Residence permit application for an employed person (TTOL)
Apply for a residence permit with this application if you are coming to Finland to work for a Finnish employer or other employer operating in Finland. A residence permit for an employed person is granted for the field of employment to which your job belongs. You must have confirmed employment before you can apply for this permit.
A residence permit for an employed person is not granted to so called light entrepreneurs (who work through an invoicing service company). For more information, see the page Business activities of residence permit holders.
A residence permit for an employed person may be subject to labour market testing, which means that the employer must establish if there is available labour force within a reasonable time in Finland or within the EU/EEA for the work in question. Read more on the page Labour market test.
You must also attach a supply contract to your residence permit application, indicating the work covered by the contract.
If you apply for this permit as a first residence permit, you must submit the application abroad. Applications for an extended permit can only be submitted in Finland. Read more on the pages First residence permit and Extended permit.
See our answers to frequently asked questions: Frequently asked questions: Employment.
D visa
If your employer has obtained employer certification, you can apply for a D visa at the same time as you apply for a residence permit. The D visa allows you to travel to Finland immediately after you have been issued with a residence permit and a D visa sticker has been attached to your passport. Read more about the D visa.
Your spouse and children can apply for a D visa if they are applying for a residence permit on the basis of family ties. Read more on the page Moving to Finland to be with a family member.
This is what you should do
See our step-by-step guide Residence permit for an employed person (pdf) for an overview of the permit process and the requirements for the permit.
Prepare:
1. You have found a job
Your employer must supplement your application by filling in and submitting your terms of employment. The employer can do it either online in Enter Finland or by using a paper form. For more information, see the page Filling in the terms of employment.
2. You have sufficient qualifications and education for the job in question.
- Your employer must verify that you have the professional skills required for the job. Your employer must document this when they fill in the terms of employment for your application.
- Health care professionals, for example, need a permission to practise their profession from the Finnish Supervisory Agency (lvv.fi), the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health.
3. You have sufficient income in Finland during the entire time your residence permit is valid.
- Your total gross salary must be at least EUR 1,600 per month in 2026. You may earn your income from several employment relationships. The employment relationship or employment relationships may be part-time. However, a zero-hours contract or an on-demand contract of employment do not meet the requirements for granting a residence permit for an employed person because your employer has not agreed on regular minimum working hours with you.
- Salary supplements, such as evening work or night work supplements, are excluded from the total salary.
- Some of your salary may consist of fringe benefits, such as company car or employer-provided accommodation. A maximum of 50% of your salary may consist of fringe benefits. When your salary is assessed, the taxable value of your fringe benefits will be taken into account in the calculation. For more information about the taxable values of fringe benefits, see the website of the Finnish Tax Administration (vero.fi).
- For more information on the income requirement and on calculating a part-time salary, see the page Income requirement for persons who apply for a residence permit on the basis of work.
- When you apply for an extended permit, we will also retrospectively control that your salary has been sufficient during your previous residence permit. The terms of employment stated in the previous residence permit application must have been fulfilled and you must have been paid at least an average of EUR 1,600 per month.
In addition, you must meet the general requirements for obtaining a residence permit. See also the general requirements for granting a residence permit.
Have the attachments translated and legalised if needed.
- A valid passport issued by your country of nationality. For more information, see the page Passports and other travel documents. Show the passport when you visit a service point to prove your identity.
- A passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police, or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
- The passport photo must be no more than 6 months old.
- Colour copies of the passport page containing personal data and of all passport pages that contain notes
- Document showing that you are legally staying in the country where you submit the application
- This document is not needed if you apply for an extended permit.
- Response to possible denial of admittance or stay and to entry ban (the form MP_1)
- This form is needed only if you, for some reason, submit your residence permit application in Finland. Please note that an application for a first residence permit must usually be submitted abroad.
- This form is not needed when you apply for an extended permit.
The attachments are available in Albanian, Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, Russian, Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Vietnamese.
Fill in the application:
You can fill in the application online in Enter Finland. The fee for an online application is lower than for a paper application. If you apply for your first residence permit in Enter Finland, you might not need to visit a service point when you apply for an extended permit. Read more on the page Identification and strong identification in 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 the page.
If you apply online via the online service 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 Finnish mission abroad to prove your identity.
If you apply with a paper application, pay the processing fee:
- when you visit a Finnish mission abroad to prove your identity.
Read more on the page Processing fees and payment methods.
After you have submitted your application in Enter Finland, your employer must add your terms of employment and other required documents to your application using Enter Finland for Employers. See the page Filling in the terms of employment to check what information your employer needs to fill in and which attachments are required.
Your employer can supplement your application as soon as the application has been submitted and paid. The Finnish Immigration Service can start processing your application already before you have proved your identity. If your employer submits the terms of employment without delay, it will speed up the processing of your application and you will receive the decision faster.
When your employer uses Enter Finland for Employers, the Finnish Immigration Service can make more extensive use of automation while processing the application. This speeds up and streamlines the processing considerably.
An employer who cannot use Enter Finland for Employers can fill in the ‘Terms of employment’ paper form. In that case, you need to attach the form to your application in Enter Finland.
If you are submitting your residence permit application on paper, attach to your application the form ‘Terms of employment’, filled in by your employer.
If you applied for your residence permit abroad, book an appointment to visit a Finnish mission (finlandabroad.fi). Read more on the page Proving your identity abroad.
If you applied for your residence permit in Finland, book an appointment to a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service. Read more on the page Book an appointment at a service point.
- If you applied online in Enter Finland, you will receive notifications of your application's progress and of possible 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 possible requests for additional information by email.
For more information, see: Processing of applications
Right to work
- You cannot start working before you get a residence permit for an employed person.
- You can only work in the field of employment to which your job belongs and for which you have been granted a residence permit. You may have several jobs in the same field of employment.
- When you hold a residence permit for an employed person, you may also find employment in a national labour shortage sector (tyovoimabarometri.fi). The list of national labour shortage sectors is updated yearly.
- When you hold a valid residence permit for an employed person and find employment in a national labour shortage sector, you do not need to apply for a new residence permit for an employed person to work in the new sector. If the list of national labour shortage sectors changes during your protection period, you are allowed to find employment in sectors that are on the list and in sectors that have been on the list during your unemployment period. Your right to work will continue in your valid employment relationship for as long as your residence permit is valid.
- If you apply for an extended permit, check if you have the right to work while your application is being processed. Read more on the page Working while your extended permit application is being processed.
For more information, see:
Residence permit application for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1
Fill in an electronic applicationExtended permit for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1
Fill in an electronic applicationPrepare for your life in Finland
Among other things, the authorities may ask you for information about whether you have enough money to live in Finland.
If you were not issued a personal identity code together with your residence permit card, you must visit a service location of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in person.
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency enters your personal details, information about your family relations and your address in the Population Information System. You can also apply for a municipality of residence at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
For more information, visit the website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (dvv.fi).
Processing situation: residence permit for an employed person
We update the processing situation information once a month. The processing time published on this page is an average based on actual processing times, which means that the processing time of an individual application may differ from the average.
The processing time and deciding on applications may vary, for example, if the information given in the application is insufficient or a need for additional information arises during routine inspections. Issues requiring clarification may relate to the employee or the employer. For this reason, applicants may receive their decisions in a different order than the order in which the applications have been submitted.
You can speed up the processing of your application by answering all questions in the application carefully, by submitting the requested documents and by submitting the application in the Enter Finland online service. Your employer can also ensure the quick processing of the application by using Enter Finland for Employers to submit the terms of employment as soon as possible after you have submitted your own application.
We can start processing your application for a first residence permit for an employed person even before you have proved your identity.
We will process all applications as quickly as possible. Please note that a request to expedite the application will not automatically speed up the processing of your application.
First residence permits
In March 2026, the average processing time of applications for a first residence permit for an employed person that led to a positive decision was 17 days from the submission of the application. The average processing time of applications that led to a negative decision was 87 days from the submission of the application.
Since the beginning of 2026, a total of 2,151 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person have been submitted.
So far in 2026, we have made a decision on 2,091 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person. There have been 1,460 positive decisions.
Extended permits
In March 2026, the average processing time of applications for an extended permit for an employed person that led to a positive decision was 46 days from the submission of the application. The average processing time of applications that led to a negative decision was 165 days from the submission of the application.
Since the beginning of 2026, a total of 2,402 applications for an extended permit for an employed person have been submitted.
So far in 2026, we have made a decision on 2,913 applications for an extended permit for an employed person. There have been 2,364 positive decisions.