Skip to Content

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 professional field to which your job belongs. You must have confirmed employment before you can apply for this permit.

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.

  • Expected processing times:

    Processing times

  • Electronic application fee

    First permit 590 € / extended permit 170 €

  • Paper application fee

    First permit 750 € / extended permit 430 €

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:

Fill in the application:

Right to work

  • You cannot start working before you get a residence permit for an employed person.
  • You can only work in the professional field to which your job belongs and for which you have been granted a residence permit. You may have several jobs in the same professional field.
  • 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

Residence permit application for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1

Fill in an electronic application

Extended permit for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1

Fill in an electronic application

Prepare for your life in Finland

Processing situation: residence permit for an employed person

The work permit services that were previously provided by the TE Offices were transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service on 1 January 2025. Because of the transfer, the decision-making on residence permits for an employed person was paused from 1 to 8 January 2025 to allow the Finnish Immigration Service to update its systems. After the transfer, partial decisions are no longer needed. The TE Offices stopped processing new applications already in December 2024 to enable the transfer of responsibilities. Because of these changes, there are backlogs in the processing of applications.

This page contains current information about the processing situation of residence permits for employed persons. The data on this page will be updated every Tuesday until the backlogs are cleared. The updates show the status of the queue up until the previous Sunday.

On 16 February 2025, there are 4,078 applications for a residence permit for an employed person that are being processed or waiting for processing. The processing of the application and the processing time will start when the applicant proves his or her identity.

First residence permits

Currently, 30.4% of the decisions on first residence permits for employed persons have been issued within 14 days, 28.0% within 15–30 days and 15.2% within 31–60 days after the applicant has proved his or her identity. Positive decisions are issued within 32 days on average.

Since the beginning of 2025, a total of 699 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person have been submitted.

So far in 2025, we have made a decision on 346 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person. There have been 216 positive decisions.

Extended permits

Currently, 20.8% of the decisions on extended permits for employed persons have been issued within 14 days, 17.9% within 15–30 days and 32.6% within 31–60 days after the applicant has proved his or her identity. Positive decisions are issued within 46 days on average.

Since the beginning of 2025, a total of 1,563 applications for an extended permit for an employed person have been submitted. 

So far in 2025, we have made a decision on 1,070 applications for an extended permit for an employed person. There have been 913 positive decisions.

We aim to decide all applications as quickly as possible. Requests to expedite will not speed up the processing of an application. Our goal is to process each application within one month.