Finland is raising fees for foreigners’ permanent residence permit applications. The Finnish Ministry of the Interior has announced an increase in processing fees for various residence permit applications, effective 1 January 2025. The fee adjustments apply to both online and paper applications, with electronic submissions remaining cheaper due to lower processing costs.

The processing fee for an online application for a permanent residence permit will be increased to EUR 240. The previous price was EUR 220. The price of a paper application for a permanent residence permit will be increased to EUR 350. The previous price was EUR 270.

If your application is submitted by 31 December 2024, you will pay the processing fee applicable in 2024.

The processing fees for several residence permit applications will increase for immigrants. As a rule, the processing fees for electronic applications are lower than those for paper applications. The reason is that processing electronic applications is less costly for the Finnish Immigration Service.

One can apply online through the Enter Finland website. Online applications are cheaper than paper applications in almost all cases. Enter Finland is also the fastest way to apply. On your Enter Finland account, you can track the processing of your application and add more information quickly and easily.

The new processing fees have been updated on Wednesday, 1 January 2025.

Finland has also announced that the decision-making on certain residence permit applications will be on pause from 1 to 8 January 2025. The pause concerns applications for a residence permit for an employed person and residence permits for seasonal work that exceeds 6 months. The decision-making on both first and extended permits will be on pause.

Applying for international protection is free of charge for immigrants. However, a fee will be introduced for the renewal of residence permit cards for beneficiaries of temporary protection. The processing fee will be EUR 20 for electronic applications and EUR 40 for paper applications.

The first residence permit card will continue to be free of charge and valid for the entire duration of temporary protection, even if the date of expiration shown on the card is no longer valid. Renewing the card is not essential, as the public authorities can check the validity of information from their information system.

Nearly 70,000 new residence permit cards for beneficiaries of temporary protection have been applied for in 2023 and 2024. This has created a significant strain on the resources of the Finnish Immigration Service.

Going forward, it will be possible to apply for an extension to the deadline for voluntary return for a fee of EUR 100. No such fee has been charged in the past. It is estimated that less than 10 such applications have been submitted per year, but the number of applications is expected to grow.

The new rule is in force from 1 January 2025 and remain in force until 31 December 2025.

Further, a fee for reception services is to be increased for the first time since 2011. A reasonable fee may be charged for reception services from reception centre customers who have a regular income or significant assets. The fee charged for reception services will now be increased from a maximum of EUR 9 to a maximum of EUR 12 per day.

The fee has not been increased since 2011 despite significant growth in the costs of reception activities: the average daily price of reception centres has increased from EUR 9.60 in 2010 to EUR 20.17 in 2023. The aim is to gradually increase the fee to correspond to the actual costs of reception activities. This is aimed at achieving savings to improve the efficiency of reception activities in accordance with the Government Programme.

Increasing the fee may lead to more employed persons moving to private accommodation and promote the removal from the reception system of beneficiaries of temporary protection who have the opportunity to apply for a municipality of residence. This would reduce the overall costs of the reception system.

Charging the fee may not jeopardise a person’s indispensable subsistence or statutory maintenance obligation. Reception centres assess the situation on a person-specific or family-specific basis. The decisions are based on income and asset statements requested from the customers. The new rule is in force from 1 January 2025.

Finland has also increased the income required for a residence permit for an employed person to 1,600 euros per month as of 1 January 2025.