Persons coming to Finland to start a business have been able to apply for a residence permit on that basis since the spring of 2018; specialists can get a residence permit within approximately three weeks. The Finnish Immigration Service will be attending the Slush startup and technology event in Helsinki on 4 and 5 December to provide more information about these and other types of residence permits.
"The startup entrepreneur’s residence permit is a new way for people who want to start a business in Finland to move here to live", explains the Finnish Immigration Service’s Head of Section Anna Hyppönen.
The first step in applying for a startup entrepreneur’s residence permit is to submit a business plan to Business Finland. The Finnish Immigration Service makes a decision on the application based on Business Finland’s assessment of the applicant’s business plan. This year, the Finnish Immigration Service has received nearly 40 applications, and it has granted 21 permits since April. Most of the applicants are from Russia or India.
"The demand for international experts is increasing in Finland. Even though we cannot improve the weather, there is a lot we can do to make the country more attractive for international specialists. A swift and easy permit process for specialists and their families is an important part of this," says Kai Mykkänen, Finland’s Minister of the Interior.
Specialists can apply for a residence permit on the basis of their specialist status. Specialists’ residence permit applications are among the most rapidly processed work-based residence permit applications at the Finnish Immigration Service. The average turnaround time is just three weeks. The quickest way to get a specialist’s residence permit is to apply via the Enter Finland portal.
The number of foreign specialists moving to Finland has been increasing in recent years. Specialist’s residence permit applicants are usually university-educated and must have gross earnings in excess of EUR　3,000 per month. Many such applicants work in fields such as IT.
More than 1,300 individuals have already applied for their first specialist’s residence permit this year. The number of applications has increased from previous years.
The Finnish Immigration Service will be answering questions about work-based residence permits at Slush on Tuesday, 4 December and Wednesday, 5 December. An expert from the Finnish Immigration Service will be present at Business Finland’s stand from 14 to 16 to show how specialists can apply for a residence permit.