Asylum in Finland: the path step by step

The path step by step

1. 1Police / border

   Make the application in person, inside Finland

   You can only apply inside Finland and in person: to the border authorities or the police, or at a Migri reception centre (in Helsinki, Joutseno or Oulu), detention unit or service point. There is no form to fill in beforehand, and you cannot apply by letter, by email or at a Finnish embassy abroad.

   The land border crossing points between Finland and Russia have been closed since 15 December 2023, and international protection cannot be applied for there. Applications are received at open border crossing points for air and sea traffic.

   Every family member who applies, including children, must be present in person at each of the three steps. If you first go through screening, the 5-day registration deadline runs from the end of the screening.

   • Apply in person as soon as you arrive
   • Come with every family member who applies, children too
   • Bring every identity document you have, and explain if you have none
   • Say if you need medical care or special support
   migri.fi – asylum in Finland →
2. 2Police / border

   Register the application within 5 days

   Registration is always done by the police or the border authorities. If you applied to them, they can usually register the application during the same visit. If you applied at a Migri reception centre, detention unit or service point, visit the police or the border authorities within 5 days. An application that is not registered within 5 days is not processed at all.

   Your fingerprints and photograph are taken, and the fingerprints are checked against the EU-wide Eurodac system. If another EU+ country may be responsible for your application, it also goes to the responsibility determination procedure, which replaced the Dublin procedure on 12 June 2026.

   You receive a certificate of registration (Todistus turvapaikkahakemuksen rekisteröinnistä), client instructions that you sign for and a family information form. If you have family members in EU+ countries, you also get a family tracing form.

   • Register within 5 days of making the application
   • Keep the registration certificate with you at all times
   • Fill in the family information form before lodging
   • Read the client instructions: they list your obligations
3. 3Migri

   Lodge the application within 21 days

   Migri invites you through your reception centre to a meeting where the application is lodged. The invitation states the place and the method. The deadline is 21 days from registration, or 5 days if you were referred to the border procedure.

   At the meeting you state the grounds for your application and hand over the documents that support it. You are asked about your health, education and occupation, and whether children applying with you wish to be heard in person. Each family member then receives a certificate of applicant’s status and rights in Finland (Todistus hakijan asemasta ja oikeuksista Suomessa).

   • Lodge within 21 days of registration (5 days in the border procedure)
   • Bring the registration certificate and the completed forms
   • Bring every document about why you left
   • Keep the certificate of your status and rights with you
4. 4Reception centre

   Accommodation, a client card and healthcare

   While your application is processed you can live in a reception centre (vastaanottokeskus) or arrange private accommodation yourself, for example with relatives. You remain a client of a reception centre either way, but private accommodation is at your own cost.

   The reception centre is your point of contact: it issues your client card, tells you when to identify yourself and organises healthcare. A health examination is offered when you first arrive. Adults have the right to acute and necessary medical treatment, and children get public healthcare on the same grounds as children who have a municipality of residence in Finland.

   • Give the centre up-to-date contact details and report every change
   • Tell the centre before you go away
   • Take the health examination offered on arrival
   • Learn the centre rules: they are the same in every centre
5. 5Reception centre

   Apply for reception allowance

   Reception allowance (vastaanottoraha) is not paid automatically: you apply for it with a form at your own reception centre. It covers immediate basic needs if you and your family do not have enough income and funds. You must report all income and funds to the centre, including money you receive from abroad.

   The basic monthly amounts in 2026 are 300 euros for a person living alone, 254 euros for another adult, 336 euros for a single parent, 210 euros for a child aged 10–17 and 191 euros for a child under 10 living with the family. Where the centre serves meals, the amounts are 88, 72, 97, 60 and 57 euros. The centre calculates your amount individually and pays it to a prepaid card or a Finnish bank account.

   • Get the application form from your centre
   • Report all income and funds, including money from abroad
   • Rent for private accommodation is not covered
   • Breaching your obligations can cut the basic component by 20 percent
   migri.fi – services at reception centres →
6. 6Reception centre

   Meet your obligations

   Asylum seekers identify themselves at their reception centre 2–4 times a month, usually by visiting in person and showing the client card. A visit to the centre office for another matter or to the nurse also counts. People under 18 and people who are working do not need to identify themselves.

   The Finnish society course is compulsory for everyone over 18 who receives reception services. Without a reasonable reason, failing to identify yourself, keep your contact details current, complete the course or cooperate with the authorities, or repeatedly breaking the centre rules, can cut your reception allowance by 20 percent. If you have regular income or funds, you can be charged a client fee, also retrospectively for three months.

   • Identify yourself 2–4 times a month
   • Complete the Finnish society course
   • Keep your contact details at the centre current
   • Do not leave Finland while your application is processed
7. 7Migri

   Get free legal counselling before the interview

   Free legal counselling is given by Legal Information Officers of the Finnish Immigration Service. They cannot influence the decision and do not discuss your case with the officials who examine it. Migri invites applicants to a group counselling meeting and aims to hold it before the application is lodged. Individual counselling is arranged only if you request it separately, so ask well before your interview.

   Counselling covers your rights and obligations, the procedures, appeals and the forms you received at registration. It does not include checking your interview report or your processing time, and it is not available if you already have a counsel. Legal aid from a legal aid office or a private lawyer is usually subject to a fee unless the legal aid office decides otherwise.

   • Ask your reception centre how to get counselling
   • Request individual counselling in good time
   • Free Legal Counselling Team: +358 295 433 056, weekdays 13–15
   • An interpreter attends when needed
   migri.fi – legal advice →
8. 8Migri

   Attend the asylum interview

   The interview is the heart of your case. Give every reason why you cannot return to your home country, describe the threat and the events in detail, and bring documents that support your account. The decision is based on what you say, the documents and other information, and the credibility of your account is assessed.

   The invitation states the time, whether the interview is in person or by video and the interpreting language. You cannot change the time: if you fall ill, tell your reception centre at once and send a doctor’s certificate to Migri within one week. If you do not attend without a justified reason, Migri can decide without an interview or treat the application as withdrawn. The interview is audio recorded, and you can get a copy free of charge.

   • Bring all evidence and documents
   • Describe every reason, even those you think are minor
   • You can ask for a male or female interviewer and interpreter
   • Send any additions to the interview report within the time you are given
9. 9Migri

   While you wait: processing times and the right to work

   Your application is referred to one procedure. The normal procedure takes up to 6 months from lodging and should not take more than 21 months. The accelerated procedure takes up to 3 months: it is used, for example, if you come from a safe country of origin or from a country whose citizens are granted protection in fewer than 20 percent of cases at EU level. The border procedure takes up to 12 weeks including the appeal, and the admissibility procedure 10 days or 2 months.

   Your right to work begins 3 months after the police or the border authorities registered your application if you presented a valid, authenticated passport or other travel document, and after 6 months if you did not. You may work in any field, but not as a freelancer or light entrepreneur through platforms such as Wolt or Uber. If your application is referred to the accelerated procedure, your right to work depends on the reason, and a right to work you already have is withdrawn.

   • Check your processing time in Migri’s online service
   • Answer requests for additional information on time
   • Check that your right to work has begun before you take a job
   • Children have the right to pre-primary and basic education during the process
   migri.fi – right to work and study →
10. 10Migri / DVV

    Positive decision: a permit, then a municipality

    Refugee status (asylum) gives a residence permit for 3 years and subsidiary protection a permit for 1 year. Before it expires you apply for an extended permit, which is 3 years for refugees and 2 years for subsidiary protection. Both give an unrestricted right to work. If you do not have a valid national passport, refugees apply for a refugee travel document and people with subsidiary protection for an alien’s passport; both applications are subject to a fee.

    Reception services end three months after you are granted the permit and the right to a municipality of residence (kotikunta), so contact the reception centre staff at once: they help you find an apartment. Once you have a residence permit and intend to live in Finland permanently, you can get Kela benefits, and your municipality arranges integration services and healthcare.

    • Contact the reception centre staff straight away
    • Register with DVV using the instructions you receive
    • Look for housing before the three months run out
    • Apply for an extended permit before the current one expires
    migri.fi – positive decision →
11. 11Court

    Negative decision: appeal or return

    You can appeal to an administrative court. The appeal instructions attached to the decision name the court and the deadline; in the normal procedure the appeal period is 30 days from the day the decision is served. You can request a legal adviser free of charge for the appeal unless you have the means to pay for your representation. In the normal procedure you cannot be removed before the appeal period ends or, if you appeal, before the administrative court decides.

    After an accelerated or border procedure, or if your application was found inadmissible or implicitly withdrawn, you can be removed very shortly after the decision unless you also apply to the administrative court for permission to remain in Finland during the appeal. If you decide to return, assisted voluntary return pays for the journey and support in your home country, and the support is highest if you apply within 30 days of your first negative decision.

    • Contact a legal adviser the day you receive the decision
    • Check the exact deadline in the appeal instructions
    • Ask whether you must apply for permission to remain
    • Your right to work continues during the appeal period
    migri.fi – negative decision →

An account and a card after your decision

While you live at a reception centre you receive money through the centre itself and usually do not need a separate account. That changes after a positive decision: when you move to a municipality you need an account for salary, benefits and paying bills.

Opening an account at a Finnish bank needs a personal identity code and documents, and it can take time. For the transition a European fintech account works: it opens online and gives you a European IBAN and a card.

Some links here are partner links: if you open an account through them, Selkoraha may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This does not affect the content, and we do not give financial advice.

Calculators for this path

Frequently asked questions

Where and how do I apply for asylum in Finland?

In person and inside Finland: to the border authorities or the police, or at a Migri reception centre, detention unit or service point. You cannot apply by letter, by email or at a Finnish embassy abroad, nor at the land border with Russia, whose crossing points have been closed since 15 December 2023. Every family member who applies, including children, must be present in person.

How many days do I have to register and lodge the application?

You must register the application with the police or the border authorities within 5 days of making it: an application that is not registered is not processed at all. You must then lodge it with the Finnish Immigration Service within 21 days of registration, or within 5 days in the border procedure. A missed deadline can be treated as an implicit withdrawal.

How long does the asylum process take?

It depends on the procedure: up to 6 months from lodging in the normal procedure (in exceptional cases up to 21 months), up to 3 months in the accelerated procedure, up to 12 weeks in the border procedure including the appeal, and 10 days or 2 months in the admissibility procedure.

When can an asylum seeker start working in Finland?

3 months after the police or the border authorities registered your application if you presented a valid, authenticated passport or other travel document, and 6 months after if you did not. You may work in any field, but not as a light entrepreneur through platforms such as Wolt or Uber. After a negative decision the right to work continues during the appeal period.

How much is the reception allowance in 2026?

The basic monthly amount is 300 euros for a person living alone, 254 euros for another adult, 336 euros for a single parent, 210 euros for a child aged 10–17 and 191 euros for a child under 10. If the reception centre serves meals, the amounts are 88, 72, 97, 60 and 57 euros. Your income and funds are taken into account, and the allowance is paid to a prepaid card or a Finnish bank account.

Is legal help free for asylum seekers?

Free legal counselling is given by Legal Information Officers of the Finnish Immigration Service: a group meeting for all applicants and individual counselling on separate request. They cannot influence your decision. Legal aid from a legal aid office or a private lawyer is usually subject to a fee unless the legal aid office decides otherwise. For the appeal you can request a legal adviser free of charge unless you have the means to pay.

Can I get a work or study permit instead of asylum?

Not while you are in Finland as an asylum seeker, whether your application is pending or has been rejected: Migri considers such an application inadmissible. You would have to leave Finland and apply at a Finnish embassy or consulate abroad. If you are granted a residence permit on the basis of your asylum application, you can later apply for an extended permit on the basis of work or studies.

Does time as an asylum seeker count towards permanent residence or citizenship?

For a permanent residence permit, yes, if you were granted refugee status or subsidiary protection on your own application: the period of residence is counted from the day you arrived in Finland. The basic path requires 6 years with a continuous (A) permit, 2 years of work history and Finnish or Swedish at level B1. For citizenship the period is counted only from the day you received your first continuous (A) permit.

Can my family join me in Finland?

If you are granted refugee status and your family was formed before you came to Finland, your spouse and children should apply within 3 months of the day you were served the decision: then no income requirement applies, provided the family cannot live together elsewhere. Family members of people with subsidiary protection, and families formed after arrival, can apply only after the sponsor has lived in Finland with a residence permit for 2 years, and they must meet the income requirement.

What do I do if the decision is negative?

Read the appeal instructions attached to the decision: they name the administrative court and the deadline, which is 30 days in the normal procedure. After an accelerated or border procedure, or if the application was found inadmissible or implicitly withdrawn, also apply to the court for permission to remain in Finland during the appeal, or you can be removed soon after the decision.

How much is assisted voluntary return?

It covers the journey and support in your home country, mostly in services and goods rather than cash. For a return to a country whose citizens need a visa for Finland, it is 5,300 euros if you apply within 30 days of your first negative decision and 2,450 euros later or after more than one application, plus an extra 1,000 euros if your personal circumstances require it. After such a return Migri will not grant you a residence permit for 5 years.