residency permit for fiance?

[jussi.petteri]

I write this in English cause others might also be interested in this question.

Can my fiance apply for permanent residency before we get married? How far in advance can we do this? There is the option 'fiance' on the residency application but I can't find information on this.

Kiitos.

[daryl]

I write this in English cause others might also be interested in this question.

And possibly also because this is an English-speaking forum?

Can my fiance apply for permanent residency before we get married? How far in advance can we do this? There is the option 'fiance' on the residency application but I can't find information on this.

Kiitos.

This question seems a bit confused over terminology. The Americanism "permanent residency" means "permission to live in Finland for an indefinite period". An immigrant from outside of the European Economic Area becomes eligible for this permission after four years of living in Finland for a continuous purpose. A foreigner who has been admitted to Finland and allowed to remain in Finland for a continuous purpose holds a continuous type residence permit over this four-year period. The said permit is generally issued in two instalments: initially for one year with a subsequent extension for three years.

The intention to marry is grounds for issuing a residence permit. Such cases are discussed in the government bill (HE 28/2003 p. 153) as the kind in which a residence permit may be issued for less than one year. I think it would be necessary to show that you had set the date for marriage in such circumstances, as the permit is really issued for the purpose of completing a defined legal formality.

In the majority of cases, however, couples tend to marry and then seek the first residence permit on the basis of the said marriage and family life.

Strictly speaking, it is disingenuous to enter Finland as a visitor while harbouring the intention to remain permanently as a spouse. Furthermore, a Finnish consular official should not issue a visitor's visa if this intention is known in advance. The fact that consular officials regularly recommend entering Finland with a visitor's visa in order to get married (and indeed even issue such visas in full knowledge of the applicant's intention to immigrate) is a loose end in the current system. A residence permit application should be processed in such cases instead of a visa. The main problem is that residence permit applications take a long time to process.

It occurs to me that your fiancé may already be in Finland, but with a residence permit or visa that is about to expire. If the residence permit is of temporary type but can be extended on the original grounds, then please note that there is no need to wait for this extension to expire before requesting a new residence permit based on marriage. Furthermore, it is possible to include the intention to marry as part of the grounds for requesting the extension. This virtually guarantees a looooong processing period, as the authority will tend to wait until your marriage is entered in the population register.

Otherwise it is probably worth lodging a residence permit application based on the intention to marry and on the existence of any family life (i.e. cohabitation) before this. This application will take several months to process, and you will probably end up changing the grounds for the application after your marriage is finalised.

daryl