Non-EU starting a company in Finland

rc10 · Post by **rc10** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:24 pm

I am a Canadian, and I am looking to start a small business in Finland. I've been looking online, and it basically says I just need my business to be "profitable" it doesn't give me any initial investment (other than the residence permit cost) does anyone know where I can find this information? I even contacted the FInnish Embassy here in Canada, and got no luck.

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Mita nyt · Post by **Mita nyt** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:50 am

Hey,

Let me ask you this first... Are you living in Finland? Are you married to Finish person or at least considered common law?
If you are then it will be easier. Once you have a residence permit in Finland, you can start all the companies you want.
Normally, you are allowed only 3 months(90 days) travel in europe.

There are a few links to the info you need.
http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/web/enterpris ... -residents
You might need to have a partner(whom is finish or has residence)
http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/web/enterpris ... artnership

This next link from here in the forum "American Opening a Cafe in Helsinki"
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=57810

I'm sending you inbox message too.

cors187 · Post by **cors187** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:25 pm

rc10 wrote:I am a Canadian, and I am looking to start a small business in Finland. I've been looking online, and it basically says I just need my business to be "profitable" it doesn't give me any initial investment (other than the residence permit cost) does anyone know where I can find this information? I even contacted the FInnish Embassy here in Canada, and got no luck.

What i understand is that "your foreign business" should be profitable in theory without causing "other" problems to the local market.
I think that a company history is vital to your eligibility to operate in finland, so just coming up with a FIN business plan may not fly.
Ive read a lot about starting a business in finland but it was a while ago and i think the first step is that you need to be confident about completing a OLE_EHA_En form(residence permit application for self employment) which shows as much detail to the already existing profitable business, and after that your business predictions in Finland need to be somewhat in line with the regulated business platforms.
Find that form in the migri pages online and fill it out,Then look at your details to actually see if you have something that's worth a look at.

mdn · Post by **mdn** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:42 pm

cors187 wrote:residence permit application for self employment

And accordingly to migri.fi, average time for processing such application is about 1 year (in 2011).

It might be much easier just to organize a company, and apply for an usual work based residence permit.

cors187 · Post by **cors187** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:36 pm

i got my temp residence card in 4 months of applying, but i am considered an employee of an existing Fin company.I looked very hard into being a entrepreneur(self employed)>it is difficult to predict markets and other local systems to even theorize that I could find contracts and survive, this considering that i am from another part of the world(non EU).
What I intend to do as many have done before is to internship into the system , learn as much as I can , gather contacts and develop a working model.With 1 years theorizing and learning i can now decide as to whether my model is acceptable.
The first part of business is to really know that your model is acceptable,because when the pressure is on, if you dont have 100% confidence in your model doubt may enter and then things can get out of your control fast.

worldcommunity · Post by **worldcommunity** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:48 pm

Residence permit is what you need. If you have a "Finnish Social Security Number" you are good to go. If you don't have a residence permit, then you need a Finnish Partner. That means, your Finnish counterpart is the owner of the company and your role in the company is, "investor".

The initial investment is up to you. If you want to register (private trader, Ltd or LLC, INC and so on), there are certain basic rules and laws you got to comply with. For small and medium-size companies, a very common and trustworthy company type in Finland is "Ltd/LLC". In order to register a such company, you need a minimum of 2,500 euros capital and the Share Agreement Documents.

So, all you got to do is, open a company bank account, deposit the 2,500 euros, create the Share Agreement Document, print and fill in the registration form and take to the prh office (form can be downloaded from http://www.prh.fi) and good luck with the company!

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