Work Permit Services

An employee who is not a citizen of an EU country, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, or Switzerland usually needs either a residence permit for an employed person or another type of residence permit which entitles them to gainful employment.  Some tasks specified in the Aliens Act may be performed for a limited period of time with a visa or fully exempted from visa.

The residence permit for an employed person is issued in two stages. The TE Office makes a partial decision for the residence permit application for an employed person (TTOL) and the Finnish Immigration Service issues the final residence permit decision. The TE Office’s partial decision is based on an overall assessment, which includes assessing the availability of labour, the terms of the employment relationship, and both the employer’s and employee’s prerequisites. The employee’s income through gainful employment must also be secured.

The residence permit applications for employed persons (TTOL) are processed nationwide without regional jurisdictional boundaries. In the Åland Islands, the applications are processed by Ålands arbetsmarknads- and studieservicemyndighet (The Åland Labour Market and Student Service Authority).

Processing times

Employee residence permit applications are processed within a maximum of two months from the date the authority has received the properly completed application with its attachments. The TE Office first makes a partial decision, after which the Finnish Immigration Service makes the final decision on the application.

 

Work permit services will be transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service as of 1 January 2025

As of 1 January 2025, the Finnish Immigration Service is responsible for all matters related to residence permits for employed persons. The aim is to improve the customer experience and streamline the processing process. This change is part of the TE Services reform.

The decision-making on certain residence permit applications will be on pause from 1 to 8 January 2025. The processing pause concerns the residence permit for an employed person and the residence permits for seasonal work where the permit period is at least six months. The decision-making on first and extended permits will be on pause. The pause does not affect the submission of residence permit applications: Applications can be submitted normally through the online service Enter Finland even during the break.

More information

• TE Office’s work permit services will be transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service as of 1 January 2025 (toimistot.te-palvelut.fi)
• Pause in processing of work-based permits in January 2025 (migri.fi)
• Online service Enter Finland (enterfinland.fi)