Work permit and work-based residence permit in Finland

What Migri actually decides

A work-based residence permit is not granted because a contract exists. Migri decides a set of separate questions, and a file fails on the weakest one, not on the average. These are the questions, in the terms Migri uses.

• Is the permit category correct for the real duties? A job title does not decide the category; the duties, salary and qualifications do.
• Is the employment relationship real and confirmed, with an identified employer in Finland and agreed terms of employment?
• Does the salary meet the route's own floor and, for TTOL, also the applicable collective agreement?
• Are regular working hours agreed? Migri states that a zero-hours or on-demand contract does not meet the requirements for a residence permit for an employed person, because the employer has not agreed regular minimum working hours.
• Does the applicant have the professional skills the work requires, and any licence the field requires? For a regulated healthcare profession, permission from the Finnish supervisory authority is a precondition, not a formality.
• Is labour market testing applicable? Migri states that a residence permit for an employed person may be subject to labour market testing, meaning the employer must establish whether labour is available within a reasonable time in Finland or the EU/EEA for the work in question.
• Is the employer able to meet its obligations as an employer, and were previously reported terms of employment actually honoured? Migri can look back at that.

The figures that decide it in 2026

These are the 2026 figures Migri publishes. Check yourself against them before anyone builds a file, because a salary that is EUR 20 short is a refusal on the same page as a salary that is EUR 2,000 short.

• TTOL, residence permit for an employed person: total gross salary at least EUR 1,600 per month, and the salary must also comply with the applicable collective agreement.
• TTOL fringe benefits: a maximum of 50% of the salary may consist of fringe benefits, valued according to Finnish Tax Administration guidance.
• Specialist: gross salary at least EUR 3,937 per month. Fringe benefits are not counted towards this sum.
• EU Blue Card: gross salary at least EUR 3,937 per month, and the work must last at least six months.
• Evening and night supplements are not counted towards the TTOL salary floor.
• Statutory maximum processing time for work-based permits: 2 months. For the EU Blue Card family-member application it is 2 months; for most other family-ties applications 9 months.

The evidence — and what is most often missing or wrong

The document list is short. The reasons files stall are almost always the same handful, and they are reasons an authority page does not spell out because the authority sees the result, not the cause.

• Terms of employment that the employer has not submitted at all, or has submitted with a job description written for recruitment rather than for the permit category.
• A salary figure that includes evening, night or Sunday supplements, or an unnamed bonus, to reach the floor. Supplements do not count towards the TTOL floor and fringe benefits do not count towards the specialist floor.
• A contract with no agreed regular minimum working hours, or with hours expressed as a range starting at zero.
• A collective agreement that was never identified, so nobody can show that the salary complies with it.
• Degree or qualification evidence that is not translated or legalised in the form Finland accepts, so the file waits at the request-for-further-information stage.
• A passport that expires during the permit period, which limits the permit rather than the plan.
• Work that has already started. Migri states that you cannot start working before you get a residence permit for an employed person, and starting early is visible in payroll and tax data.

The order of steps, and where each one happens

Nothing in this sequence can be skipped and several steps cannot start until an earlier one has finished. The processing clock is one of them.

• 1. Route decision and salary check, before anything is filed. Changing the category later means a new application and a new fee.
• 2. The applicant fills in the application and attaches the documents in Enter Finland, and pays the fee there. Processing does not begin on payment.
• 3. The employer completes the terms of employment in Enter Finland. For an employer-dependent permit, the processing time starts when the employer submits the terms of employment.
• 4. The applicant proves their identity: at a Finnish mission or an external service provider abroad, or at a Migri service point in Finland. The processing time is counted from the moment identity has been proved.
• 5. Migri processes the application and may send a request for further information, with a deadline that is real.
• 6. Decision. If positive, the residence permit card is produced and delivered; a first permit applicant abroad can also request a D visa in connection with an eligible application, so travel is possible before the card arrives.
• 7. Only then does work start. After arrival, registration with DVV for the personal identity code and municipality of residence, then a tax card from Vero, then a bank account — in that order, because each step asks for the output of the one before it.

How long it takes

The law sets a maximum processing time of 2 months for work-based residence permits. Migri also publishes its own current estimates per category and states that where processing has not begun within the shorter published estimate, the longer estimate applies to that case. ENB does not promise a decision date, because no adviser controls one.

Specialist, EU Blue Card, start-up entrepreneur, ICT specialist or manager, and top or middle management applications can use Migri's Fast Track service, where Migri describes a target of 14 days. The target has conditions: the application and its attachments are filed and paid in Enter Finland, the applicant proves their identity within five working days of submitting, and the employer completes the terms of employment within two working days of the employee's submission. Fast Track applies to first permits only, not to extensions, and not to an applicant already in Finland. Family members can be included when their applications are submitted at the same time.

• Makes a case slower: an incomplete application, a late employer submission, a missing identity appointment, unlegalised documents, an unclear job description, or a salary that sits on the threshold.
• Makes a case slower and is often overlooked: a change of employer or duties while the application is pending, and any inconsistency between the contract, the terms of employment and the payslips of an earlier permit.

What goes wrong

• The salary is below the route's floor once supplements and non-qualifying benefits are stripped out.
• The category is wrong: a specialist application for duties that do not require special expertise, or a TTOL application for work that needed labour market testing nobody carried out.
• The employment relationship is not established: no identified employer, no agreed regular hours, or a contract conditional on the permit in a way that leaves no confirmed employment.
• The employer's own position is weak: unpaid tax or pension obligations, or earlier terms of employment that were not honoured in practice.
• The professional qualification or licence for a regulated field is missing.
• A request for further information goes unanswered within the deadline, and the decision is made on the file as it stands.
• The applicant starts work before the permit is granted, which Migri treats as a breach rather than as enthusiasm.

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 — the day it is deemed to reach you — not from the day you read it. Under the Act on Judicial Procedure in Administrative Matters the general appeal period is 30 days from service. Once it has passed it cannot be extended, and the decision becomes final.

The court fee for an Administrative Court is EUR 310 and for the Supreme Administrative Court EUR 610, as set for 2025–2027. No fee is charged where the court changes the decision in the appellant's favour. Reaching the Supreme Administrative Court requires leave to appeal, which is not granted in every case. An Administrative Court that upholds an appeal returns the matter to Migri for reprocessing; the court does not grant the permit itself.

A refusal of a first work-based permit does not by itself create a right to stay in Finland, because a first permit is applied for from abroad. If you are already in Finland on a previous permit, the decision text and the appeal instructions determine what happens to the right to stay and work — read them the day they arrive, not the week after.

What ENB does, and what ENB does not do

• Does: compares TTOL, specialist and EU Blue Card against the actual duties, salary and qualifications before anything is filed.
• Does: checks the salary against the route's floor and the applicable collective agreement, and identifies which parts of the package do not count.
• Does: builds the applicant and employer document checklists, and reviews the terms of employment the employer is about to submit.
• Does: structures the Enter Finland file, plans the identity step and the Fast Track timing conditions, and prepares responses to requests for further information.
• Does not: find you a job. ENB is not a recruitment agency.
• Does not: decide anything. ENB is not an authority, holds no delegated power from Migri, and no outcome is promised, predicted or described as likely.
• Does not: replace the employer's statutory duties, or Migri's own assessment of the application.
• Does not: represent you before a court where qualified legal representation is required.

What it costs: two separate payments to two separate parties

There are always at least two bills in this process and they go to different places. ENB's fee is ENB's. Migri's processing fee is Migri's, is paid in Enter Finland, and is not refunded if the application is refused.

• ENB work-based residence permit service: EUR 1,500 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• ENB residence permit extension service: EUR 350 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• ENB appeal review after a Migri decision: EUR 1,000 excluding VAT, paid to ENB.
• Migri processing fee, TTOL first permit: EUR 750 online in Enter Finland, EUR 950 on paper — paid to Migri.
• Migri processing fee, specialist or EU Blue Card first permit: EUR 530 online, EUR 630 on paper — paid to Migri.
• Migri processing fee, extended work-based permit: EUR 230 online, EUR 430 on paper — paid to Migri.
• Migri processing fee, D visa requested with an eligible first permit: EUR 95 online, EUR 120 on paper — paid to Migri.
• 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.