Fast track for family members

Create an account in the online service Enter Finland.

Enter your name in the application without special characters (for example á, ç, ñ, ô, é, ı). You can use the same spelling as in the machine readable zone (MRZ) in your passport. 

• If you have previously created an account in Enter Finland and there are special characters in your name, you can make changes to your name when you select ‘My account’. If you make changes to your name, you can go back to an application that you have started to fill in by selecting ‘My applications’ - ‘Draft applications’.

The mobile phone number should be written in the international format without punctuation marks: +358501234567.

• Fill in and submit the correct residence permit application on the basis of family ties.
  • If your child applies together with you, fill in the child’s application at the same time.
• Attach to your application the fast track ID number that you have received by email.
• If you intend to apply for a D visa,  remember to fill in the D visa section in the application.
• Let us know where you want your residence permit card to be delivered.
  • If you apply for a D visa at the same time or if you come from a visa-free country, you may travel to Finland without your residence permit card. In that case, state your address in Finland in the application. Your residence permit card will be delivered to your nearest pick-up point in Finland.
  • Otherwise, your residence permit card will be delivered to the service point where you prove your identity. You may travel to Finland after you have received your residence permit card.
• Attach all the required documents to your application.
  • See the application page on our website to check which attachments are needed for your application.
  • If the attachments are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, have them translated.
  • Check if you need to have your attachments legalised. For example a marriage certificate is such an attachment.
    • Add the legalised attachments to your residence permit application in Enter Finland before you submit the application. Otherwise, your application cannot be fast-tracked.
• Pay the processing fee on the last page of the application. If you are also applying for a D visa at the same time, pay the D visa as well.
• From the list, choose a service point that ends with the letters ‘VFS’. If there is no VFS Global application centre in your country, choose a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) as your service point.

After submitting the application, you will see instructions on proving your identity on your Enter Finland account. You will also receive your application’s diary number. You will need the diary number when you book an appointment for proving your identity.

• You must visit a service point to prove your identity within five (5) working days of submitting your application in Enter Finland.
  • The sponsor can book an appointment for the whole family. The family must prove their identity at the service point within five (5) working days from the date the sponsor submitted his or her application in Enter Finland.
• Bring with you to the appointment
  • The diary number that you received after submitting your application
  • a valid passport.
    • If you are also applying for a D visa, the D visa will be affixed to your passport. 
  • a passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the Finnish police

• If you have also applied for a D visa, your residence permit card will be delivered to your nearest pick-up point in Finland.  
• If you come from a visa-free country and wished to receive your residence permit card in Finland, the card will be delivered to your nearest pick-up point. 
• If you stated that you want to receive your residence permit card abroadand proved your identity 
  • at a VFS Global application centre, the card will be delivered to the nearest Finnish mission (embassy or consulate). 
  • at a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate), the card will be delivered to the mission that you visited to prove your identity.

Read more on the page Residence permit card.

If you proved your identity at a VFS application centre and are granted a residence permit, book an appointment for a visit at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will give you a personal identity code.

It is not always possible to expedite the processing of an application. The application cannot be fast-tracked if

• you fail to submit your application within two (2) days from when the sponsor has submitted his or her application in Enter Finland
• you and your family fail to visit a service point to prove your identities within five (5) working days of submitting your application in the online service Enter Finland
• we need to ask you for additional information for the application, or
• your application does not meet the requirements for the family member’s residence permit that you have applied for. 

If fast-track processing is not available for your application, you will receive a notification of this from Enter Finland by email. In this case, the expected processing time of your application depends on which residence permit you have applied for.

• Add the fast track ID number to the application.
• Fill in the section where you are asked if the child is applying for a D visa at the same time as applying for a residence permit.
• Attach the attachments needed when the child is applying together with his or her guardian. If necessary, have the attachments translated and legalised.