Finland: decisions on complex work permit applications capped at three months

In brief

• Act 912/2026 amending the Aliens Act was signed on 16 October 2026 and has applied since 27 October 2026.
• The ordinary deadline for a decision on an application for a permit to work stays the same: up to two months from receipt of a complete application.
• If a case is exceptionally complex and is handled by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) alone, the decision must be made within three months. Previously there was no exact limit.
• If a worker loses their job and there is reasonable suspicion that they worked in particularly exploitative conditions, the permit is protected from withdrawal for three months longer than usual.
• Within 7 days, the employer notifies Migri of hiring anyone who is not an EU or EEA national, including a family member of an EU citizen and a posted worker.
• The amendments transpose EU Directive 2024/1233 on the single permit for residence and work into Finnish law.

Processing times: what the law now says

In Finland a foreign national coming to work usually receives a single permit covering both residence and work. It is issued by the Finnish Immigration Service, Migri. The law already required such applications to be decided quickly: within two months at the latest from the moment the service receives a properly completed application with all attachments. That deadline has not changed. The clock starts when the applicant has visited the authority in person to give biometrics and the applicant and employer have met the legal requirements for filing.

What has changed is something else. Previously the law allowed the deadline to be extended in exceptional circumstances linked to the complexity of the case, but did not say by how much. In practice this meant a complex case could sit without a clear end. The limit is now set out explicitly: if a work-related application is exceptionally complex, Migri must decide within three months of receiving it. In other words, no more than one month can be added to the ordinary two months.

There are also two-stage cases. For an entrepreneur's permit, a regional development centre first makes a partial decision, and for the extension of a growth-company founder's permit, the state agency Business Finland issues a statement. They have one month for this, or two months in exceptionally complex cases. After that, Migri has another month for the final decision.

In its explanatory memorandum to the bill, the government stressed that three months is not a general permission to work more slowly. Applications must still be handled without undue delay. An extension is allowed only for a case that is genuinely complex: for example, where there is no established decision practice or case law for the situation, or where some other exceptional circumstance arises in the case. The authority must be ready to show what the complexity is.

The applicant must learn about the extension. According to the explanatory memorandum, this can be done through the system in which a person sees the details of their application, or in another way, such as an automatic message when a certain point in the processing time is reached. So after filing, it is worth checking your application regularly in your online account rather than waiting for a paper letter.

What this means for you. For most applicants the ordinary deadline stays the same: two months. The new rule matters for complex cases: they now have a three-month limit, and the applicant must be told about the extension.

When the clock stops

The processing time is not a stopwatch that runs without a break. If the authority requests additional documents or explanations from the applicant, the employer or another organisation, the clock is paused until the information arrives. This was already the case. What is new is that the law now expressly names another reason for a pause: when the authority is waiting for the results of an inquiry by another public body.

The explanatory memorandum gives examples: a police pre-trial investigation or an inspection by the occupational safety and health authority. Such inquiries are linked to combating labour exploitation, human trafficking, illegal entry or to internal security. If such an inquiry concerns the employer, the decision on the application may take longer than three months, and the law expressly allows for this.

The practical conclusion follows. The most common cause of delay is an incomplete application and follow-up requests. The more complete and careful the documents at filing, the fewer reasons there are to stop the clock. Diplomas, certificates and records from other countries often need to be legalised and translated, and qualifications need to be recognised. Our services for an apostille, sworn translation, recognition of education and a criminal record certificate help here. What an apostille is, the glossary explains.

What this means for you. If the authority has requested documents or is waiting for a police or labour inspection inquiry, the clock stops. A complete application the first time is the best way to stay within two months.

Protection for workers who have suffered exploitation

Since June 2025 Finland has had a protection period rule. If a person with a work permit loses their job, the permit is not withdrawn because of unemployment as long as it lasts no more than three or six months. The EU directive provides six months for people who have held a single permit for more than two years. During this time they can find new work and stay in the country lawfully.

The new amendment adds three more months to this period if Migri has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person worked in particularly exploitative conditions. The concept comes from EU law: working conditions that are strikingly worse than those of lawfully employed workers, for example ones that threaten health and safety and offend human dignity. This includes conditions resulting from discrimination, including on grounds of gender. The addition is the same three months whether the ordinary period was three or six months.

Migri decides whether to apply the rule. The service takes into account what the worker says, as well as information from the occupational safety and health authority, the police and the border guard. According to the parliamentary Administration Committee, findings from labour inspections may be central to such a decision. If the rule is applied, Migri records in its system that the permit may not be withdrawn during the extended period. An important caveat: the addition works only while the permit itself is valid. This provision does not extend a permit beyond the period for which it was issued.

The new provision complements what was already in the law. A worker whose employer has seriously breached its obligations can obtain an extended permit that does not require an existing job: it lets the person look for a new position or start their own business. There is also an unrestricted right to work on application. Finland's Supreme Administrative Court ruled in 2024 that, before withdrawing a permit, Migri must check whether the person is entitled to such an extended permit. In more serious cases, such as human trafficking, separate provisions apply.

Not everyone in parliament considered the amendment sufficient. In a dissenting opinion, two members of the Administration Committee pointed out that labour exploitation is hard to detect and that three months is too short, and proposed rejecting the bill. The committee majority backed the text without changes, and parliament adopted it.

What this means for you. If a worker leaves an unscrupulous employer and the authorities see signs of severe exploitation, they have more time to find new work without losing the right to stay. But the problem has to be reported, and the permit must still be valid.

What changes for employers

Finland already required employers to notify Migri when hiring foreign nationals. The amendment makes the obligation clearer and broader. Previously an employer did not report hiring EU and EEA nationals or their family members. In practice it was hard to tell whether a new employee was the family member of an EU citizen, and a mistake could amount to a breach of the law. Now only citizenship matters: if the employee is not an EU or EEA national, the employer reports the hire, even if that person is the family member of an EU citizen.

The second change concerns posted workers. The obligation now expressly covers foreign companies that send an employee who is not an EU or EEA national to Finland. For them the deadline runs from the moment the worker starts working in Finland. The parliamentary Employment and Equality Committee asked not to create unnecessary burden, since posting companies already notify the labour inspectorate. The Administration Committee replied that these notifications differ in content and purpose, but stressed that the rule must be as clear as possible.

What exactly to report: details of the employee, the duration of the employment, the pay, the working hours and the applicable collective agreement. The deadline is no later than the seventh day after the hire or after the posted worker starts work. If the employee never started work, has left or has stopped working for another reason, this must be reported no later than the fourteenth day. The information must be submitted through Migri's online service. A paper form is allowed only for a special reason, and then the deadline for hiring information is ten days.

The obligation mainly covers cases where the authority has not received the information through a permit application. A typical example is an employer hiring a foreign national who already lives in Finland on their own permit. If the employer already provided all the employment details when the permit application was filed, there is no need to report again. The employer must also check that the employee has the right to work and keep these records.

What this means for you. An employer in Finland no longer needs to find out an employee's family status. If you hire someone without an EU or EEA passport, notify Migri within 7 days through the online service.

Other amendments

The act also corrects a technical error. In 2023, when the law was amended, the right to work was accidentally dropped for people who had received a temporary residence permit on other special grounds. This right has now been restored in limited form: such a person may do certain types of work defined in the law for which no separate work permit is needed. The government stressed that changing the legal position of these people in 2023 had never been intended.

According to the government's assessment, the amendments have no financial impact. At the same time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is running a separate project on measures against labour exploitation in the permit procedure. Its results are not yet available, so changes in this area may continue.

Why this is happening across Europe

The amendments transpose the revised EU Single Permit Directive 2024/1233 into Finnish law. It was adopted in April 2024, and EU countries had to transpose it by 21 May 2026. The directive requires a decision on a single permit within 90 days and allows the deadline to be extended by 30 days only in exceptional, duly justified cases. Finland kept its shorter two-month deadline and expressed the extension limit as one month.

The directive aims to make it easier to hire workers from outside the EU, shorten processing times and better protect them from exploitation. Similar changes are now under way across the European Union, so the rules for working and relocating in neighbouring countries are changing too. On the overall trend, see our analysis of how Europe is tightening borders while issuing more permits. On a neighbouring country, see our news on family rules for long-term residents in Sweden. On the labour market for foreigners, see our piece on the Polish minimum wage in 2027, and on recognition of qualifications, our news on the EU proposal.

If you are choosing a country to work in, compare the conditions. On work permits there are our articles on the Hungarian work permit, the Cyprus work permit, the Italian work visa and the Portuguese work visa. If you do not need to work locally, see EU residence without a stay requirement. The terms residence permit, temporary residence, permanent residence and Schengen are explained in the glossary. Travel freedom with a Finnish passport is in our passport index, and other regional news is in the Europe section.

What to do

If you are planning to relocate together with a business, see our business relocation service. All the residence programmes we handle are collected in the residence section. To go through your situation, book an online consultation; all BRIDGES services are on the home page.

How this article was prepared

Sources: Finnish Act 912/2026 amending the Aliens Act 301/2004 in the official Finlex statute collection (signed on 16 October 2026, published on 20 October 2026, in force from 27 October 2026); government bill HE 80/2026 vp of 30 April 2026 with its explanatory memorandum; Administration Committee report HaVM 19/2026 vp of 25 September 2026 and parliament's reply EV 136/2026 vp on the website of the Parliament of Finland; Directive (EU) 2024/1233 on the EU law portal. This article does not replace advice from a lawyer specialising in Finnish immigration law.