Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

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Vandor
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:51 pm

Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by Vandor » Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:57 pm

Hi, I'm a non-EU citizen who is currently applying to Centria and Haaga-Helia for IT (only ones with spring admission), and I was wondering about the upcoming tuition fee changes in Finland. First, if I begin my studies in Spring 2017, will I have to pay tuition in the following semesters? If I transfer later to another UAS, will I have to then?

Also, I will soon get a Hungarian National Settlement permit (basically equivalent to a permanent residence permit as far as I am aware, renewable every 5 years and doesn't require extraneous justification to do so, also grants a Hungarian ID card). Does this qualify me as an EU permanent resident for the purposes of tuition, thus being exempt? What about for financial aid from KELA?
Last edited by Vandor on Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

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SAHM
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Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 7:12 pm

Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by SAHM » Wed Sep 14, 2016 9:47 pm


Vandor
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:51 pm

Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by Vandor » Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:32 pm

No, I was looking at it on the Centria site and a few others but that says more or less the same thing. The part I am confused about is this
continuous (type A) or permanent (type P) residence permit
an EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence in Finland (type P-EU), or
I do not have an EU residence permit, which has much more stringent requirements and functions differently than a normal PR permit. I would however have a PR/continuous permit, but not in Finland... does that first clause apply only to Finland, or to any EU country?

The Haaga-Helia page did not indicate this, but the Centria page says this:
Tuition fees: The autumn 2016 intake is the last chance for students from outside European economic area (EAA) to study in Finland without tuition fees. By applying in 2016 and starting your studies at Centria in September 2016 or January 2017, no students will have to pay any tuition for their studies at Centria.
Studyinfo.fi says:
The [tuition] fee will not be charged from persons who are equated with EU area citizens or their family members. The exemption will also apply to those who have an EU blue card stated in the Aliens Act, continuous or permanent residence permit or a long-term resident’s EC residence permit.
and
Do you have a permanent Finnish residence permit or a long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P,P-EU)?

Yes — You are not required to pay tuition fees.

Individuals with permanent Finnish residence permit are not required to pay tuition fees.

To prove your residence status, please submit a copy of your residence permit card as attachment to your application documents. A long-term resident’s EU residence permit card has a marking “P or P-EU” as a type of the permit. If you residence permit card is marked type A or B please see the next question.

[[the same also applies to type A/continuous permits]]
My residence permit does not have any markings on it (P, P-EU, A, or B), as I have not seen those markings used in Hungary. I don't have my settlement permit yet though, so it could look different. My current one, for example, simply says "tartózkodási engedély" (residence permit), without any letter marking. Also none of these sites specify whether the permanent/continuous need to be Finnish ones, or simply EU. In other words, do I need to have a prior residence in Finland? Can you see why I'm confused about this?

aditayap
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:26 pm

Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by aditayap » Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:59 am

continuous (type A) or permanent (type P) residence permit
an EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence in Finland (type P-EU), or
All these permit types are issued by Finnish immigration so these are applicable only to people living in Finland. Even If you have Permanent residence in another EU/EEA state then you don't qualify. I am not sure about if somebody has P-EU (Long term EU resident status) issue by another EU country then how his/her case will be treated.

if you start your Study in Spring 2017 then there will be no tuition fee during whole duration of program. Most likely you could transfer as 'Transfer Student' to another UAS without paying any tuition fee during whole course as in case of transfer you are continuing your study rights in another UAS (but just to be sure, please check with concerned UAS).

Flossy1978
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:38 pm

Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by Flossy1978 » Fri Sep 16, 2016 12:26 pm

You can't get financial aid from KELA. Maybe only if you have been working a minimum number of hours, you can.

But if you come as a student and not working, you get nothing from KELA. You need to be able to finance your studies and living on your own.

Vandor
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:51 pm

Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by Vandor » Fri Sep 16, 2016 1:09 pm

aditayap wrote:
continuous (type A) or permanent (type P) residence permit
an EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence in Finland (type P-EU), or
All these permit types are issued by Finnish immigration so these are applicable only to people living in Finland. Even If you have Permanent residence in another EU/EEA state then you don't qualify. I am not sure about if somebody has P-EU (Long term EU resident status) issue by another EU country then how his/her case will be treated.

if you start your Study in Spring 2017 then there will be no tuition fee during whole duration of program. Most likely you could transfer as 'Transfer Student' to another UAS without paying any tuition fee during whole course as in case of transfer you are continuing your study rights in another UAS (but just to be sure, please check with concerned UAS).
Ah, that explains why I can't find those types on my permit. The rules on this really aren't very clearly stated :roll: Thanks for clarifying it though.

Okay, so it's not tied to a particular UAS, but rather to the program? That's good news. I mean of course if I like it at Centria (my current first choice, I'm not so interested in living in Helsinki), I will stay there, but if not then I may want to transfer to the Oulu IT program. We'll see what happens.

I've emailed Centria, still waiting on a reply from them just to be totally sure about all this. But thank you for the help!

Rosamunda
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Re: Non-EU citizen, tuition, and residence?

Post by Rosamunda » Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:39 pm

aditayap wrote: if you start your Study in Spring 2017 then there will be no tuition fee during whole duration of program.
This is not completely true. There are a few programmes that are charging fees for the January 2017 intake. Eg this one at Haaga Helia:
Only one degree programme, Aviation Business, will charge tuition fees in the autumn 2016 application (= studies will begin in January 2017) to Haaga-Helia. Regarding Aviation Business degree programme, the fee for the first semester (EUR 4,250) must be paid by the time a student confirms his/her study place in the programme.


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