Tervetuloa Suomeen
You have accessed these pages because you are contemplating immigration to Finland or because you are already resident in Finland.
Info Bank contains basic information about Finnish society and culture (Tervetuloa Suomeen), permits needed by those settling in Finland (Lupa-asiat), housing (Asuminen), studying Finnish (suomen kieli), finding employment and starting a business (työ), education (koulutus), health care (terveys), social services (sosiaalipalvelut), getting help in a crisis (kriisitilanteet), cultural and leisure services (kulttuuri ja vapaa-aika), and NGOs and associations (yhdistykset), as well as links to websites where you will find additional information.
Welcome!
These Welcome to Finland pages provide basic information on what you will need when you are moving to Finland. They also contain basic information on Finland; Finnish society, history, politics, transport, religion, customs and important public authorities.
What type of information do you require?
Are you coming to Finland as a student?
Are you coming to Finland to find employment?
Are you moving to Finland from another EU country?
Have you come to Finland as a refugee or an asylum seeker?
Are you a Finnish citizen who has lived abroad for a long time and is now planning to return to Finland? Suomi-Seura is a good source of information.
On arrival in Finland, this is what you’ll need first
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Residence Permit. If you intend to work in Finland you also need a work permit. More information can be found on the Permits page of the Info Bank.
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Accommodation. More information is available on the Accommodation page.
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Personal Identity Number is organised by the Administrative Council. You should contact your local Administrative Council to register and you will be given a residency status and a personal identity number. You need to take along your passport and your residence permit when going to register. If you are married, you must also take your marriage certificate with you. If you have children, you need to present their birth certificates.
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Tax Card from the tax office. When you apply for a tax card, you must have a personal identity number or a temporary identity number from the Administrative Council. The Tax page of the Info Bank contains more information on the taxation system in Finland.
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Bank Account. Wages are normally paid into a bank account. Investigate the services offered by different banks to find the one that suits you best. There are various ways of paying bills (self-service payment machines, the Internet, the telephone etc.) You will need to present your passport or other official proof of identity when you are opening a bank account. A foreign passport is an acceptable proof of identity. More information in English
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Telephone Number should be organised as soon as possible. In Finland telephones are very important as means of communication. Find out about the services of different phone companies. Prices of phone calls may vary considerably. Mobile phone subscriptions can be obtained, e.g. from Sonera Mobile Networks, Elisa Matkapuhelinpalvelut and Finnet Networks. In addition, the network operator in the Aland Islands is Ålands Mobiltelefon. Currently, the coverage area of GSM networks covers Finland almost entirely. You can also purchase a prepaid mobile phone subscription. A prepaid SIM card has a certain sum of credit and you can use this to make phone calls. Prepaid phone subscriptions are sold for example in R-kiosks, some supermarkets or online. You do not need to have a Finnish address or personal identity number to purchase a prepaid phone subscription. On the pages of the Consumer Agency, there is a checklist for making a phone subscription Finnish, Swedish and English.
- Opportunity to learn either Finnish or Swedish. Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. More information can be found on the Finnish and Swedish Language page of the Info Bank.
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Driving Licence, which is valid in Finland. Different rules apply for driving licences obtained from different countries. Usually, foreign driving licences must be replaced by a Finnish one within one year of arrival inFinland. More information on driving licences can be found on the website of the Policein Finnish, Swedish and English. Information on other services of the Finnish Police can be found on the Police page of the Info Bank.
- Information on where the nearest Health Centre is located. The health centre is the first place to contact if you fall ill. More information on Finnish healthcare is available on the Health page of the Info Bank.
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Contacts with Your Home Country. Stamps are available at post offices, newsagents and some shops. There are no public telephone booths in Finland. One option is to get a pre-paid connection or a telephone card. These are sold, for example, at R-kiosks. When calling abroad from Finland, compare call prices. You can familiarise yourself with the operator codes for calls abroad in the Wikipedia article in Finnish. Telegrams and faxes can be sent at the post office for a fee. Municipal Libraries offer free Internet use for people in possession of a library card. Many cafésalso allow you to use the Internet.
Ifyou want to find a relative you have lost touch with, contact the Person Tracking Service of the Finnish Red Cross. The web pages have information in the following languages: Finnish, English, Swedish, French, Somali, Arabic, Spanish, Persian, Portuguese and Russian.The network of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent collects and delivers messages and information between people in over 170 countries.
- Many want to know where to practise their own religion. More information is available on the Religions in Finland pages in Finnish.
- It isn’t easy to move to a new country and find that everything is different. Learning the language is an important step towards integration (kotoutuminen). Learning the language will help you to understand a new society and adapt to it. Finland offers a wealth of opportunities for study. When you’re looking for work, a good grasp of the language and a completed professional qualification will prove invaluable.
Expat Finland is a helpful source for those who are looking for information in English on immigrating to Finland.
Support for individual integration of immigrants
- The Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers is in effect in Finland. Under the Act, all immigrants are entitled to receive basic information about Finland after they have received their residence permits or have registered their right of reside. Immigrants also have the right to receive an initial survey and integration plan, if they are unemployed and seeking work, or if they receive income support. An immigrant can also request to have an initial survey even if he/she is not unemployed or receiving income support.
- The purpose of the initial survey is to establish which services an immigrant will need in order to integrate to the Finnish society.
- This plan will be implemented for the first three years after first arriving in Finland. The objective of the integration plan is to help people to adapt to life in Finland. The plan may include e.g. Finnish language courses.
- The integration plan is usually drafted in cooperation with the Labour Counsellor in the Employment Agency or with the Social Worker in the Social Welfare Office. The website of the Ministry of the Interior includes information on integration as well as links. More information on the subject can also be found on the Opintoluotsi website.
- The website of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy has information on the drafting of an integration plan in the following languages:
English
Finnish
French
Russian
Serbo-Croat
Somali
Farsi
Kurdish
Arabic
Albanian
Information about Finland
The Lifeinfinland.fi website contains a guide for immigrants that includes information on living and working in Finland, contact information of various officials and basic information about the Finnish culture and society. The guide is available in the following languages:
Finnish
Swedish
English
Russian
French
Spanish
Chinese
Arabic
Brochures on Kela’s social security: a plain language brochure Moving to Finland or From Finland to Abroad brochure in Finnish and Moving to Finland brochure in English and in Russian.
Bringing pets into the country
If you have a pet that you want to bring with you to Finland, familiarise yourself in good time with the requirements related to the process. Finland adheres to the guidelines set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. You can find the current guidelines on the pages of the Finnish Food Safety Authority in Finnish, Swedish and English.