Personal identity code can now be obtained together with the residence permit

From the beginning of December, a foreign national will be able to obtain a Finnish personal identity codein connection with a positive residence permit decision.

“We have been pressing for this reform since 2007, at least. The legislative amendment of 1 March 2014 allowed the authorities to implement the project, with the results that you see now,” says Project Manager Hilkka Vanhatalo of the Finnish Immigration Service.

The project sprang not from any political initiative but rather as an impressive show of cooperation among public officials.

“The Population Register Centre, the National Police Board, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland and many other authorities have engaged in excellent cooperation with us,” says Vanhatalo, in praise of their efforts.

The personal identity code makes a significant contribution to a foreign national’s integration in Finland: the code is needed among other things for payment of wages and opening a bank account, as well as for access to health care services and services provided by authorities.

“It makes life easier”

“The immigration process involves many stages, and that’s why everything should be done to make practical issues as easy as possible,” says American Jeremy Dixon, who moved to Finland in the autumn of 2013.

“It’s important to blend in with your new home as soon as you can.”

This American citizen first entered the public eye in October after his wife Anita Nousiainen’s Facebook description of their first year in Finland after getting married, much of which was taken up with running between the various authorities.

“It’s really great this kind of change is happening now. I’m so pleased that future immigrants will be getting their personal identity code as soon as they arrive. That would’ve been great for us too,” Dixon and Nousiainen both agree.

“Now people can get their identity code even before they arrive in Finland.”

Here Vanhatalo stresses the need to visit the local register office to obtain a municipality of residence, after which the immigrant will enter the sphere of municipal services.

New form available

From the beginning of December, a revised form for residence permit application will include requests for registration. The new procedure also concerns quota refugees, asylum seekers who are issued with a residence permit, and EU citizens and their family members who are registered in Finland.

The reform gives the Finnish Immigration Service and the police the right to register people in the Population Information System.

The Finnish Immigration Service’s project, LuvallaHetu, received funding from the European Integration Fund.

Further information

Project Manager Hilkka Vanhatalo, Finnish Immigration Service, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

Senior Adviser Anna Lindström, Finnish Immigration Service, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

Project Manager Tuija Nieminen, Population Register Centre, tel. +358 295 535 270, e-mail: firstname.lastname@vrk.fi

Advisory Lawyer Torbjörn Sandell, Population Register Centre, tel. +358 295 535 299, e-mail: firstname.lastname@vrk.fi