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Can you sit on a board there?
Pick a market. You get the residency test, the nationality test, the work-authorisation position, the appointment steps in order, and the frictions that actually delay appointments — each cited to the instrument that creates it.
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Board-level residency testFI
No nationality test. One board member must be EEA-resident unless the registry grants an exemption — a far lighter constraint than Norway's or Sweden's half-the-board rule.
- Residency test
- At least one board member, and the managing director, must be resident in the EEA (Osakeyhtiölaki), subject to exemption by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A non-executive director attending board meetings requires no permit. Executive roles for non-EU/EEA nationals require a residence permit for an employed person.
- Board language
- Board process at large caps is very often in English; registry filings and statutory documents are in Finnish or Swedish.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No fixed cap. The Code requires the board to assess and disclose each director's independence annually, taking long service into account.
- Time commitment
- Typically 8–11 board meetings a year plus committees; Finnish boards read heavily between meetings.
- What a seat pays
- €60,000 – €90,000 a year for a non-executive director of a large Nasdaq Helsinki issuer, before committee fees.
- Tax on your fees
- Board fees from a Finnish company are Finnish-source income; non-residents are taxed at source under the withholding regime, with treaty relief.
The appointment steps, in order
- 1Reach the shareholders' nomination board, whose composition is disclosed by the company each autumn
- 2Proposal by the nomination board and election by the general meeting
- 3Registration of the appointment with the PRH, including the residency position
- 4For a supervised financial institution, Finanssivalvonta fit-and-proper assessment
What actually gets in the way
- As in Sweden, approaching the chair rather than the shareholders' nomination board is the standard mistake
- Board process at large caps is very often in English, but registry filings and statutory documents are in Finnish or Swedish
- The nomination board is reconstituted from the largest shareholders each year, so the people deciding change with the register
The instruments behind these answers
- Osakeyhtiölaki (Limited Liability Companies Act) — Governs the Finnish limited company. Directors are elected by the general meeting; the company may also have a supervisory board, though few listed companies use one. (Republic of Finland)
- Osakeyhtiölaki — residency — At least one board member — and the managing director — must be resident in the European Economic Area unless the Finnish Patent and Registration Office grants an exemption. (Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus)
- Finnish Corporate Governance Code — Comply-or-explain. Recommends that a majority of directors be independent of the company, that at least two of those also be independent of significant shareholders, and that both genders be represented on the board. (Securities Market Association)
- Shareholders' nomination board — Most Finnish listed companies establish a shareholders' nomination board — a body of the largest owners rather than a board committee — to prepare proposals on director election and remuneration for the general meeting. (Company articles and the Corporate Governance Code)
- Act on Personnel Representation in the Administration of Undertakings — Provides for personnel representation in the administration of companies above the statutory employee threshold, with the form agreed between the company and its personnel. (Republic of Finland)
Reviewed against primary sources in September 2026. This is governance decision-support, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and transitional provisions frequently apply — verify against the primary instrument before you rely on it.
Eligibility is only the first question
Being allowed to sit on a board there is not the same as being read for one.
The mobility index answers the second question: whether your record is legible to a board in that market, whether you hold what it is currently short of, and whether you can do the job in the language its board works in.