The Finnish Immigration Service made decisions on 17,055 residence applications between January and September of this year. On average, about 82 percent were approved.

About a third of applications on the basis of family ties were denied. Meanwhile residence permits were granted in 93 percent of the processed applications that were made with a view to studying in Finland.

Education in Finland appealed partly because it was more affordable than in Sweden or the UK, for instance.

Fewer Somalis apply

Reasons for declining residence permits to perspective students varied, but typically it was also a question of money. Either unsuccessful applicants could not prove that they had sufficient money to support themselves, or the source of their money was unclear.

In some cases, it was document forgery, for example of bank statements or diplomas, that led to rejection.

Altogether 18,327 people from outside the EU submitted applications for residence permits in the first nine months of this year. This number is a couple of percent higher than last year’s figure for the same time period.

Broken down by nationalities, most applications were filed by Russians, Somalis, Chinese and Indians. However the number of applications from Somalis clearly dropped compared to last year.