Residence permit for internship
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Oleskelulupahakemus harjoittelijalle as of 2026-08-22[4] Heading of the Finnish-language edition of this route's own page on migri.fi, transcribed as published. Migri's Finnish headings are application-form titles rather than permit names; this field carries the statutory permit name where an act supplies one, and the authority's published heading where it does not. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Residence permit for internship as of 2026-08-21[4][7] |
| Legal basis | Laki kolmansien maiden kansalaisten maahantulon ja oleskelun edellytyksistä tutkimuksen, opiskelun, työharjoittelun ja vapaaehtoistoiminnan perusteella 719/2018 (consolidated to 22 December 2025), sections 8 and 8 a as of 2026-08-22[1] Section 8 is the internship permit, with three alternative eligibility limbs and an 18-month ceiling on the permit; section 8 a is the related national provision. The section numbers come from a reading of the consolidated act; the operative wording is not reproduced here. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-21[6][7] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-21[2][6] 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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| Minimum age | 18 as of 2026-08-21[4] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 18 months as of 2026-08-21[4] A residence permit for internship can be issued for a maximum period of 18 months. |
|---|---|
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-21[4] |
| Maximum total duration | up to 18 months as of 2026-08-21[4] |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-21[4] The permit is for the internship or unpaid training programme it was granted for. An unpaid intern may work without any residence permit for up to 90 days when residing in Finland visa-free, on a visa, or on another Member State's residence permit; a paid internship always needs a permit. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-21[4] An internship or an unpaid traineeship under a training programme such as Erasmus+, or an internship forming part of an intergovernmental agreement or an NGO exchange programme. A trainee employee transferred within a group applies for the ICT permit instead. |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-21[5] 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. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-21[4] |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-21[4] First permit abroad, extended permit in Finland only. |
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| Fees |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-21[4] 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 | Not established from a qualifying source Not established; Migri's internship page says nothing about family members. |
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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
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| 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 tutkimuksen, opiskelun, työharjoittelun ja vapaaehtoistoiminnan perusteella 719/2018 (consolidated text)
Oikeusministeriö / Finlex · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-12-22 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] First residence permit
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [3] 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 - [4] Residence permit application for internship
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 - [5] Labour market test
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 · Archived copy - [6] Residence permit types
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [7] Residence permits on the basis of work
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21