The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has announced that it will raise the income threshold requirements for residence permit applicants beginning November 1.
Under the current rules, single adults must demonstrate net annual earnings of €12,000. The new threshold will require applicants to show a yearly income of €14,520 to be eligible for the country’s residence permit, Schengen.News reports.
As Migri reveals, such a decision will also affect household income thresholds, which will rise with the number of people in the household. Students will also see an increase in their required income, with the monthly threshold rising from €560 to €800.
At the same time, these changes will impact new applicants, but existing permit holders will not be affected until further notice. It will also apply to residence permit applicants conducting research in Finland, provided their research funding is personally financed.
We may deviate from the income threshold by a maximum of 15 per cent due to lower housing costs in certain regions, for example.
Additionally, the income requirement for au pairs will increase from €280 to €340 per month, and working holiday applicants will need to demonstrate €2,450 for the first three months of their stay, up from the current €2,000.
New Measure Aims to Ensure Applicants Have Sufficient Financial Resources
The increase ensures applicants have sufficient financial resources to support themselves while living in Finland.
When establishing the income threshold for students, we have considered several factors, including the lower cost of housing in student accommodation, the subsidised meals, and the possible student discounts. The same income threshold will be applied to the residence permit issued for a student or researcher to look for work or to start a business.
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri)
The new thresholds are based on the Social Insurance Institution of Finland’s (Kela) essential social assistance payments in the Helsinki metropolitan area and reflect housing and healthcare cost adjustments.
From 2015 until 2023, Finnish authorities granted approximately one million residence permits, 978,506 of which were issued to non-EU immigrants. Additionally, Finnish authorities announced that stricter rules for acquiring citizenship will be enacted on October 1, 2024.
