Finland's Aliens Act and Its EU Setting

Europe has no one work visa that covers each country, so a job in Finland follows Finnish rules, and they change with the type of work you take on. The official EU Immigration Portal has a page on the main work routes here, as it does for each EU state.

Here, the Aliens Act, or ulkomaalaislaki, sets the terms, and Migri deals with each work permit case from start to end, since the old TE Offices gave up their part.

Being in the EU does not mean you can skip the permit, since a permit to live in another EU state does not, as a rule, let you work here. A Schengen visa is meant for short stays, and it does not cover paid work. Turn to our guide to work visas across Europe for the wider rules, or weigh these steps against work permits in Sweden or the work rules in Estonia over the sea.

Which Workers Need a Permit From Migri

Whether you need a permit turns on the passport you hold and the kind of work you will do, as the table shows for the main groups.

Conditions for an Employed Person's Permit

Before a work visa for Finland is granted on this route, Migri checks the job, the pay and the firm against these terms.

• You need a signed work contract, or an offer that binds the firm, from an employer that is based in Finland.
• Your pay and terms must be at least what the pay deal for your trade sets, or the normal rate where there is no deal.
• You must earn at least €1,600 a month gross, and the extra pay you get for night or evening shifts does not count towards it.
• For most jobs, Migri runs a labour market check, or saatavuusharkinta, to see if a worker from Finland or the EU could start soon.
• The firm must meet its own duties, such as paying its tax and keeping to work law, and it must check that you have the skills.
• Work in a field with set rules, such as nursing, needs a licence to practise or training that the state has accepted.

A contract with no fixed hours, such as a zero-hours or on-call contract, does not meet the terms. Experts, EU Blue Card holders and researchers skip the labour market check. The routes for experts and the Blue Card ask for more pay, at least €3,937 a month at the rate Migri sets each year.

You do not need Finnish or Swedish to get the permit, but a lot of jobs in care or with the public ask for one of them.

Finnish Work Permits From Seasonal Jobs to the Blue Card

The Aliens Act has a set of permits for paid work, and the right one for you turns on your pay, your skills and how long the job will last.

Some short tasks, such as a brief visit by an expert, an athlete or an interpreter, need no permit for a set time, and Migri lists these cases on its site.

From Job Offer to Finnish Residence Permit Card

On the route for an employed person, the order of the steps counts, since Migri can only start once the firm has added its part to your case.

1. Accept a Finnish job offer: you and a firm agree on the job, and the pay, hours and tasks must match the pay deal for that trade, or the normal rate.
2. File online with Migri: you fill in the form in Enter Finland and pay the fee, and the firm then adds the terms of the job to your case.
3. Prove your identity: you go to a Finnish embassy, or a service point run by an outside firm where you live, to show your passport and give your prints.
4. Migri checks the job: it looks at the terms, the pay and the firm, and for most jobs it checks if a worker from Finland or the EU could fill the post soon.
5. Migri decides: next, it weighs the whole file, with your ID and record, and sends you its answer, and if it says no because of the job or the firm, the firm is told as well.
6. Move and register locally: once you have the permit, you fly in, start work, register your address with the state and get a tax card.

Your first permit tends to cover a field of work and not just one firm, so you can often move to a new job in that same field. A switch to a new field needs a new permit, though, so ask Migri what applies to you before you make the change.

Papers for Migri and Your Finnish Employer

Migri decides on the papers in your online file, so a gap will slow your case, and you should have clear scans to hand and take the originals when you go to prove who you are.

Documents You Provide

• A passport that is good for as long as the permit will run, with a colour copy of the page that has your photo.
• A passport photo no more than six months old that meets the police rules, or a code from a photo shop.
• Your signed work contract, or an offer that binds the firm to the job, the hours and the pay.
• Copies of your degrees and trade papers, and notes from past bosses that show the work you have done.
• A licence to work in your trade, if the job is one where the law sets rules on who may do it.
• Proof that you have the right to stay in the country where you apply, if you are not a citizen there.

Your Employer's Part of the Finnish File

• The terms of the job, which the firm types into Enter Finland for Employers soon after you send your own form.
• The collective agreement, or pay deal, that covers the job, if there is one for that trade or sector.
• Facts about the firm, and proof that it can pay your wage for the whole length of the contract.
• Notes on how the firm looked for staff, if Migri asks how it tried to fill the job at home first.

What a Finnish Work Permit Costs

Migri charges a fee for each permit form, and a paper form costs more than one sent online. The Ministry of the Interior sets the fees by decree, and they change now and then, so look up the sum when you apply.

Migri keeps the fee even if it says no, and rents are highest in and around Helsinki, where a landlord may ask for up to three months' rent as a deposit.

Processing Times and the 14-Day Fast Track

Migri posts the time it thinks each kind of permit will take, and these figures go up and down with the number of cases. A permit for an employed person tends to take longer than one for an expert, since Migri must also check if local staff could fill the job.

The fast track aims to decide a full first file within 14 days for experts, EU Blue Card hires, start-up founders, ICT staff and top or middle managers. Your spouse and children can use it too if you all apply at once. You must apply in Enter Finland from abroad and prove who you are within five working days, and the firm must add the job terms within two working days.

The 14 days is a goal, not a rule in law, but people on the fast track can often get a D visa too, so they can fly in as soon as they get the permit.

Shortage Jobs on Finland's Occupational Barometer

Twice a year, the state puts out a study called the Occupational Barometer, which rates how hard it is to fill each job in each region. It has long shown gaps in health and social care, in the care and teaching of young children and in a lot of tech jobs. Farms and the ski resorts of Lapland need more hands in their busy months.

Further Reading on Work in Finland

These EU Helpers guides say more about jobs, wait times and daily life in the country.

• How long Finnish permits take, with the fast track and each stage of a case for an employed person laid out in turn.
• Finnish jobs with the best prospects, from care work and teaching to the tech and trade roles that firms find hard to fill.
• What working in Finland is like, from the hours you work each week to the help the state gives to families.
• Your move to Finland, with help on where to look for a flat, how to register your address and what to do in your first weeks.

Errors That Delay Finnish Permits

• Filing on paper, which costs more and tends to be slower than if you send the same form online.
• Taking a job whose pay falls below the pay deal for the trade or below the €1,600 monthly floor.
• Waiting too long to prove who you are once the form is in, which can cost you a place on the fast track.
• A firm that leaves its part of the case half done, or adds it too late for the fast track to apply.
• Moving to a new field of work while you still hold a permit that only covers the field you were in.
• Thinking that a residence permit from Sweden or Estonia will also let you take a job in Finland.

How EU Helpers Works on Finnish Applications

• We check which Finnish permit fits your job, your pay and your skills before you send a single form.
• We test the wage on offer against the pay deal and the €1,600 floor, so that a low offer is caught early.
• We help the firm add its part in Enter Finland on time, since a late entry can hold up the whole case.
• We help you get ready to prove who you are at the embassy or service point, and tell you what to bring.
• We guide you through your address sign-up, your tax card and the steps to extend your permit.

Migri, or at times some other Finnish authority, decides each case, and we say so from the start. See our list of approved visas, read what past clients say or learn more about EU Helpers and our team.

Get Started With EU Helpers

Pick the sign-up that fits your case, and we will explain the Finnish steps that apply, or book a call with one of our advisers first and talk it through.

Register as a Worker (Find Jobs in Finland)

Make a profile, and we will look for checked Finnish firms with roles that suit your skills, then help with each permit step.

1. Job matches with Finnish firms in care, tech and industry, or on farms and in Lapland.
2. A check of the pay on offer against the pay deal for your field of work.
3. A list of the papers Migri needs, built round your permit type and your family.
4. Help to get ready to prove who you are, and to use the fast track where it fits.
5. Help to register your address, get your tax card and later extend your permit.

Register as a Worker

Register as a Recruiter / Agency

Agencies can bring us workers for Finnish jobs that meet Migri's terms and the pay deal for each trade.

1. Open jobs in Finland, each with the permit route it needs and the pay it must meet.
2. Clear help on the labour market check, which Migri now runs as part of each permit case.
3. A check for gaps in each worker's file before it goes in to Migri.
4. News on each file at each stage, right up to the day the worker lands in Finland.
5. Early plans for the summer farm season and the busy winter months in Lapland.

Register as a Recruitment Partner

Register as an Employer (Hire Foreign Workers in Finland)

Firms in Finland short of staff at home and in the EU can hire from further away with us, within the Finnish rules.

1. Checked workers for care, tech, factory and seasonal jobs across the country.
2. Advice on what you must pay under your pay deal and the €1,600 monthly floor.
3. Help to fill in the job terms in Enter Finland for Employers in good time.
4. Tips on the fast track for the experts and EU Blue Card staff you plan to hire.
5. One contact for your team from the first search to the day your new hire starts work.

Register as an Employer

Why Registration Is Important

When you sign up, we can check your details and needs before any Finnish file goes in, so the contract, the pay terms and the proof of your skills are ready when Migri looks at the case.

Author

EU Helpers Team. We follow the news from Migri and each change to Finnish law, and we update this page when the fees, the pay rules or the way Migri deals with cases change.

Official Sources

Migri and the other official bodies below publish the Finnish rules this page describes:

• Finland, residence permits and the fast track, Finnish Immigration Service (Migri): migri.fi
• Finland, the Aliens Act and other legislation, Finlex database: finlex.fi
• Finland, labour market and employment policy, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment: tem.fi
• Finland, address registration and personal identity codes, Digital and Population Data Services Agency: dvv.fi
• Finland, tax cards for people coming to work, Finnish Tax Administration: vero.fi
• EU Immigration Portal, Finland country pages, European Commission: home-affairs.ec.europa.eu