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Permits and citizenship

What affects the processing time of your application?

We process the majority of applications within the expected time. You can find the expected processing time of your application on the page that contains information about that application, and in the Processing Time Checker.

If you have applied for a residence permit, EU registration or citizenship, you can follow the processing of your application with the help of our chatbot Kamu. Kamu can check the status of your application among all other applications with the same type of matter and processing grounds. For more information, see the page migri.fi/chat1.

You are most likely to get a decision on your application within the expected processing time if you fill in your application carefully and make sure it has all the necessary attachments.

You should not compare your processing time to the processing time of other applicants, because the processing time varies depending on the amount of investigation needed for each application.

The processing time may be longer if:

  • we need to ask you for further information
  • you have not filled in your application sufficiently
  • we need to invite you to an interview
  • you have requested that we make an exception to the requirements that you should meet in order to get the permit

Other Finnish authorities are sometimes involved in the processing of applications. This may also make the processing time longer. For example, we may need a partial decision from an Employment and Economic Development Office (TE Office), or a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) may need to interview you. The Finnish Immigration Service cannot influence the length of the waiting times of other authorities.

If your employer needs to add your terms of employment to the application 

The calculation of the processing time begins when your employer has supplemented your application by filling in your terms of employment. This applies even if you have already proven your identity at an earlier time. 

If the processing of your application takes longer than expected, you do not need to contact us

If the expected processing time has been exceeded, you do not need to contact the Finnish Immigration Service. We are still processing your application, and we will contact you if we need to. If you submitted your application in the e-service Enter Finland, you can check the processing stage of your application by signing in to the e-service.

If you have applied for a residence permit, EU registration of Finnish citizenship, you may write to us at migri@migri.fi and ask for a new processing time estimate. Add your customer number to your e-mail.

If you are an asylum seeker and the maximum processing time provided by law has been exceeded, we will notify you of the delay and the reason for delayed processing and give you a new estimate of the expected processing time. In other cases, you can contact the Finnish Immigration Service to enquire about the processing time for your application, if necessary. Read the instructions for making the enquiry: migri.fi/waiting-for-the-decision

Please remember that you cannot speed up the processing of your application by contacting us

We will contact you if we need additional information for your application. Otherwise, we will not contact you before the decision is made, so please wait patiently.

You can usually follow the processing of your application also with the help of chatbot Kamu and automated messages.

You cannot speed up the processing by calling or visiting the Finnish Immigration Service.