It is already official. Despite all the problems and delays accumulated during 2019, the Finnish Immigration Service will raise the fees for processing residence permit applications as of 1 January 2020. The increase will especially affect employees and entrepreneurs who make their requests electronically.
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior announced on a news release that the most significant price rise will affect the fees for processing applications for residence permits submitted by employees and entrepreneurs. In short, the processing fee for paper applications will be raised to 640 euros (previously it was 600 euros) and the processing fee for online applications will be 490 euros (previously 400 euros).
The Ministry of the Interior justified this high rise of the online applications fee by saying that "the Finnish Immigration Service is nowadays better able to specify how processing costs are divided between online and paper applications. This will be reflected in the price of the processing."
Applications for citizenship
The fees for processing applications for Finnish citizenship will rise by 40 euros. In future, the processing fee for a citizenship application made in paper form will be 520 euros. If you apply for citizenship online, the price will be 420 euros. Determination of citizenship status will cost 100 euros (previously it cost 50 euros).
But this is not all. The Ministry of the Interior also announced that in the future Migri will charge a 50 euros fee for unused appointments. In other words if the customer fails to arrive at the office of the Finnish Immigration Service and has not cancelled the appointment, he will have to pay.
According to the figures included in the release, by the end of August 2019, a total of 3,142 customers had failed to attend their appointment without cancelling beforehand.
More resources for Migri
The Government says prices will be raised "to better reflect the costs incurred in processing applications."
According to this explanation, the aim is that "processing fees will contribute to ensuring adequate resources for the Finnish Immigration Service and to reaching the deadlines set for the processing," which for employment-based residence permits is one month.
"The processing fee is still lower than the costs in the case of first residence permit applications and in the case of temporary residence permit applications for minors and students," the Ministry of the Interior remarks.
Applying for international protection is free of charge.
