Finland Student Work: the 30-Hour Rule 2026

1. An average across the year, not a weekly ceiling

This is the point most students and most employers get wrong. The permit does not say you may never work more than 30 hours in a week. It says your average across the year may not be more than 30 hours a week.

So a week of 40 hours is not a breach on its own. It becomes one only if the year closes above the average. The arithmetic runs the other way too: quiet months early in the year create room later, and a heavy autumn leaves none.

Because the measure is annual, the only way to know where you stand is to keep a running total. Neither Migri nor your employer keeps it for you.

2. The same allowance, stated three ways

Migri gives the allowance in three units, and they are not three separate rules. They describe one entitlement, so you do not add them together.

The yearly figure is the one to plan against, because it is the one the average is finally measured by.

3. Full-time work during holidays

During holidays a student may work full-time in any field. Migri states this plainly, and it is the reason the annual average exists rather than a weekly cap.

The condition does not change. Full-time summer work is allowed provided the average at the end of the year is still no more than 30 hours a week. A full-time summer is a large share of 1,560 hours, so it decides how much term-time work is left.

4. What falls outside the limit

The 30-hour limit is not applied to diploma work or to internships that are part of your degree. That is a real exemption, not a softening, and it can double what you are able to do in a year.

There is one condition and it is about timing. The exemption applies if it was agreed already when the agreement was made that you would earn credits from the work. The credits have to be part of the arrangement from the start.

A student on a study permit may also spend an unlimited amount of time as an intern where the internship is part of the degree.

5. The trap: registering the work afterwards

If work is registered afterwards as an internship included in the studies, the 30-hour limit applies to it. Migri says so directly.

This is the most expensive misunderstanding in the whole rule. A student takes an ordinary job, works long hours, and later arranges with the institution to have it counted for credits. The credits may well be granted. The hours still count against the limit, because the agreement about credits came after the work rather than with it.

The practical consequence is that the paperwork has to come first. Agree the credits with the institution before the work begins and keep the document that shows when it was agreed.

6. Who checks, and who is responsible

The employer of a student checks how many hours the student is allowed to work under the residence permit. That check is the employer's job, not a favour.

Responsibility, however, is shared. Migri states that both the student and the employer are responsible for ensuring that the maximum is not exceeded, so neither can point at the other afterwards.

Working time itself is supervised by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is a separate authority from Migri.

7. Internships need a permit, and must be paid

A person coming to Finland to carry out an internship at an educational institution must have a residence permit. An internship cannot be carried out visa-free or on a visa.

A residence permit is not granted for an unpaid internship. The intern has to receive monetary compensation. An offer of experience, accommodation or a reference is not compensation for this purpose.

8. Apprenticeship training and the half rule

Apprenticeship training is education that takes place mainly at a workplace, in genuine work situations. The employer and the student sign a written apprenticeship agreement, which is a fixed-term contract of employment.

Which permit you need turns on how much of the degree the apprenticeship makes up, and the duration is calculated from the personal competence development plan drawn up with your institution.

If less than half of the degree is apprenticeship training, a residence permit for studies is the right one. You may then work full time in the employment included in the apprenticeship, and on top of that up to 30 hours a week in other paid employment.

If half or more of the degree is apprenticeship training, you must apply for a residence permit on the grounds of employment, and the right to work is then determined by that permit instead. Migri's own pages word the boundary in two ways — one page says at most half keeps you on a study permit, while the students' FAQ says half or more requires the employed person's permit — so if your plan lands on exactly half, ask Migri before you rely on either reading.

9. If the balance changes during your studies

The half rule is not settled once at the beginning. If you started a degree on a study permit and the main part of the remaining studies is later carried out as apprenticeship training, you must apply for a residence permit for an employed person.

So a change in how the rest of the degree will be delivered is a permit question, not only an academic one. Raise it with your institution and check the permit before the balance tips rather than after.

10. Permits granted before 15 April 2022

A student granted a residence permit before the legislative amendments of 15 April 2022 has the same right to work as a student holding a new permit. In other words, the same average of 30 hours a week applies.

There is nothing to apply for and nothing that lapsed. If you were told your older permit carries a different allowance, that is not what Migri states.

11. Keeping yourself inside the limit

Read this against your own contracts and payslips rather than your memory of the year.