Govt to tighten criteria for language, family reunification for Int´l students

The four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) has taken a move to tighten criteria for family reunification and language proficiency and income requirement for the international students.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Monday circulated the government´s proposal for amending respective laws in this regard for comments, said the Ministry in a press release.

The proposal will remain open for comment until June 29.

The government intends to submit the proposal to Parliament during the spring 2026 session. The amendments concerning family members and income requirements would enter into force in spring 2027. Other amendments would take effect in autumn 2027.

Statistics and data from ex-post supervision show that most international students in Finland make progress with their studies and can live here without significant difficulty. However, the authorities have noticed that some international students face income difficulties, said the ministry.

“Finland’s labour market will also need the expertise of international students in the future. At the same time, it must be ensured that student immigration is sustainable. With these changes, we aim to prevent students and their families from ending up in a vulnerable position,” said Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen in the press release.

Underlying the difficulties of students is often misleading advertising by foreign educational agents regarding opportunities for employment, for example, and large debts owed to intermediaries.

Going forward, the family of an international student would be able to apply for a residence permit in Finland only after the student has been in Finland for one year.

Currently, the student’s family members can apply for a residence permit at the same time as the student.

The income requirement for students would be clarified and the amount of required income in euros would be defined in an act and laid down in a decree. This would make it easier to determine the student’s financial resources during the permit consideration and to ensure that students have a more realistic idea of the cost of living in Finland. Currently, the income requirement is laid down in the Finnish Immigration Service’s guidelines.

Language proficiency would be determined before entry

Some students have been found to have insufficient ability in English or another language of study, which makes it difficult to complete the studies. Some students have also used the residence permit for studies primarily as a means to gain access to Finland’s labour market.

A language proficiency requirement would be added to the residence permit for studies.

In this way, a residence permit could be denied in the absence of language skills, without imposing an additional burden on educational institutions or applicants with sufficient language skills.

Furthermore, the grounds for denial of the Aliens Act would apply to upper secondary students and all their family members. As a result, the authorities could better mitigate the risks of students falling into a vulnerable position and circumventing immigration rules.

On 30 April 2026, the government submitted the proposal to Parliament in this regard.

Earlier in January 2026, the government has taken an initiative to enhance post-decision monitoring of study-based residence permit to check whether international students receive social assistance.

Read More

In January 2025, the government has proposed stiffen criteria for getting permanent residence permit in Finland.

The government in early March, 2024 took the initiative to stiffen the criteria for getting permanent residence permit in Finland.

In July 2024, the parliament passed the government proposal to bring legislative amendments extending the period of residence required for Finnish citizenship to eight years from five years.

On June 16, 2023, leaders of the ruling parties announced the programme, which included tougher immigration, residence and citizenship laws.

The government tightened the immigration policy despite strong protest by different groups.

Separate demonstrations were held in Helsinki on June 27, 2023 and June 18,2023 protesting against the immigration policy taken by the government.

Several hundreds of people went on demonstrations in Helsinki in August, 2023 protesting against the move.