A Finnish family reunification permit lets you join a family member who already lives in Finland or is moving there on a residence permit. You must generally apply from abroad and show sufficient net household income before your permit can be issued. This guide sets out who qualifies as family under Finnish law, the money required for your municipality, and the order of the process.

Who counts as family under Finnish law, and who does not

Finnish law defines who counts as a family member, and the concept is narrower than in many other countries. The family member who lives in Finland is called the sponsor. A residence permit requires that the applicant intends to lead a family life with the sponsor in Finland.

Under Finnish law, family members of a Finnish citizen or a non-EU foreign national are:

A cohabiting partner must have lived with the sponsor in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years, unless they have joint custody of a child or there are other serious reasons. Living together only on holiday trips does not count.

A person you are dating is not considered a family member. However, they may apply for a permit under the separate intimate-relationship ground; read about other residence permit conditions if this applies to you. Other relatives can get a permit only if the sponsor is a Finnish citizen or holds refugee status, subsidiary protection, or temporary protection.

Details on these definitions are published by Migri on moving to Finland to be with a family member.

Which application you need depends on the sponsor's status

The right application depends on your relationship to the sponsor and on the grounds on which the sponsor lives in Finland. The Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, known as Migri) provides an Application Finder to help you choose the correct form.

If the sponsor holds international protection, they must have lived in Finland with a residence permit for at least two years before family members can apply. Established family members of refugees and families of temporary-protection beneficiaries are exempt from this two-year waiting period.

The age-21 rule for spouses and partners since 16 June 2025

For applications made on or after 16 June 2025, both the spouse or partner and the sponsor must be at least 21 years old when the permit becomes valid.

A sponsor who is a Finnish citizen is not subject to the sponsor's own age requirement, but this does not exempt the foreign spouse.

The application may be submitted at the earliest nine months before turning 21. Submitting an application earlier than this may lead to a refusal, and the permit cannot start before both individuals have reached age 21. If the sponsor holds a student permit, the spouse can apply at the earliest three months before either partner turns 21. Spouses who share joint custody of a child can obtain a permit as the child's parent or guardian even if they are under 21.

Applications submitted before 16 June 2025 are decided under the old law. However, an extension applied for after that date falls under the new rules if your previous permit was granted on another ground or based on a different family relationship.

The income requirement in euros

Family members of a person who holds a Finnish residence permit must meet an income requirement. The thresholds published by Migri came into force on 1 November 2024. The income requirement is calculated from net income, meaning your funds after taxes and statutory pension and insurance contributions are deducted. Family members of sponsors with international or temporary protection have separate income rules set out on Migri's website.

The required income may be earned by the applicant or by the sponsor in Finland through employment or business activities. Accepted sources also include pensions, personal assets, rental income, and dividends. Social assistance, labour market subsidy (työmarkkinatuki), basic unemployment allowance (peruspäiväraha), and the general social security benefit do not count towards the requirement. The general social security benefit replaced the labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance on 1 May 2026 and is excluded as well; you can check which funds apply in our overview of Kela benefits.

Certain benefits intended to compensate for living expenses reduce the total euro amount you must prove. These include child benefit (lapsilisä), child care allowance (lastenhoidon tuki), child maintenance allowance (elatustuki), study grant (opintoraha), and housing allowance.

The required monthly net amounts depend on your municipality and household composition:

Helsinki metropolitan area

Applies to Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, and Vantaa:

Worked example from Migri: One adult and one child living in Helsinki need €1,820 net per month.

Other large municipalities

Applies to a designated group including Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, and Rovaniemi:

Worked example from Migri: Two adults and two children living in Tampere need €2,620 net per month.

All other municipalities

For families with children, Migri may accept income slightly below these thresholds for exceptionally weighty reasons or if it serves the best interest of the child, provided the applicant requests this and supplies supporting evidence. Family members of a Finnish citizen (spouse, child under 18, or a child's parent or guardian) do not need to meet the income requirement.

Review the detailed figures directly on Migri's income requirement for family members.

Pending legislative changes: The Finnish government has proposed setting family income thresholds by government decree instead. The government has stated that thresholds will not be lowered and are expected to increase. Public comments on the proposal closed on 2 October 2026, and the proposal is due before Parliament during the autumn 2026 session. Until any decree is formally issued, Migri's table above applies.

Applying from abroad, and the few cases where you can apply in Finland

A first family permit must be applied for from abroad. You prove your identity in person at a Finnish embassy or consulate, and you must wait for the decision outside Finland. A first family permit can be submitted inside Finland in only two situations: if you are a family member of a Finnish citizen, or if the application is for a child born in Finland.

An applicant aged 18 or over must apply personally. The sponsor cannot submit the application on their behalf; only an appointed legal counsel or representative can do so. For a child born in Finland, parents must apply for a residence permit within three months of birth, even if they are also applying for Finnish citizenship for the child.

If a child has a second parent who holds joint custody and lives abroad, that parent must give written consent confirmed by a notary public or another official authority. Marriage, custody, and similar certificates must be legalised unless issued in a Nordic or EU country, and must be translated if not drafted in Finnish, Swedish, or English.

If the sponsor applies under the fast-track route (as a specialist, ICT worker, top or middle management, EU Blue Card holder, or start-up founder) and the family submits their applications within two days of the sponsor's, the family can receive decisions within two weeks. If the sponsor is an employee on an ordinary permit, consult the Finland work permit guide for their base processing steps.

Interviews and DNA tests

Migri conducts an oral hearing with the applicant or sponsor when there is no other way to establish the grounds for the residence permit. The interview is arranged either by a Finnish mission or by Migri, and the applicant may have to travel to an embassy in another country.

Migri may offer a DNA test when biological ties cannot otherwise be verified. Neither the applicant nor the sponsor can demand a test on their own initiative. The test is voluntary, and the DNA test is paid for by the Finnish government. If a child is aged 12 or over, the child must personally consent to the DNA test.

Fees, processing times and current delays

Application processing fees depend on how you submit your documentation:

The statutory maximum processing time for standard family-ties permits is nine months. For family members of a student or researcher, the statutory maximum is three months. For family members of an EU Blue Card holder, the statutory maximum is two months.

Processing of family-ties applications is running behind schedule. Migri currently publishes no average time estimates for these applications, listing only the statutory maximums. Migri is prioritising applications submitted on or before 31 July 2025 where identity was proven more than six months ago. It is also actively processing applications for students' family members and aiming to speed up children's cases.

If the sponsor's own residence permit application is still pending, the family member's application cannot be decided before it.

After the permit is granted

A family permit issued to a spouse gives an unrestricted right to work in Finland, but this right begins only once the permit has been granted, not while waiting for a decision.

If your residence permit card does not include a personal identity code (henkilötunnus), you must visit the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Digi- ja väestötietovirasto, or DVV) in person after arrival to register your details and apply for a municipality of residence (kotikunta). Read the guide on first steps after moving to Finland for this procedure.

Extended residence permits can only be applied for within Finland, and you must submit the extension application before your current permit expires. Finally, remember that you must tell Migri if your family ties change during the application process, such as a birth, a change in custody, a marriage, a divorce, or a death in the family.