Residence permit for a start-up entrepreneur
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Kasvuyrittäjän oleskelulupa as of 2026-08-20[6] |
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| Official name (English) | Residence permit for a start-up entrepreneur as of 2026-08-20[5] Business Finland, which issues the required Eligibility Statement, calls the same instrument the 'Finnish Startup Permit'. Two official English names for one permit. |
| Legal basis | Ulkomaalaislaki 301/2004 (Aliens Act, consolidated to 22 December 2025), section 80, with the Business Finland statement in section 80 a and the extension in section 80 b as of 2026-08-22[7] Section 80 grants a continuous (jatkuva, A) growth-entrepreneur permit where Business Finland's statement finds the business model and the founders' personal competence meet the conditions for its early-stage innovative high-growth funding. The statement must be no more than four months old when the application is lodged, and the section's closing sentence grants a continuous permit to the family member as well. Finnish text: “80 § Kasvuyrittäjän oleskelulupa. Ulkomaalaiselle kasvuyrittäjälle myönnetään jatkuva kasvuyrittäjän oleskelulupa, jos se toimii tai sen tarkoituksena on toimia päätoimisesti vastuuasemassa sellaisessa Suomeen rekisteröidyssä tai rekisteröitävässä yrityksessä, jonka liiketoimintamalli ja yrityksessä toimivien henkilöiden henkilökohtainen osaaminen täyttävät Innovaatiorahoituskeskus Business Finlandin antaman lausunnon mukaan sen alkaville innovatiivisille nopean kasvun yrityksille myöntämää rahoitusta koskevat edellytykset. Oleskelulupahakemukseen on liitettävä 1 momentissa tarkoitettu lausunto, joka on annettu enintään neljä kuukautta ennen oleskelulupahakemuksen vireille panoa.” |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-20[4][5] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-20[2][4] 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 2026-08-20[1][5] Migri: a first permit 'can be granted for 2 years', and is granted for 2 years only where the applicant proves funds for 2 years; funds for at least 1 year are the minimum. Business Finland states the permit is issued 'for a maximum of two years'. Recorded with bound: maximum on that pairing. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-20[1][5] An Eligibility Statement is not needed again on extension unless the applicant has not previously held a start-up permit, or unless Migri asks Business Finland for a renewed statement. |
| Renewal duration | up to 4 years as of 2026-08-20[5] Migri: an extended permit 'can be valid for up to 4 years', and is granted only for the period over which the applicant has proven, continuous income. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-08-20[5] The holder's main activity must be start-up entrepreneurship, but the permit also allows other work alongside running the start-up. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Business plan required | Yes as of 2026-08-20[1][5] Business Finland assesses an innovative business plan and the team's commitment to the business idea. |
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| Endorsement required | Yes as of 2026-08-20[1][5] A positive Eligibility Statement from Business Finland is a precondition of the permit application and must be no more than 4 months old when the application is submitted. Business Finland's published criteria include a founding team of at least two people intending to move to Finland, at least 60 per cent team holding in the company, full-time work in the company, and sufficient resources for the company's early stage and for personal support. |
| Innovation criterion | Yes as of 2026-08-20[1][5] Business Finland evaluates whether the business model, team and resources show potential for rapid international growth; Migri routes applicants who cannot obtain a positive statement to the ordinary entrepreneur permit. |
| Own means requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value as of 2026-08-20[3][5] |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-20[2][5] A first permit must be submitted abroad; an extended permit only in Finland. A D visa may be applied for at the same time as the residence permit. |
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| Stages |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-20[5] 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 does bite later, at the permanent-residence and naturalisation stages, and those rules are recorded at country level; whether time on this permit counts toward them is unknown (see permit.leads_to_pr). |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source |
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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 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-20 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Finnish Startup Permit
Business Finland · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [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 types
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [5] Residence permit application for a start-up entrepreneur
Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, Migri) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [6] Hallitus uudistaa kasvuyrittäjän oleskelulupaa (Government to reform residence permits for start-up entrepreneurs)
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-12-19 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [7] Ulkomaalaislaki 301/2004 (Aliens Act, consolidated text)
Oikeusministeriö / Finlex · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-12-22 · Accessed 2026-08-22