The Finnish authorities have decided to increase prices for several immigration services, including the processing of citizenship applications, as well as residence permit applications for employees and entrepreneurs.
The decision has been announced by the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, in an annual decree on the fees of the Finnish Immigration Services, which is set to become effective starting from next Friday, January 1, 2021.
According to the Ministry, the move has been taken in a bid to better cover the costs of the Immigration Agency responsible for processing these applications.
“The fee for processing paper-based residence permit applications for an employee and entrepreneur in the coming year is €690 or €610, depending on whether it is subject to an availability assessment,” the Ministry points out while explaining that previously the fees were €640 or €560.
Fees for electronic residence permit applications for employees and entrepreneurs will not change.
In addition, the fees for processing citizenship applications are set to increase as follows:
paper citizenship application €590 (previously €520)
electronic citizenship application €460 (previously €420)
Students will not be affected by the increase in prices of immigration services, as even in the coming year, the processing fee for a first student residence permit will remain €450 per paper application and €350 for an electronic application.
Whereas the price for other types of first residence permit applications will be €520 per paper application, and €470 for an electronic application.
“The first application for a residence permit (excluding employee and self-employed person’s permits) and for a minor and a student’s residence permit are still cheaper than the costs incurred by the Agency,” the Ministry asserts, explaining that applications for international protection will remain free of charge.
The Ministry encourages all applicants to apply electronically, noting that electronic applications are cheaper because they are more efficient and less costly for the Agency. While at the same time, asserting that they are easier and cheaper for the applicants as well.
The processing fees for all applications submitted to the Finnish Immigration Service are set annually by a decree of the Ministry of the Interior on the fees for the services of the Finnish Immigration Service.
According to a recent report of SchengenVisaInfo.com on the number of first residence permits issued by the EU-27 Member States in 2019, a total of 31,868 third-country citizens received their first Finnish residence permit.
The majority of Finnish residence permits were issued for employment reasons (15,137), followed by family reasons (9,601).
Ukrainians accounted for the largest number of first Finnish residence permit beneficiaries, with a total of 8,656 Ukrainians winning the right to live in Finland in 2019. Russians were the second (3,306) and Indians the third (2,790).