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The time limit for proving your identity at the missions and service points has been extended until 31 August 2021

Publication date 10.2.2021 13.33
Press release

The Finnish Immigration Service has decided to extend the time limit for visiting a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service or a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) to prove your identity.

Applicants for a residence permit, registration of right of residence, or citizenship must normally visit a Finnish mission abroad or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland within three months of submitting their application in the online service Enter Finland. The time limit for proving your identity has now been extended until 31 August 2021. The extended time limit also applies to those requests for additional information that require visiting a Finnish mission.

Extra time is given in order to ease the situation of those applicants who have submitted their application in the online service Enter Finland, but are unable to visit a Finnish mission abroad or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland in time due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The Finnish Immigration Service cannot start processing your application before you have proved your identity. In order to prove your identity, you must visit a Finnish mission abroad or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland. If needed, also your fingerprints are taken and the necessary documents are checked.

Backlog in appointment booking

There is currently a high demand for appointments in the appointment system of the service points of the Finnish Immigration Service. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We are constantly trying to find solutions to ease the situation. Additional appointment times will become available at our service points in February and March. We recommend that you follow the situation in our appointment system

According to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, reception activities relating to residence permit applications have been gradually resumed at the Finnish missions as of 16 June 2020. You can follow the current situation at your mission on the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ website finlandabroad.fi. For more information, see our customer bulletin: Reception of residence permit applications in Finnish missions resuming gradually 

When you are applying for an extended permit:

You can only apply for an extended permit if you are in Finland. You cannot apply for an extended permit if you are outside Finland.

Start using strong electronic identification in the online service Enter Finland. When you are using strong identification, 

  • you may not need to visit a service point;
  • Enter Finland will tell you whether you need to book an appointment for proving your identity at a service point or not. 

You can read more about strong electronic identification on the page migri.fi/en/identification. We recommend that you use strong identification.

More information

Up-to-date information on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on our customers: migri.fi/en/coronavirus

Customer bulletin