EU Blue Card
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | EU:n sininen kortti as of 2026-08-22[1] Name the statute itself gives the permit, at erityisosaajalaki 224/2024, section 5. Migri's Finnish page for this route is headed “Oleskelulupahakemus EU:n sinistä korttia hakevalle”, which is an application-form title rather than the permit's name. |
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| Official name (English) | EU Blue Card as of 2026-08-21[2][9] |
| Legal basis | Laki kolmansien maiden kansalaisten maahantulon ja oleskelun edellytyksistä korkeaa osaamistasoa vaativaa työtä varten (erityisosaajalaki) 224/2024 (consolidated to 9 June 2026), section 5 as of 2026-08-22[1] Section 5 grants the EU Blue Card on a contract or binding job offer of at least six months for highly qualified work at a salary of at least the average gross wage of an employee, plus documents evidencing high professional qualification and any special licence the work requires. The card is issued for two years, or for the contract term plus three months where that is shorter, capped at two years. The salary floor is the same formula as the specialist permit. Finnish text: “5 § EU:n sinisen kortin myöntäminen. EU:n sininen kortti myönnetään hakemuksesta kolmannen maan kansalaiselle, jos hänellä on: 1) vähintään kuuden kuukauden pituinen korkeaa osaamistasoa vaativa työtä koskeva työsopimus tai sitova työtarjous, jossa sovittu palkka on vähintään keskimääräinen palkansaajan bruttopalkka; 2) korkean ammattipätevyyden osoittavat asiakirjat; ja 3) asiakirjat, jotka osoittavat, jos työssä vaaditaan erityistä pätevyyttä, lupaa tai hyväksyttyä terveydentilaa, että hän täyttää niitä koskevat vaatimukset. … EU:n sininen kortti myönnetään kahdeksi vuodeksi. Jos työsuhde on voimassa tätä lyhyemmän ajan, EU:n sininen kortti myönnetään työsuhteen voimassaoloajaksi lisättynä kolmella kuukaudella, mutta enintään kahdeksi vuodeksi.” |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-21[8][9] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-21[5][8] Migri states that citizens of an EU Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland must register their right of residence rather than apply for a residence permit. Mapped to the eu, eea and efta bloc ids: the four named non-EU states are exactly the EEA/EFTA set, and the vocabulary has no separate id for Switzerland alone. |
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Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-08-21[3] 'An EU Blue Card is issued for a maximum period of two years at a time.' Recorded from Migri's superseded /en/eu-blue-card page because the current page states no term at all. The two-year ceiling is the one fact on that page not contradicted by the current one, but it rests on a page whose fees and minimum contract length are demonstrably out of date. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-21[2][3] Both pages describe an extended permit for this card. |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2026-08-21[2] The right to work is in employment requiring high-level competence; the permit is not bound to a certain employer. An EU Blue Card issued by Finland gives the right to work only in Finland. A holder may move to a second Member State and, if refused a card there, return to Finland and stay three months even after the Finnish card has expired. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. Migri states that a holder of EU long-term resident status cannot be granted an EU Blue Card, but says nothing about the reverse. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-21[2] Confirmed employment before applying; the employer supplements the application with the terms of employment. The employment relationship must last at least six months on Migri's current page. Migri's superseded /en/eu-blue-card page instead requires 'a signed employment contract or a binding job offer' for work lasting 'at least a year' – see the note on min employment length below. |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-21[7] Migri's labour market test page carries an exhaustive list of the permits to which labour market testing applies – the residence permit for an employed person, and the residence permit for seasonal work where the work lasts 6-9 months. This route is not on it. Recorded false on that enumeration, not on this route page's silence. |
| Qualification requirement | degree, equivalent experience as of 2026-08-21[2] Higher professional qualifications, attested either by a higher education degree of at least three years' duration, or – usually – by at least five years' professional experience at a level comparable to higher education qualifications. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-21[2] |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-21[2] |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-21[2] Migri's current EU Blue Card page contemplates an application submitted in Finland (it asks for form MP_1 in that case) as well as abroad, and a holder of another Member State's EU Blue Card attaches a copy of that card. Recorded 'either' on that basis rather than on the general abroad-only rule. |
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| Fees |
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| Stages |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-21[2] Migri's route page states no residence or presence condition for keeping this permit. Recorded none_stated on that basis, not as a positive statement that absence is unlimited. Continuity of residence bites later, at the permanent-residence and naturalisation stages, which are recorded at country level. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-21[2][10] Migri's work hub states that a person granted a residence permit for work may usually have family members apply on the basis of family ties, and this route's own page directs a spouse and children to the family-ties application. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child, parent as of 2026-08-21[4] Migri's family-ties page defines family members of a Finnish citizen or a non-EU foreign national as: a spouse, a registered partner, a cohabiting partner (2 years' continuous cohabitation, waived where there is joint custody of a child or other serious reasons), a person who has custody of a child under 18, and an unmarried child under 18 of whom the sponsor has custody. Mapped to spouse, registered_partner, unmarried_partner, minor_child and parent. 'Other relatives' are expressly not family members unless the sponsor is a Finnish citizen or holds protection status. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
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Verification
| Sources cited | 10 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 10 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-21 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Laki kolmansien maiden kansalaisten maahantulon ja oleskelun edellytyksistä korkeaa osaamistasoa vaativaa työtä varten (erityisosaajalaki) 224/2024 (consolidated text)
Oikeusministeriö / Finlex · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-09 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Residence permit application for persons applying for an EU Blue Card
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 - [3] Residence permit application for person applying EU Blue Card (superseded English-path duplicate)
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 - [4] Moving to Finland to be with a family member
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 · Archived copy - [5] First residence permit
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [6] Income requirement for persons who apply for a residence permit on the basis of work
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [7] Labour market test
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 · Archived copy - [8] Residence permit types
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [9] Residence permits on the basis of work
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 - [10] Coming to Finland for work
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21