Britons in Finland need to apply for residence permit by 30 Sep

British citizens in Finland must apply for a right of residence under the UK’s withdrawal agreement no later than 30 September, said the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in a press release on Tuesday.

By the end of August, a total of 3,923 so-called Brexit permit applications had been submitted. The estimated number of British citizens in Finland currently stands at approximately 5,000.

‘As the deadline for submissions draws closer, we are still expecting to receive a large number of applications from British citizens’, said Senior Adviser Mika Walldén from Migri.

The application period for Brexit permits opened in October 2020, with submissions accepted until 30 September 2021.

With the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, British citizens are considered so-called third-country nationals. Non-EU nationals need a residence permit for stays in Finland exceeding 90 days.

The Brexit permit is only intended for British citizens who resided in Finland before the end of the so-called transition period. The transition period, which concluded at the end of 2020, refers to the time during which EU free movement rules continued to apply to British citizens as they had before Brexit.

Under the withdrawal agreement, British citizens apply for the right of residence or the right of permanent residence, depending on the duration of their previous residence in Finland. Some family members of British citizens are also required to apply for a residence permit.

To date, the Finnish Immigration Service has issued 2,280 decisions regarding Brexit permits. In the majority of these cases, the applicant has been granted the right of residence.

Following the end of the transition period, i.e. as of 1 January 2021, British citizens moving to Finland have applied for residence permits on grounds including employment and studies in the same way as other non-EU nationals.

Between January and August 2021, 256 British citizens intending to move to Finland applied for a residence permit for work, studies, family or other reasons.