Residence permit for a researcher
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Tutkijaksi Suomeen as of 2026-08-22[6] 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. Act 719/2018 section 6 refers to the instrument as tutkijan oleskelulupa. |
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| Official name (English) | Residence permit for a researcher as of 2026-08-21[6] |
| Legal basis | Laki kolmansien maiden kansalaisten maahantulon ja oleskelun edellytyksistä tutkimuksen, opiskelun, työharjoittelun ja vapaaehtoistoiminnan perusteella 719/2018 (consolidated to 22 December 2025), section 6 for the directive researcher and section 6 a for the national researcher as of 2026-08-22[1] Section 6 grants the researcher's permit to a researcher within the meaning of the researchers and students directive, on a hosting agreement with a research organisation under section 5. It issues as a continuous permit for two years, or for the term of the agreement where that is shorter, with extensions of up to four years. Section 6 a is the separate national researcher permit, whose permit type depends on the length of the agreement; one application page covers both provisions. Finnish text: “6 § … Tutkija- ja opiskelijadirektiivissä tarkoitetulle tutkijalle myönnetään … tutkijan oleskelulupa tieteellisen tutkimuksen tekemistä varten. Tutkijan on tehtävä tutkimusorganisaation kanssa 5 §:ssä tarkoitettu sopimus. … Oleskelulupa myönnetään jatkuvana kahdeksi vuodeksi tai enintään sopimuksen voimassaoloajaksi, jos sopimus on voimassa alle kaksi vuotta. Jatko-oleskelulupa myönnetään enintään neljäksi vuodeksi.” |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-21[7][8] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-21[3][7] 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[6] Migri: a residence permit is granted for two years to a researcher coming for at least two years who has EUR 29,040 at their disposal; otherwise one year at a time against EUR 14,520. The term is tied to proven funds rather than fixed, which is why it carries bound: maximum. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-21[6] At extension Migri checks that the research is progressing and that scientific research is still the main purpose of the stay. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-08-21[6] Other work is allowed alongside the research, provided the holder works full time as a researcher and the research progresses. Researchers may additionally work without any residence permit for up to 90 days. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-08-21[6] What is required is a signed hosting agreement with a research organisation, not employment; the route expressly contemplates a researcher who is not in an employment relationship. |
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| Salary threshold | |
| 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. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-08-21[6] A master's (second-cycle) or bachelor's (first-cycle) degree, plus a signed hosting agreement with a research organisation. |
| Own means requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[4][6] |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-21[6] |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-21[6] First permit abroad, extended permit in Finland only. |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-21[6] 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][6] Migri states a researcher's spouse and children may be granted a residence permit on the basis of family ties. The sentence on Migri's researcher page is miswritten – it opens 'If you are granted a residence permit for studies' on a page about researchers – and is recorded as a reader-misleading item, RM-FI-8. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child, parent as of 2026-08-21[2] 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. |
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.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 8 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 8 |
| 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] Moving to Finland to be with a family member
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 · Archived copy - [3] First residence permit
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [4] 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 - [5] Labour market test
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 · Archived copy - [6] Moving to Finland as a researcher
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21 - [7] Residence permit types
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [8] Residence permits on the basis of work
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-21