Migri Processing Times 2026 — Current Waits by Permit Type, Statutory Maximums and What to Do About a Delay

1. Current Migri processing times by permit type

The table collects what Migri itself was reporting when we checked on 14 October 2026, next to the time limit set by law or by Migri's own service target. Migri states its figures in different forms for different permits — an average for one, a most-cases estimate for another, the share decided within a month for a third — and the table keeps each figure in the form Migri used rather than turning them into a single number Migri never published.

None of these is a promise for your application. Migri updates its estimates every two months and the averages for employed persons every month, so before you fix a start date or book a flight, open Migri's processing-times page or its processing-time checker, choose your exact application type and read the current figure there. Where we could not verify a current figure from Migri for a permit type, the table says so instead of guessing.

2. When the clock starts and when it stops

The most common misunderstanding is that the clock starts the moment you submit. According to Migri the processing time starts when you have proved your identity, which happens at a service point visit or, for some online applications, on submission in Enter Finland. The time ends when the decision is ready.

The card has to be counted in as well. After the decision, producing and posting the residence permit card takes about two more weeks. "The decision is out" and "the card is in my hand" are therefore not the same day, and travel or a starting date at work should be planned around the card.

For work-based permits the Aliens Act says this in so many words: the decision is due within two months of the authority receiving a properly completed application with its attachments, and the time is counted from the visit at which you give your fingerprints and other biometrics — at a Finnish mission or an external service provider abroad, or at a Migri service point in Finland. Migri also says it can start on an employed person's application before identity has been proved, and that an employer who submits the terms of employment without delay speeds the processing up.

3. Two estimates and how to read them

For each application type Migri publishes not one time but two estimates: the processing time in most cases and the processing time in a minority of cases. The rule is plain: if your application has not been taken up during the shorter estimate, the longer estimate in the table is the one that applies in your case.

The estimates are based on how long most decisions took in the preceding months and how many similar applications arrived in the past two months; they are updated every two months. The time spent in the queue is included in the estimate. If no additional information has to be requested, the shorter estimate will most likely apply.

For one application rather than a whole permit type, Migri's processing-time checker is the more precise tool. It is built on the same statistics, so it will not move your application forward, but it is the quickest way to see the estimate that applies to your own case rather than to the average applicant.

4. Maximum times laid down by law

Alongside the estimate there is also a maximum time laid down by law, and the two should not be confused. The estimate is a statistic; the statutory time is an obligation. Migri's tables show separately which applications have a maximum time provided by law, and not every application has one.

5. Why applications are delayed

Migri lists the reasons for delay on its own page: the number of requirements that have to be investigated, the number of applications arriving for the same permit type, whether automation can be used, and the maximum times prescribed by law. The time spent waiting in the queue belongs to this picture too.

The single most common cause is a request for additional information. If a piece of information or an attachment is missing, Migri asks you for the document and the processing waits for it to arrive. Being invited to an interview, an unpaid processing fee, a requirement that is not met, or a request for an exception all lengthen the time as well. If your application is waiting for information from another authority — an interview at a Finnish mission, for example — Migri cannot influence that authority's waiting times.

6. The right to work while you wait

For an employee waiting on an extension there is one decisive date. If you applied for the extended permit before your current permit expired, you may go on working in accordance with that permit while the decision is awaited. If you applied only after the previous permit had expired, you are not allowed to continue working on the basis of the old permit.

There are exceptions. In seasonal work, continuing depends on your going on working for the same employer; with au pair, working holiday and intra-corporate transfer (ICT) permits the right to work ends when the permit ends. An employer may ask the employee to show the residence permit card and a document about the pending application; that document is Migri's certificate of a pending application.

7. Migri asks you not to call — so what does help

Migri's wording is plain: you do not need to contact it if the estimate has been exceeded. An automated message is sent when the processing situation of your application changes, an online applicant sees the status in their Enter Finland account, and Migri will contact you if it needs additional information. Customer service cannot give exact details about the processing of your application.

What actually helps is removing in advance the reasons that lengthen the time: applying when you already meet the requirements, applying online through Enter Finland, filling in every section of the form carefully and adding all the required attachments, and paying the processing fee in Enter Finland before you submit. Once these are in order Migri can usually use automation, and the decision comes faster.

There is one formal right alongside Migri's request. Under section 23 of the Administrative Procedure Act (hallintolaki) a matter must be dealt with without undue delay, and the authority must, if the party asks, give an estimate of when the decision will be issued and answer enquiries about how the processing is progressing. When you have a concrete reason — a job with a start date, a lease, a family event — a short written request that cites that section is a legitimate way to get an answer, and far more useful than calling the helpline again.

8. When a statutory time is exceeded: complaint options

Exceeding the estimate and exceeding the statutory maximum do not weigh the same. Where the second has happened, a complaint can be made to the Parliamentary Ombudsman (eduskunnan oikeusasiamies). Undue delay in dealing with a matter is expressly among the things the Ombudsman investigates; the complaint is free, and a person may complain on their own, together with others, or on someone else's behalf.

The limits are worth knowing too. The Ombudsman cannot amend or overturn decisions made by authorities; to obtain a change, the legal means of appeal provided by law must be used. As a rule the Ombudsman does not investigate a matter pending before another authority, but delay in the processing is the exception to that rule. A complaint concerning a matter older than two years is not investigated unless there are special reasons.

A second route is an administrative complaint (hallintokantelu) to the authority that supervises the one at fault; for Migri that is the Ministry of the Interior. Anyone may file one about unlawful conduct or a failure to perform a duty, and, as with the Ombudsman, a complaint about a matter older than two years is not examined without a special reason. Neither route decides your permit, and missing a statutory time does not turn into an automatic yes or no: the application stays pending until Migri decides it, and only that decision can be appealed.

9. Common mistakes

10. A checklist for those who are waiting