Finland Family Reunification Refusal and Appeal 2026

1. Common refusal categories

Family reunification refusals usually rest on one of three grounds: the income requirement not being met, the family tie not being established, or doubt about whether the relationship is genuine. An appeal written without separating these does not touch what the decision relied on.

The appeal instructions come with the decision and govern the process: which Administrative Court, within what period, with which attachments and by what means. Without an appeal the decision becomes final when the period expires. If the court overturns the decision the matter returns to Migri for reprocessing; the court does not grant the permit itself.

If the Administrative Court rejects the appeal the road narrows rather than closes: the Supreme Administrative Court requires leave to appeal, and where leave is refused the decision is final. Most Administrative Court decisions carry a processing fee; confirm the amount with the court.

2. Evidence that may be relevant

Evidence follows the ground: for income refusals, payslips, tax records and bank statements showing the sponsor's regular income; for family-tie refusals, official documents and where needed DNA; for doubts about the relationship, the traces a shared life leaves over time — a common address, travel, correspondence and witness statements.

Evidence that arose after Migri's decision can generally be filed with the appeal or while it is pending — for example a new employment contract for the sponsor or a child born to the couple — because the court looks at the case as it stands when it decides. Say in the appeal which ground in the decision each new document answers.

Documents in other languages need translations, and civil-status documents from abroad may need the same legalisation as in the original application. Number the attachments and refer to them by number in the appeal, so the court can see at once which point each one proves.

3. Special attention in child cases

In child cases, custody, the other guardian's consent, the real family relationship and the child's best interests should be analysed separately.

The child's best interests are not a formula the decision can mention in passing: the court checks whether the decision actually weighed them. An appeal is stronger when it shows the child's concrete situation — who has cared for the child, schooling, health, the contact kept with the parent in Finland, and what a refusal means for the child day to day — supported by school, medical or social-services documents rather than by the parents' statements alone.

4. Showing that the relationship is genuine

The ground seen most often in family files is not that the relationship is doubted in itself, but that the evidence supplied does not let it be followed period by period. A single marriage certificate or a handful of photographs does not show that a long relationship continued. What persuades is a timeline: dated records produced by third parties, laid out in order from the first meeting to today.

Those records are the traces of ordinary life: flight and accommodation bookings, passport entry and exit stamps, joint leases or utility bills, money transfers, screenshots showing the date ranges of regular messaging, wedding or engagement invitations, statements from family members. Not all of them are needed; enough to build a timeline without gaps is. Where there were periods apart, explaining why is stronger than passing over them.

5. What can be done when the refusal is about income

Where the refusal turns on income, first understand how the calculation was made: which months were taken, which income items were counted, which were not, and whether the household size was taken correctly. The decision usually states these plainly. If an item was assessed wrongly, the appeal starts by showing that — and this is a point that can be won without filing any new document.

If the calculation was right, the question changes: has income risen since the date of the decision? A new contract at a higher salary, additional work, a promotion or a spouse starting work shows not that the decision was wrong but that the situation is new. That distinction sets the strategy: a wrong calculation is for the appeal, while a situation that arose afterwards often resolves faster through a fresh application. To weigh both and miss no deadline, set the calendar the moment the decision arrives.

The figures are public, so the calculation can be checked rather than guessed at. In the first municipality group the standard family table is EUR 1,210 net a month for the first adult, EUR 610 for the second adult and for the first child, EUR 480 for the second child and EUR 360 for each later one; in the second group EUR 1,090 / 550 / 550 / 430 / 320, and elsewhere EUR 1,030 / 520 / 520 / 410 / 310. Two adults in Helsinki therefore need EUR 1,820 net a month, and two adults with one child EUR 2,430. Set the case against that table first: a refusal more often turns on which months Migri took and which income items it counted than on the threshold itself.

6. Deadline, court fee and what the court can do

The appeal period is 30 days from the date the decision was served, and the appeal instructions attached to the decision name the Administrative Court. The Administrative Court fee is EUR 310; it is not charged if the court changes the decision in the appellant's favour, and legal aid can cover it.

If the appeal succeeds, the court usually sets the decision aside and returns the case to Migri, which decides it again on the basis of the court's reasoning. If it fails, a further appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court needs leave to appeal, and that court's fee is EUR 610. An appeal gives the family member abroad no right to enter or stay in Finland while it is pending.

An appeal and a new application are separate procedures and can run side by side. Where the refusal turned on a fact that has since changed, such as a sponsor's income, a fresh application with the new evidence is often decided sooner than the appeal.