Consultation round: Monitoring of residence permits for international students to be enhanced
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has sent out for comments a proposal to amend the post-decision monitoring of education-based residence permits. The aim of better monitoring is to prevent the misuse of permits.
In accordance with the Government Programme, the residence permit of a foreign student could be revoked in future if the student receives social assistance. Automated post-decision monitoring would be used regularly to determine whether a student receives social assistance. In that way, the Finnish Immigration Service would quickly become aware of any such cases. The amendment would apply to students arriving in Finland from outside the EU and EEA countries.
The proposed change belongs to a set of government measures that aim to prevent situations where international students have difficulties to make ends meet in Finland. The purpose of the proposal is to ensure that students in Finland fulfil the conditions of their residence permit by providing for their livelihood themselves. The Finnish Immigration Service would receive information on social assistance of students directly from Kela.
While the Finnish Immigration Service already obtains information on the use of social assistance by students as part of post-decision monitoring, a single payment of social assistance has not led to the cancellation of the permit. Going forward, regulation would be clearer and more binding.
As part of its automated post-decision monitoring, the Finnish Immigration Service processed over 37,000 residence permits between September 2023 and December 2025. A student had been granted social assistance in 333 cases.
The proposed amendment is based on the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government, according to which the Government will ensure that education-based immigration to Finland is controlled.
The proposal will be circulated for comments between 16 January and 27 February 2026. Comments can be submitted at the Lausuntopalvelu.fi service. The Government intends to submit its proposal during the spring session 2026. The amendments would enter into force as soon as possible.
Inquiries:
Jarmo Tiukkanen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 355
Teresa Salminen, Special Adviser to the Minister of Employment, tel. +358 295 047 318 (questions to the Minister)