Finland Entrepreneur Permit

1. Residence permit12 months
2. Renew48 months at a time
3. Permanent residencyafter 6 years
4. Citizenshipafter 5 years

• Permanent residency 6 years
• Citizenship 5 years
• Dual citizenship allowed
• Language required for citizenship B1

Country

Finland

Program

Finland Entrepreneur Permit

Local name

Yrittäjän oleskelulupa

Type

Entrepreneur

Status

Active

Initial duration

12 months

Renewable

Yes (48 mo)

Residence permit for a non-EU entrepreneur who will work in a business registered in Finland. A sole trader, a partner in a general partnership, a general partner in a limited partnership, a qualifying cooperative member, or a managing director or board member who personally owns at least 30 percent of a limited company can apply. An Economic Development Centre first decides whether the business is profitable and the income is enough. The Finnish Immigration Service then decides the permit.

Tax regime

Worldwide

Regime name

Progressive state tax up to 37.5% plus municipal tax; capital income 30% or 34%

Foreign income taxed

Yes

Capital gains taxed

Yes

Method

online, in person

Processing time

Up to 60 days

Apply from abroad

Yes

The online fee for a first permit is EUR 750 and the paper fee is EUR 900. An extension is EUR 230 online or EUR 430 on paper. An adult family member pays EUR 750 online or EUR 800 on paper. A child under 18 pays EUR 400 online or EUR 430 on paper. USD figures use the ECB reference rate of 8 October 2026, 1 EUR = 1.1186 USD. There is no published national euro threshold. The Uusimaa centre says that, from 1 November 2024, its indicative net income for one person is about EUR 15,000 a year, following Migri's general livelihood guideline, and that it may change the figure. Early-stage support can be employment income, the company's initial funding, or the applicant's own funds, not other assets. The business must already have a Business ID and a Trade Register entry. Light entrepreneurs who invoice through a service company and have no Business ID cannot use this permit. The applicant must work in the company in Finland. The right to work is otherwise unrestricted, but livelihood must come primarily from the business. The centre's partial decision sets the length and whether the permit is temporary (B) or continuous (A). The statutory default for a first fixed-term permit is one year. An extension is at most four years. A temporary permit for business can become continuous after two years of continuous residence if the conditions are still met. A first permit is filed abroad. An extension is filed in Finland. The centre has one month to make its partial decision and Migri has one month after that. The statutory time is two months from a complete application, longer in exceptional cases. This permit is not on the two-week fast-track list. Permanent residence and citizenship follow the same rules as other continuous permits. For applications from 8 January 2026 the ordinary permanent-residence path is six years on an A permit. Time on a temporary permit does not count toward that period. Citizenship is five years with Finnish or Swedish at B1, and eight years for someone exempt from the language test. Finland allows multiple citizenship. A knowledge test applies to citizenship applications filed on or after 1 March 2027. A proposal to drop the Business ID requirement before the first permit, when the business has not yet started in Finland, is scheduled for 12 January 2028 and is not in force. The 2026 fee decree expires on 31 December 2026.

1. Oct 10, 2026

   Added

   created the entrepreneur residence permit as a separate record from the startup permit, with the EUR 750 online fee, a one-year statutory default and a six-year ordinary permanent-residence path (migri.fi).