Entrepreneur and startup residence permit in Finland

What the authorities actually decide, and which authority decides what

The entrepreneur route is the one residence permit in this catalogue where two authorities decide different halves of the same application. Knowing which half is being assessed, and by whom, is what makes the evidence land in the right place.

• The Economic Development Centre (elinvoimakeskus.fi) makes a partial decision on the business itself, including whether the business is profitable. Migri does not decide that question.
• Migri decides the residence-permit conditions: entrepreneur status, means of support, identity, the passport and the general grounds for refusal.
• Entrepreneur status is defined by role, not by intention. Migri treats a private trader, a partner in a general partnership, a general partner in a limited partnership, a co-operative member with unlimited refinancing liability, and a shareholder in a managerial position in a limited company as entrepreneurs for this route.
• For a managerial shareholder in an Oy, the test is personal: at least 30% of the company's share capital owned personally, or at least 30% of the votes produced by the company's shares held personally. Ownership through another company does not satisfy a personal threshold.
• Means of support must be secured, and where the basis of residence is entrepreneurship it is assessed primarily from the business.
• For the start-up route, Business Finland decides eligibility first, through an Eligibility Statement, before Migri sees the residence-permit application at all.

The figures that decide it in 2026

• Ownership or voting threshold for a managerial shareholder in an Oy: at least 30%, held personally.
• Start-up entrepreneur means of support: at least EUR 1,210 net per month in Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen and Vantaa; EUR 1,090 in the listed larger municipalities; EUR 1,030 in other municipalities. Enough accessible funds must be shown for at least one year.
• A first start-up permit can be granted for 2 years where sufficient funds are shown for that whole period.
• Business Finland Eligibility Statement: no more than 4 months old when the residence-permit application is submitted. Only one person in the team needs to apply for it and can share it with the others.
• Migri processing fee, entrepreneur: EUR 750 online and EUR 900 on paper for a first permit; EUR 230 online and EUR 430 on paper for an extension.
• Migri processing fee, start-up entrepreneur: EUR 650 online and EUR 800 on paper for a first permit; EUR 230 online and EUR 430 on paper for an extension.
• Statutory maximum processing time for work-based permits, which includes entrepreneurs: 2 months.
• Fast Track: Migri lists the start-up entrepreneur among Fast Track categories with a described target of 14 days, conditional on identity being proved within five working days of submitting. The ordinary entrepreneur permit is not a Fast Track category.
• PRH establishment fees, effective 1 January 2026 and with 0% VAT: an osakeyhtiö establishment notification filed online in YTJ is EUR 400, the guided establishment package in YTJ is EUR 300 where the share capital is EUR 0 and the shares carry no subscription price, a private trader is EUR 75, an avoin yhtiö or kommandiittiyhtiö is EUR 300 and an osuuskunta is EUR 400. From 1 January 2026 a limited company's Trade Register notification is filed electronically in YTJ.

The evidence, and what is most often missing or wrong

• Ownership held through a holding company, on a route where the 30% threshold has to be met personally.
• A business plan written for an investor rather than for a profitability assessment: growth narrative, no costing, no pricing, no evidence of demand.
• Means of support planned from future revenue with no current funds and no signed customer contracts behind it.
• A start-up application built before the Eligibility Statement exists, or filed after the statement has passed four months.
• No Business ID and no Trade Register registration, where the permit normally requires the company to exist first.
• A managing director or board composition that does not meet the Finnish residency and consent requirements for the registration, so the company cannot be registered at all.
• An entrepreneur permit sought for what is in substance employment in someone else's company, or for passive ownership with no personal work in the business.
• Funds shown for one year on a two-year application, which limits the permit granted rather than the plan.

The order of steps, and where each one happens

• 1. Decide which permit: entrepreneur or start-up entrepreneur. For the start-up route, nothing else happens until Business Finland has issued a positive Eligibility Statement.
• 2. Choose the company form and register it. A limited company becomes a legal entity on registration in the Trade Register, and the establishment notification is filed in YTJ, which also passes information to the Tax Administration.
• 3. Set up the company's registrations: VAT register, prepayment register and employer register with Vero as applicable.
• 4. File the residence-permit application in Enter Finland and pay the fee there.
• 5. Prove your identity at a Finnish mission or external service provider abroad, or at a Migri service point in Finland. The processing time is counted from when identity has been proved.
• 6. The Economic Development Centre issues its partial decision on the business; Migri then decides the residence-permit conditions.
• 7. Decision. A D visa can be requested with an eligible first application.
• 8. After arrival: DVV for the personal identity code and municipality of residence, Vero for prepayment and tax matters, then the bank. A Finnish bank makes its own customer-acceptance decision; a registered company and a residence permit do not oblige it to open an account.

How long it takes

The statutory maximum processing time for work-based residence permits, including entrepreneurs, is 2 months, and Migri publishes its own current estimates per category, stating that where processing has not begun within the shorter published estimate the longer estimate applies. The clock runs from when identity has been proved.

The two-authority structure is what actually sets the pace: Migri cannot finish while the Economic Development Centre's partial decision is outstanding, and on the start-up route Business Finland's Eligibility Statement has to exist before the Migri application is even submitted. ENB does not promise a decision date for any of these stages.

• Makes a case slower: a business plan that has to be supplemented for the profitability assessment, a company not yet registered, means-of-support evidence that has to be rebuilt, or an Eligibility Statement that has expired.
• Makes a case slower and is often overlooked: a bank account that has not opened, so the company cannot show the operating capacity the plan describes.

What goes wrong

• The business is not assessed as profitable, and the partial decision goes against the application.
• The 30% personal ownership or voting threshold is not met, so entrepreneur status fails regardless of the business.
• Means of support is not secured, or is not secured from the business where the basis of residence is entrepreneurship.
• The start-up Eligibility Statement is negative, or is more than four months old on the submission date.
• The company is not registered, or cannot be registered because of the managing director, board or address requirements.
• The application is in substance an employment or passive-investment case wearing an entrepreneur label.
• A request for further information is answered late, and the decision is made on the file as it stands.

If the decision is negative

A refusal is appealable. The binding appeal period and the competent Administrative Court are stated in the appeal instructions attached to the decision, and the period runs from service of the decision. Under the Act on Judicial Procedure in Administrative Matters the general period is 30 days from service, and it cannot be extended once it has passed.

The court fee is EUR 310 at an Administrative Court and EUR 610 at the Supreme Administrative Court, as set for 2025–2027, with no fee where the court changes the decision in the appellant's favour. Reaching the Supreme Administrative Court requires leave to appeal. A successful appeal returns the matter for reprocessing; the court does not grant the permit.

Read the decision to see which half failed. A refusal grounded in the Economic Development Centre's partial decision on profitability is a different problem from a refusal grounded in entrepreneur status or means of support, and the remedy differs: one needs a different business case, the other needs a different structure or different evidence.

A negative Business Finland Eligibility Statement is not a Migri decision and does not carry a Migri appeal route. It is reassessed on a new statement application.

The company itself survives a refused permit. A registered Oy continues to exist, with its accounting, tax and Trade Register obligations running — see Company Administration.

What ENB does, and what ENB does not do

• Does: chooses between the entrepreneur and start-up routes on the actual facts, and says when neither fits.
• Does: tests the ownership and decision-making position against the 30% personal threshold before anything is filed.
• Does: reviews the business model, revenue, costs and liquidity as the profitability assessment will see them, not as an investor deck.
• Does: reviews the Eligibility Statement and its four-month validity against the intended submission date.
• Does: reviews means-of-support evidence against the 2026 regional figures and the permit length applied for.
• Does: handles the company registration and the Migri document structure as one sequence, so the company exists when the permit application needs it to.
• Does not: decide anything. ENB is not an authority, is not Business Finland and is not the Economic Development Centre; no outcome is promised.
• Does not: provide regulated investment advice, promise funding, or promise that a business will be assessed as profitable.
• Does not: make company ownership into a residence right. Passive investment is not active entrepreneurship, and no structure changes that.

What it costs: separate payments to separate parties

ENB's fee is paid to ENB. Migri's processing fee is paid to Migri and is not refunded if the application is refused. PRH's registration fee is paid to PRH. Note the collision: ENB's company-formation fee and PRH's osakeyhtiö establishment fee are both EUR 400, and they are two separate payments — EUR 400 does not cover both.

• ENB entrepreneur residence permit service: EUR 2,500 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• ENB start-up residence permit service: EUR 1,500 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• ENB company formation in Finland: EUR 400 excluding VAT, paid to ENB for the work.
• ENB case-specific consulting: EUR 120 per hour excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• ENB appeal review after a Migri decision: EUR 1,000 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• Migri first entrepreneur permit: EUR 750 online, EUR 900 on paper — paid to Migri.
• Migri first start-up entrepreneur permit: EUR 650 online, EUR 800 on paper — paid to Migri.
• Migri extended entrepreneur or start-up permit: EUR 230 online, EUR 430 on paper — paid to Migri.
• PRH guided establishment package for an Oy in YTJ (ohjattu perustamispaketti): EUR 300, paid to PRH, 0% VAT — available where the share capital is EUR 0 and the shares carry no subscription price, which is how ENB files them.
• PRH ordinary electronic establishment notification for an Oy: EUR 400, paid to PRH — applies where the guided package cannot be used, for example a share capital above EUR 0.
• PRH private trader (toiminimi): EUR 75. PRH avoin yhtiö or kommandiittiyhtiö: EUR 300. PRH osuuskunta: EUR 400. All paid to PRH, 0% VAT.
• All ENB fees exclude Finnish VAT, where the standard rate is 25.5%. Authority fees are set by the authority and should be re-checked on its own page before payment.