Currently, applicants are eligible for a residence permit if their salary complies with a relevant collective agreement or meets the existing minimum threshold of €1,399 per month. With the legislative change, the collective agreement requirement remains, but the salary cannot fall below the new €1,600 limit. If an applicant's salary does not meet this requirement, the residence permit will not be granted.

The amendment is based on the Aliens Act, which mandates that residence permit applicants must have adequate financial resources to avoid dependence on social assistance. The updated income requirement will apply to all first-time residence permit applications starting in January 2025 and to extension applications from April 2025.

Tuuli Huhtilainen, Process Owner for residence permits for employed persons and seasonal work, noted that automated post-decision monitoring will expand in 2025 to ensure employees continue to meet salary requirements throughout the validity of their permit. Monitoring will focus on confirming that employees are paid appropriately, reflecting the permit’s conditions.

The residence permit for an employed person is the most common type of work-based permit in Finland. Between January and November 2024, 9,104 applications for this permit were submitted. The majority of applicants were from Thailand, the Philippines, India, China, and Vietnam. Many applicants from Thailand typically come to Finland for seasonal work, such as berry picking.

HT