Foreign nationals who have a job in Finland or their own business in Finland can apply for a residence permit on the basis of work or entrepreneurship. In general, the residence permit application must be submitted abroad before moving to Finland.
There are several different residence permits in Finland. Which permit a customer should apply for depends on what type of work the customer will be doing, what the customer’s education is and what the customer’s salary is.
If there is no specific residence permit application for a certain job, the customer can apply for a residence permit for an employed person.
Obtaining a residence permit on grounds other than work is possible, too. Some of the other residence permits, such as the residence permit on the basis of family ties, give the permit holder the right to work. Read more about the right to work.
The processing time of an application varies depending on the grounds for the application. The Processing Time Checker, for example, can be used to check the estimated processing time of an application.
Some work-based applications are processed quickly, such as applications from specialists and seasonal workers.
The processing time of a residence permit for an entrepreneur is affected by the two-stage processing of the application. The ELY Centre (Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment) must first assess whether the business is profitable and whether the entrepreneur earns a sufficient amount of income through the business. After that, the application is transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service for processing.
Startup entrepreneurs' residence permit applications are also processed in two stages, which affects the processing time. Startup entrepreneurs must first obtain a positive Eligibility Statement from Business Finland before they apply for a residence permit.
The processing time of an application may sometimes exceed the expected processing time for different reasons. There may be a delay if some information is missing from the application or if the Finnish Immigration Service has had to ask the applicant or the applicant's employer to provide additional information or documents.
Read more about what affects the processing time of an application.
There are different requirements for each type of work-based residence permit. The permit requirements are laid down in law. When a customer applies for a residence permit, the Finnish Immigration Service verifies that all permit requirements are met.
The Finnish Immigration Service has a role in ensuring that employees who come to Finland to work have fair and appropriate terms of employment. When an employee applies for a residence permit, the employer must submit the employee’s terms of employment to the Finnish Immigration Service and assure that the employer has met and continues to meet its employer obligations. The terms of employment that have been agreed upon by the employer and the employee must comply with the provisions of law in force and with the applicable collective agreement. If no collective agreement exists in the sector, the terms of employment must correspond to those applied to employees in the labour market doing similar work. Employers must also assure that they have verified that the employee meets the necessary requirements if the work requires specific qualifications, a licence or an accepted state of health, for example.
The person who applies for a residence permit to work in Finland must be paid an appropriate salary for the work. The salary must be sufficient to support the employee for the entire time the residence permit is valid. The permit requirements for each permit are listed on the application-specific pages.
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The reason for a negative decision on an application for a work-based residence permit is always that either the customer, the employer or the employment relationship does not meet the permit requirements. Each application is considered based on the requirements that have been laid down in law. Some permits require other authorities than the Finnish Immigration Service to examine the application, too. If an application requires a partial decision by an ELY Centre and the partial decision is negative, the decision of the Finnish Immigration Service will also be negative.
When the Finnish Immigration Service processes an application for a work-based permit, it verifies that the terms of employment of the foreign employee are appropriate. Suspicions of unreasonable working conditions may sometimes arise during the processing of work-based residence permit applications. As a government agency, the Finnish Immigration Service has an obligation to prevent and combat human trafficking. This obligation of Finland is based on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and on the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims.
Decisions may sometimes be negative because the applicant has committed crimes in Finland that prevent the granting of a residence permit. Negative decisions are also possible when the residence permit application has been submitted in Finland, not abroad. In addition, negative decisions are possible when the applicant does not hold a national travel document. Work-based applications submitted by applicants of international protection are usually not examined at all.
Yes, there are permits for that purpose. If a person who has completed a degree or qualification in Finland has secured a job or pursues a trade, he or she can apply for an extended permit on the basis of a degree or qualification completed in Finland. The processing of the application does not involve a labour market test in this case. An extended permit granted on the basis of a degree or qualification completed in Finland is valid for a maximum of four years.
Read more about the residence permit for persons with a degree or qualification completed in Finland.
Students who have completed a degree or qualification in Finland but do not yet have a job and do not pursue a trade can apply for a residence permit to look for work. This is possible if the applicant has previously held a residence permit for studies. The residence permit to look for work is valid for a maximum of two years.
An asylum seeker may start working in paid employment without a separate permit during the processing of his or her application within either 3 or 6 months of applying for asylum.
Applying for international protection is not meant to be a way to come and work in Finland. An asylum seeker who has received a negative decision or who has a pending application for international protection cannot apply for a work-based residence permit while in Finland. An asylum seeker can apply for a work-based residence permit if he or she leaves Finland and travels to his or her home country without receiving assistance for voluntary return.
For more information, see the page Asylum seeker’s right to work.
Based on the number of applications submitted, the most common work-based residence permit is the residence permit for an employed person. The second most common work-based permit based on the number of applications submitted is the residence permit for a specialist.
The number of applications submitted from different countries varies from year to year. The most common citizenships among applicants vary between permits.
Statistics are available in the statistical service of the Finnish Immigration Service.
