In this review various finite element analysis approaches available for estimation of residual stresses in welded structures are presented. FEA can effectively estimate residual stresses, especially the relaxation of residual stresses in weld region and region in close vicinity under repeated loading. The amount of the residual stress relaxation depends on the magnitude of applied repeated loading. Comparison revealed that rapid dumping approach have least computational time and shows qualitatively good agreement with experimental values for welding residual stresses whereas gradual weld bead deposition approach estimated more exact results as compared to experimental and various other approaches. Using substructuring approach computation is remarkably reduced without any loss to acceptable accuracy of predicted welding residual stresses. In this composition various assumptions required to carry out finite element analysis of welded structures are also explained. Conclusion indicates that it is important to include all weld sequences for accurate estimation of residual stresses in a structure but even before that it is required to analyze the weld sequences in critical area as a starting point in initial design stage.