Residence Permit

Overview

“ATTN! if you apply for a residence permit “on other grounds” or "remigration", you and your family members need to visit a Consulate General.

Applicants who plan to stay in Finland for longer than 90 days within any 180-day period are required to have a residence permit. The right to work without a residence permit is restricted. You may have to apply for a residence permit in order to work in Finland even if your stay does not exceed 90 days. If you are an EU citizen or a citizen of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you are not required to have a residence permit in Finland. Decisions for the residence permits are made by The Finnish Immigration Service, which is the competent authority in all residence permit matters in Finland. You are allowed to apply only first residence permit abroad. Extended residence permit needs to be applied while you are staying in Finland.

Who is eligible to submit a residence permit application?

The application must be submitted in the country in which the applicant resides legally.

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Residence Permit Categories

“ATTN! if you apply for a residence permit “on other grounds” or "remigration", you and your family members need to visit a Consulate General.

The applicable residence permit category needs to be chosen based on the reason for the applicant coming to Finland. For more information about residence permit categories please visit The Finnish Immigration Service.

Application Fees

*Applicant under 18 years-old is considered to be minor.

*Please note that the service fee is inclusive of VAT.

Please Note:

The applicable residence permit fees in USD varies with the current exchange rate. It is subject to change without notice.

The applicants who will pay the service fees at the Residence Permit Application Centre should pay by debit or credit card.

The fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.

Application form

You have two options to apply for a residence permit

Option 1- Applying at Enter Finland e-service

Enter Finland is an e-service of The Finnish Immigration Service. You will get a user account created with your e-mail address at Enter Finland. The account is for personal use only. Keep your e-mail address and password safe so you can log into the service later. Choose the correct application form based on why you are coming to Finland (for example, work, studies or a family member in Finland).

Enter Finland will guide you through the process of filling in your application. Enter Finland will save your application automatically as you fill it in.

Pay with a credit card or the online bank credentials of a Finnish bank. If you have issues with paying, you may also pay in Application Centre.

Attach your supplementary documents at Enter Finland. Make sure you attach all the required documents. Print Certificate of a pending online case and your application form. You need to provide both these documents at the Application Centre.

When you have submitted your application at Enter Finland, you have to visit the Application Centre in order to prove your identity and to have your biometric identifiers taken. If you have applied at Enter Finland, you need to prove your identity within three months after submitting your application.

You cannot use the e-service to apply for:

• a residence permit on the grounds of Finnish origin
• a residence permit on other grounds
• a renewal of a residence permit card
• travel documents
• a Schengen visa
• asylum

Option 2 -Applying with paper application at the Consulate/Embassy

Select the appropriate residence permit category on website of The Finnish Immigration Service

You will find the correct application form at the end of chosen residence permit category site. Print the application form.

Fill in the paper application form in Finnish, Swedish or English and prepare the required documents.

You must present the original, legalised (if required) documents and their translations during submission. Copies of those will be collected together with your application.

Please note: Paper applications can only be submitted to the Consulate General of Finland in New York City or in Los Angeles

LEGALISATION

The United States has signed the Hague Convention of 1961, the document can be legalised using an Apostille.

The documents and certificates that have been issued in the United States and are intended for use in Finland must be legalized by Apostille authentication. The U.S. authority is in charge of legalizing the document. During the legalization process, the Apostille is attached to the document.

For documents issued by a state, such as birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates, the Apostille authentication is always carried out by the State Department of the issuing state (or an equivalent authority, e.g. Secretary of State). The contact details of the states’ issuing authorities are available on the HCCH website.

The documents issued by the United States, such as the U.S. Naturalization decision, are Apostille authenticated by the "US Department of State" Legalization Office in Washington, DC.

A certificate issued by a U.S. notary (notarization) is not an Apostille authentication. Finnish missions do not have authority to issue Apostille authentication.

An Apostille certificate for a Finnish document can be obtained in Finland from a Population Register Office.

Photo Specifications

Please note: The technical requirements for the photo must meet the standards set by the police https://poliisi.fi/documents/25235045/31329600/Passport-photograph-instructions-by-the-police-2020-EN-fixed.pdf

DNA and Interview

The Finnish Immigration Service may offer the applicant and the sponsor the opportunity to take a DNA test if there are no other means of sufficiently establishing family ties based on biological relationship.

A residence permit applicant may have an invitation to an interview if there are no other means of establishing sufficient grounds for granting a residence permit. The interview may be held only by an official of the Finnish mission or The Finnish Immigration Service. For more information please view The Finnish Immigration Service.