Residence permit application for voluntary work

1. You will volunteer through an organisation's volunteer programme.

• Approved organisations include, for instance, European Solidarity Corps, (ESC), Maailmanvaihto ry – ICYE Finland, and AIESEC.

2. The residence permit is issued as a temporary residence permit for a maximum period of one year

3. The volunteer organisation must offer you sufficient financial resources for the duration of your stay in Finland. 

• The agreement between you and the organisation responsible for the voluntary service scheme must include evidence that you have sufficient funds for the duration of your voluntary work. Your income may come in the form of accommodation, meals and pocket money, for example.

If necessary, have the attachments translated and legalised.

General attachments

• A valid passport accepted by Finland (um.fi). Present your passport when you submit your residence permit application
• Passport photo (pdf) complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police (pdf, poliisi.fi) or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
• 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
• Form MP_1 (pdf) (if you already are in Finland and apply for your first residence permit)

Application-specific attachments

• Details about the organisation arranging the voluntary work (the organisation’s name and contact details, the contact person’s name and contact details)
• An agreement signed by you and the organisation responsible for the voluntary work, containing the following information:
  • a description of the voluntary service scheme, including its content
  • the duration, location and supervision conditions of your voluntary work
  • the volunteering hours (start and end date, the location where you will be working and a mention of who will make sure that the voluntary work is done in appropriate conditions)
  • documentation of funds that cover your subsistence and accommodation costs during your entire stay
  • documentation of a minimum sum of money paid to you as pocket money during your entire stay
  • if applicable, the training you will receive during your volunteering period

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.

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 for a residence permit online in Enter Finland, you need to pay the processing fee  

• with a credit card or with Finnish online banking credentials when you submit your application, or
• when you visit a Finnish embassy or consulate abroad or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland to prove your identity.  

If you apply for a residence permit with a paper application, you need to pay the processing fee

• when you visit a Finnish embassy or consulate abroad or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland to prove your identity.

• If you are abroad, book an appointment at a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate).
• If you are in Finland, book an appointment at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

When you apply for an extended permit, you may avoid the need to visit a service point to prove your identity if you log in Enter Finland using Finnish online banking credentials. Read more on the page Identification.

For more information, see: 

• Handling your matters at a Finnish mission
• Handling matters at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service

• 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

You can follow the processing of your application with the help of our chatbot, Kamu, by giving Kamu the diary number of your application. Kamu will also tell you the expected processing time of your application. 

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