Finland · Work authorisation

EU Blue Card

Issued by Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri). It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
5
Possible outcomes
4
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

An EU Blue Card issued by Finland gives the right to work only in Finland; holders of a Blue Card issued by another EU member state may still come to Finland for temporary business activity of up to 90 days without a separate Finnish permit. As with the specialist permit, a first Blue Card has to be applied for at a Finnish mission or an accredited application centre abroad, and the right to work begins once the permit itself is issued, not on the date of a D visa alone.

2026 figure

Salary floor

EUR 3,937 a month

Migri's EU Blue Card page states the same monthly floor as the specialist permit for 2026. Migri lowered the Blue Card floor to match the specialist floor with effect from 13 May 2024 and has stated the two together on its pages since; confirm the figure in force on the date you apply, since Migri revises it periodically without publishing a formula.

A figure without the year it belongs to and the condition attached to it is how someone rules themselves out of a permit they qualify for. Both are above.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

Coming to Finland for highly qualified employment, with either a higher education degree that took at least 3 years to complete, or — where you do not hold one — at least 5 years of professional experience, acquired through the actual pursuit of your profession, at a level comparable to a higher education qualification. You must have confirmed employment lasting at least 6 months before you apply.

The procedure

5 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Secure confirmed employment lasting at least 6 months, in highly qualified work, before you apply.Migri's own page adds a caveat without detailing it: "Under the EU Blue Card Directive, there are certain situations in which an EU Blue Card cannot be issued" — check with Migri whether one applies to your case before relying on this route.
  2. Gather your passport, a passport photo taken within the last 6 months, colour copies of your passport's data page and any pages carrying notes, proof that you are legally staying in the country where you submit the application, and — if you already hold a Blue Card issued by another EU member state — a copy of that card.As with the specialist permit, a degree certificate or a decision from the Finnish National Agency for Education is not on Migri's own list of required attachments for this permit.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Apply online in Enter Finland, pay the application fee, and have your employer separately supplement the application in Enter Finland for Employers with the terms of employment.Fast-tracking adds the same two conditions as the specialist permit: proving your identity within 5 working days of submission, and your employer adding the terms of employment within 2 working days of it.

Register and start working

  1. Prove your identity at the service point or Finnish mission you booked, then wait for the decision — Migri will contact you if it needs anything further.
  2. If you also applied for a D visa, you can travel to Finland as soon as the residence permit decision is positive and a D-visa sticker has been attached to your passport at the mission, instead of waiting abroad for the permit card to be posted to you.The D visa does not shorten the decision itself, and Migri states plainly that it is only worth applying for if you can reach Finland within 2 weeks of the decision.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Electronic application, first permit
€530
Electronic application, extended permit
€230
Paper application, first permit
€630
Paper application, extended permit
€430

Timeframes

Fast-track decision
Two weeks, stated directly on Migri's EU Blue Card and fast-track pages — for a first permit only, and conditional on the steps above
Standard decision, outside fast track
Not published as a single stable figure — Migri runs an interactive Processing Time Checker for this permit, updated every 2 months, instead of stating one number on the page
D visa validity before the residence permit takes effect
Up to 100 days, and it must overlap the permit's own validity by at least 1 day

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Finland and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

5 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Finland opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

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