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Residence permit on other grounds

When the Finnish Immigration Service processes your asylum application, we will first examine whether there are grounds for granting you asylum or subsidiary protection. After this, we will investigate whether you could receive a residence permit on some other grounds.

Residence permit because you cannot be removed from the country

We may grant you a temporary residence permit for the following reasons:

  • It is impossible for you to return to your home country or country of permanent residence because of temporary medical reasons.
  • It is impossible for you to return to your home country or country of permanent residence for practical reasons. However, we will not grant you a residence permit in a situation where you do not return to your home country only because you refuse to return or make it difficult for us to arrange your return.

A temporary residence permit is granted for a maximum of one year.

Residence permit on compassionate grounds

We will grant you a residence permit on compassionate grounds if it would be manifestly unreasonable to make a negative decision on your application because of your medical condition, ties to Finland, or other individual, compassionate grounds.

In this case, particular attention will be paid to the conditions you would face in your home country, or your vulnerable position.

A residence permit on compassionate grounds is granted for a year.

Other residence permit

You may also be granted another kind of residence permit, for example on the basis of work. If you are an asylum seeker and apply for some other residence permit at the same time, your applications are processed separately at the Finnish Immigration Service. When you receive a decision on one of your applications, the processing of your other application will continue normally at the Finnish Immigration Service.

A residence permit is usually granted for a year.