Processing times for students’ residence permit applications continue to improve despite increasing numbers

A student usually applies for their first residence permit from abroad once they have been granted a study place and they wish to move to Finland. Residence permit applications are submitted by citizens of non-European Union countries.

The largest numbers of applications have been submitted by citizens of Nepal, Bangladesh, China, India and Sri Lanka.  

Most applicants receive their permits in less than a month

By the end of July 2024, a decision had been made on the 8,159 first applications submitted by students, and a residence permit had been issued to 96% of them. 

Around 94% of the students applying for their first residence permit receive a decision within 30 days or less. In 2023, the average processing time was 38 days.  

Key reasons for the improved processing times include increased use of automation and efforts made to develop the permit process. In particular, automated decisions have sped up the processing of students' residence permits. 

An automated decision means that the Finnish Immigration Service's system makes the decision automatically if the applicant meets the conditions laid down in the law. In other words, rather than turning down applications, the automated system only makes decisions to grant permits. While the actual decision is generated automatically, the processing of the application also includes tasks completed by an official.

“This year, automation has accounted for decisions on 19% of applications out of all positive decisions, which has significantly sped up the processing of the applications. Thanks to automated decisions, our experts can spend more time on applications which require further examination and which the automated system cannot yet handle. This speeds up the processing of all students' applications,” explains process owner Anu Tarén, who directs the processing of residence permits for students and researchers.

Some students may face delays in starting their studies, however. One of the factors leading to this situation is that, according to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, there was a backlog of student identifications at the embassies of New Delhi and Abu Dhabi among others. This is why some applications will not be received for processing until August and September.

Further information for the media 

Process owner Anu Tarén, firstname.lastname@migri.fi, tel. 0295 433 273

Ministry for Foreign Affairs press release 28 June 2024 (in English only): Identification of student applicants will be temporarily prioritized from 1st July onwards at VFS Abu Dhabi - Finland abroad: United Arab Emirates

Ministry for Foreign Affairs press release 20 June 2024 (in English only): Identification of student applicants will be temporarily prioritized from 1st July onwards at VFS Abu Dhabi - Finland abroad: India

Website: Automated decision