Permanent residence card for a family member of an EU citizen

• You are the EU citizen's spouse.
  • A spouse or cohabiting partner can be of any gender.
• You are the EU citizen's cohabiting partner. Cohabiting partners are persons living in a marriage-like relationship in the same household on a permanent basis if:
  • they have lived in the same household for at least 2 years; or
  • they have a child in their joint custody.
• You are under the age of 21 or a dependent child. A child is:
  • under 21 years of age; or
  • the EU citizen's child or grandchild who is dependent on the EU citizen; or
  • the EU citizen’s spouse’s child or grandchild who is dependent on the EU citizen or on the spouse.
• You are a dependent parent. A parent is:
  • the mother, father or grandparent of the EU citizen or of the EU citizen’s spouse.
• You are a parent or guardian of a minor and the minor is an EU citizen.
• You are another relative. Other relatives are treated in the same manner as family members of EU citizens, regardless of their citizenship, if:
  • the relative is, in the country of departure, dependent on the EU citizen who has the primary right of residence, or lived in the same household with the EU citizen in question. Other relatives of an EU citizen’s spouse are not usually treated as the EU citizen’s family members.
  • serious health grounds absolutely require the EU citizen in question to give the relative personal care.

If your family member is a Finnish citizen, he or she needs to have exercised his or her right of free movement:

• A family member of a Finnish citizen can get a residence card only if the Finnish citizen has exercised his or her right of free movement. Your Finnish family member must have lived in an EU Member State other than Finland, or in a country comparable to the EU Member States, for at least 3 months.
• You and your Finnish family member must have moved to Finland directly from the other Member State. If you and your family member do not move from the other Member State to Finland simultaneously, your Finnish family member needs to have moved to Finland first, before you. 
• If your Finnish family member holds the citizenship of another EU Member State and has only lived in the Member States where he or she holds citizenship, your family member has not exercised his or her right of free movement.
• You can be issued with a residence card of a family member of an EU citizen if: 
  • you and your family member have lived together in an EU Member State other than Finland or in a country comparable to the EU Member States; or
  • you and your family member have lived in a partnership or led a family life while you were residing in an EU Member State other than Finland or in a country comparable to the EU Member States before you yourself moved to Finland.

Residing in Finland legally means that you have been a family member of this EU citizen for at least 5 years and that you both have been living in Finland during that period. As a family member of an EU citizen, you must have met the requirements for the right of residence for 5 years. 

The continuity of your residence is not affected by:

• temporary absences not exceeding 6 months a year;
• longer absences to undertake compulsory military service;
• 1 absence of a maximum of 12 consecutive months for important reasons. Such reasons can be, for instance, pregnancy or childbirth, serious illness, study or vocational training, or a posting in another EU Member State or a third country.

The EU citizen's right of residence may have been based on: 

• employment
• self-employment
• studies
• sufficient financial resources.

The grounds for the EU citizen's residence in Finland may have changed during the time he or she has had the right of residence, or the EU citizen may have met several requirements at the same time.

• Passport photo instructions by the police (pdf)

You can attach, for example, the following documents:

• Document on family ties. This can be, for instance, a marriage certificate or a birth certificate. 
• Evidence of cohabitation. This can be, for instance, a tenancy agreement showing that you have lived together for at least two years. 
• Proof of dependency. This can be, for instance, a document on financial dependence. 
• Other possible attachments. 
• If you are a family member of a Finnish citizen, fill in the supplement form Suomen kansalaisen vapaan liikkuvuuden oikeuden käyttö (pdf) and submit a document about your family relationship. 
• If the applicant is your child, include the details of the child’s other parent or guardian in the application form if this other parent or guardian is not your spouse or cohabiting partner.
  • The application must contain the following information about the child’s other parent or guardian: last name, first name, date of birth or personal identity code, citizenship, address and email address.
  • Attach the other parent’s or guardian’s consent. If the other parent or guardian does not live in Finland or is not moving to Finland, the consent must be confirmed by a notary.

Attachments concerning grounds for residence:

• Attachments for employees 
• Attachments for self-employed persons 
• Attachments for self-employed persons without their own company (‘kevytyrittäjä’)
• Attachments for unemployed persons 
• Attachments for students 
• Attachments for showing sufficient financial resources

If you have been divorced or your spouse has died, attach to your application documents on the grounds on which you have resided in Finland since then.

• If you are an employee, attach the following documents to your application:
  • Evidence of employment. You can attach the following documents, for example: 
    • employment contract
    • certificate of employment
    • your payslips if you have a zero-hours contract. 
• If you are self-employed, attach the following documents to your application:
  • Evidence of self-employment. You can attach the following documents, for example: 
    • the company’s trade register extract
    • the company’s completed financial statements
    • your personal tax decisions
    • the company’s client contracts or commission invoices
    • certificate of valid YEL insurance (self-employed persons' pension insurance)
    • bank statements from the past 3 months.
• If you are self-employed without your own company (‘kevytyrittäjä’ in Finnish), meaning that you use an invoicing service company to send invoices to your customers, attach the following documents to your application:
  • Documents as proof of having started self-employment without your own company (that is, proof of your work as a ‘kevytyrittäjä’). You can attach, for example, the following documents:
    • commission agreement
    • invoices that show the number of hours you have worked
    • your most recent bank statements showing the name of the account holder and all account transactions.
• If you have sufficient financial resources, attach the following documents to your application: 
  • Evidence of having sufficient financial resources for yourself and your family member. You can attach the following documents, for example: 
    • Evidence of regular income, such as pensions, rental income or other regular income or support.
    • Evidence of property in Finland. 
    • Bank statements. 
    • Other documents as proof of having sufficient funds at your disposal.

Present the original documents when you submit the application. If the original documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, they must be accompanied by a translation into one of these languages by an authorised translator.

However, a document that has been issued by an authority of an EU Member State concerning birth, marriage, registered partnership or death does not need to be translated if you attach to the document a multilingual standard form issued by the authority.

If necessary, have documents that concern your family ties translated and legalised if they have been issued by the authorities of a country other than an EU Member State. See the page Interpretation, translation and legalisation for more information.

The authority processing your application may ask you for even other documents than the ones mentioned here. When you submit your application, bring with you originals and copies of the documents that you attach to your application.

Fill in the application in our online service Enter Finland.

If you cannot use Enter Finland, fill in a paper application. You will find a link to the application at the bottom of this page.

If you submit an online application in Enter Finland, pay the processing fee: 

• with a credit card or with Finnish online banking credentials when you submit the application; or
• when you visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service to prove your identity. 

If you submit a paper application, pay the processing fee at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

Book an appointment in our appointment system (migri.vihta.com) to visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

When you visit the service point, bring with you:

• your valid passport
• a passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police, or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
• originals and copies of the documents that you attach to your application 
  • If your attachments are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, they must be accompanied by a translation into one of these languages by an authorised translator.
  • However, a document that has been issued by an authority of an EU Member State concerning birth, marriage, registered partnership or death does not need to be translated if you attach to the document a multilingual standard form issued by the authority.

Read more on the page Book an appointment at a service point in advance.

• If you applied online in Enter Finland, you will receive notifications of your application's progress and of any requests for additional information by email and text message.
• If you applied on paper, you will receive notifications of your application's progress and of any requests for additional information by email.

For more information, see: What affects the processing time of your application?

If the decision is positive, your new residence card will be delivered to a collection point.

If you are not satisfied with the decision, you have a statutory right to appeal against the decision to an administrative court. Instructions on how to appeal are attached to the decision. 

The majority of decisions made by administrative courts are subject to a fee. For more information about court fees in administrative courts, see the website for Finnish courts (oikeus.fi).