partnership and the former spouse has died) (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries or in an EU Member State)