Residence permit application on the basis of family ties when your spouse is a Finnish citizen

Apply with this application for a residence permit if your spouse is a Finnish citizen. 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

4 months / extended permit 3 months
Expected processing time for paper application

4 months / extended permit 3 months
Electronic application fee

470 €
Paper application fee

520 €

Cohabiting partner is a Finnish citizen

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. In addition, you will usually receive automated messages at the different processing stages of your application.

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 do not need to have sufficient financial resources.

Weighty reasons

You can also get a residence permit for weighty reasons also if your relationship does not meet the criteria listed in section 3 above. The applicant must always meet the other conditions mentioned above.

When you are applying for a residence permit, you may give us reasons why you think you should get a residence permit although you have not lived together with your cohabiting partner for two years. A weighty reason could for example be pregnancy or the fact that you were living together with your cohabiting partner but your cohabitation was interrupted for a compelling reason that did not depend on your partner. The Finnish Immigration Service will always evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether the reasons you give make it possible to grant you a residence permit.

Right to work

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

General attachments

Valid passport accepted by Finland (um.fi). Present your passport when you submit your residence permit application
A passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police (poliisi.fi), or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
- The passport photo must be no more than 6 months old.
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 PK2_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)
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
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)