Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
The Interior Ministry has submitted a proposal to change rules for residence permit candidates.
The new proposal includes changes regarding the permanent residency status for students, which will be lowered.
This reform aims to attract more international students to Finland.
The Finnish Interior Ministry has proposed tighter rules for family reunifications seeking residence permits, with the proposal being submitted for comments on January 27.
While this proposal aims to make it difficult to bring third-country nationals into the country for family reunification purposes, it has plans to streamline the process for students who want to obtain residence permits in Schengen.
Henrik Vuornos, a Member of the Parliament from the National Coalition Party, has acclaimed the proposal highly, especially in relation to the fast-track of residence permits for students, calling this a significant improvement.
The fast track to permanent residence permits for immigrants who graduated in Finland is a truly significant improvement to study-based immigration. In the future, an immigrant who graduates from a Finnish university can immediately receive a permanent residence permit if their studies include 15 credits of Finnish or Swedish language studies.
If approved and implemented, this proposal could grant international students in Finland the opportunity to become permanent residents without having to complete the required time of residency as it currently does.
With this reform, the government is sending a strong message to foreign students studying at Finnish universities that they want you to be part of Finnish society, build your life here.
To its core, this measure is expected to make Finland a more attractive destination for international students. By attracting more students in highly skilled fields, the government aims to address labor shortages across the country.
According to the Study in Finland website, around 63,000 applications were recorded in 2024, which was up by three per cent compared to the previous year.
About 53,800 of the applicants were foreign students, with 80 per cent of them coming from outside the EU. The top ten nationality groups for international students in Finland were Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ghana, India, Vietnam, Iran, and Cameroon.
Study programs for business, administration, and law, in addition to information and communication technologies (ICT), were the most popular choices for these students.