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 field of employment to which your job belongs. You must have confirmed employment before you can apply for this permit.
A residence permit for an employed person is not granted to so called light entrepreneurs (who work through an invoicing service company). For more information, see the page Business activities of residence permit holders.
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. Read more on the page Labour market test.
If you apply for this permit as a first residence permit, you must submit the application abroad. Applications for an extended permit can only be submitted in Finland. Read more on the pages First residence permit and Extended permit.
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.
See our answers to frequently asked questions: Frequently asked questions: Employment.
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:
1. You have found a job
Your employer must supplement your application by filling in your terms of employment either online in Enter Finland or by using a paper form.
2. You have sufficient qualifications and education for the job in question.
- Your employer must verify that you have the professional skills required for the job. Your employer must document this when they fill in the terms of employment for your application.
- Health care professionals, for example, need a permission to practise their profession from Valvira (valvira.fi), the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health.
3. You have sufficient income in Finland during the entire time your residence permit is valid.
- Your total gross salary must be at least EUR 1,600 per month in 2025. You may earn your income from several employment relationships. Salary supplements, such as evening work or night work supplements, are excluded from the total salary.
- When you apply for an extended permit, we will check whether your salary has complied with the income requirement during your previous residence permit.
- As of 1 April 2025, the salary requirement of 1,600 euros per month will be applied to all pending applications for an extended permit.
- Some of your salary may consist of fringe benefits, such as company car or employer-provided accommodation. A maximum of 50% of your salary may consist of fringe benefits. When your salary is assessed, the taxable value of your fringe benefits will be taken into account in the calculation. For more information about the taxable values of fringe benefits, see the website of the Finnish Tax Administration (vero.fi).
- Read more on the page Income requirement.
- When you apply for an extended permit, we assess whether your salary has been sufficient.
In addition, you must meet the general requirements for obtaining a residence permit. See also the general requirements for granting a residence permit.
Have the attachments translated and legalised if needed.
- 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, 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.
The attachments are available in Albanian, Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, Russian, Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Vietnamese.
Fill in the application:
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
Right to work
- You cannot start working before you get a residence permit for an employed person.
- You can only work in the field of employment to which your job belongs and for which you have been granted a residence permit. You may have several jobs in the same field of employment.
- When you hold a residence permit for an employed person, you may also find employment in a national labour shortage sector (tyovoimabarometri.fi). The list of national labour shortage sectors is updated yearly.
- When you hold a valid residence permit for an employed person and find employment in a national labour shortage sector, you do not need to apply for a new residence permit for an employed person to work in the new sector. If the list of national labour shortage sectors changes during your protection period, you are allowed to find employment in sectors that are on the list and in sectors that have been on the list during your unemployment period. Your right to work will continue in your valid employment relationship for as long as your residence permit is valid.
- 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.
For more information, see:
Residence permit application for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1
Fill in an electronic applicationExtended permit for an employed person (TTOL), OLE_TY1
Fill in an electronic applicationPrepare for your life in Finland
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).
Processing situation: residence permit for an employed person
There are backlogs in the processing of applications. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
The data on this page will be updated regularly until the backlogs are cleared.
On 30 November 2025, there are 3,176 applications for a residence permit for an employed person that are being processed or waiting for processing.
We will process all applications as quickly as possible. Requests to expedite will not speed up the processing of an application.
If we need additional information for the application and the processing fee has already been paid, we may ask the applicant or the employer for additional information already before the applicant proves his or her identity.
First residence permits
Between 17 November and 30 November 31.7% of the decisions on first residence permits for employed persons were issued within 14 days or less, 5.3% within 15–30 days and 63.0% within 30 or more days of the applicant proving his or her identity.
Since the beginning of 2025, a total of 5,174 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person have been submitted.
So far in 2025, we have made a decision on 5,425 applications for a first residence permit for an employed person. There have been 3,146 positive decisions.
Extended permits
Between 17 November and 30 November 23.5% of the decisions on first residence permits for employed persons were issued within 14 days or less, 5.6% within 15–30 days and 70.9% within 30 or more days of the applicant proving his or her identity.
Since the beginning of 2025, a total of 8,879 applications for an extended permit for an employed person have been submitted.
So far in 2025, we have made a decision on 8,875 applications for an extended permit for an employed person. There have been 7,158 positive decisions.