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The passport photo to be attached to your residence permit application has to be a recent one

Publication date 16.2.2018 13.47
Press release

When you apply for a residence permit or a residence permit card, you have to attach a passport photo to your application. The passport photo must comply with the photo guidelines issued by the police. For example, your face should not be too small in the photo, and the photo must be taken directly from the front. Your facial expression must be neutral and the background has to be monochromatic and flat.

The passport photo can only be up to 6 months old

The passport photo to be attached to your residence permit application can only be up to 6 months old. This means that you cannot use in a new application the same photo you used in your previous application.

The officials of the Finnish Immigration Service can check in the case management system which photo you used in your previous application. If you use the same photo again, we have to ask for a new one and the processing time of your application will become longer.

You can use a digital photo or a paper photo

You can attach either a digital passport photo or a paper photo in your application. If you choose to use a digital photo, the photo shop will give you a receipt or a photograph retrieval code. Take the receipt or the code with you when you visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.

More detailed instructions on passport photos are available on the website of the Finnish police. The police have also listed photo shops (only in Finnish or Swedish) that use the photo server.

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