Residence permit application for persons employed as a specialist

1. You must have a job in Finland.

• Your employer must supplement your application by filling in your terms of employment either online in Enter Finland for Employers or by using a paper form.

2. Your duties must require special expertise.

• Specialists include, among others:
  • IT experts;
  • experts in some field of specialisation who have a higher education degree;
  • other persons with a higher education degree whose work requires special expertise.

3. Your gross salary must be at least EUR 3,827 per month in 2025. 

• Fringe benefits are not counted towards this sum.
• If your salary is less than EUR 3,827, you should apply for a residence permit for an employed person. 

4. As a rule, you must have a higher education degree.

• If you have not completed a higher education degree, you need to have acquired the special expertise required in your work through work experience or other education. 
• Your employer must verify that you have the special expertise required in your work. 

In addition, you must meet the general requirements for obtaining a residence permit. See the general requirements for issuing residence permits.

If necessary, have the attachments translated and legalised. Read more on the page Interpretation, translation and legalisation.

• 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 (poliisi.fi), 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.  

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

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).