Are you planning to travel outside Finland?
We get a lot of questions about travelling abroad at this time of year.
You can leave Finland at any time, but if you want to return and continue your stay in Finland, please note these guidelines for travelling in different situations:
You have a valid residence permit
You can travel outside Finland if your current residence permit is valid until you return to Finland.
- You can travel within the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period with a residence permit issued by Finland. The 90-day limit applies to a cumulative stay in the whole Schengen area, not just in one country.
- You must have your passport and residence permit card with you when you travel.
You have a residence permit issued on the basis of temporary protection
Notify your reception centre of your travel. Tell us when and for how long you are leaving and, if you know, when you will return to Finland. Travelling may have an impact on your reception services. Read more about how a trip abroad affects reception services:
- Travelling abroad and reception services during your trip (pdf)
- in Ukrainian: Поїздки за кордон та послуги центру прийому
біженців під час поїздки (pdf)
You have a residence permit issued on the basis of international protection
Travelling to your country of origin (country of nationality) may lead to the termination or withdrawal of your international protection status.
You have applied for a residence permit in Finland
- You may travel outside Finland if your current residence permit is still valid until you return to Finland.
- We do not recommend that you travel outside Finland if your residence permit has already expired or will expire during your trip. It may be difficult for you to return to Finland if your residence permit has expired.
- If you submitted your residence permit application on paper and we need more information from you to process your application, we will send you a letter to your home address in Finland. You must reply to the request for additional information by the specified deadline even if you were not in Finland.
- If you receive a positive decision, we will send you a residence permit card to a collection point in Finland. The residence permit card must be collected from the collection point within two weeks even if you were not in Finland.
You have applied for Finnish citizenship
You may travel outside Finland while your application for Finnish citizenship is being processed. However, please consider how absences will affect the length of your stay.
- To be eligible for Finnish citizenship, you must have resided in Finland for a sufficient period of time. Read more on the page Period of residence.
- We cannot make a citizenship decision for you if you are abroad.
You have applied for asylum in Finland
Stay in Finland while your application is being processed. Your application will lapse, which means it will not be processed, if
- the authorities are informed that you have left Finland, or
- you cannot be contacted for 2 months.
You have a Finnish alien’s passport or refugee travel document
Check with the authorities in the destination country whether you can travel there with a Finnish alien's passport or refugee travel document and whether you need a visa.
Requests to speed up an application due to a holiday trip are not accepted
Unfortunately, we cannot speed up the processing of your application because you are on holiday. We can only speed up the processing of the application for weighty reasons. Read more on the page Expedited processing.
The Border Guard decides whether a foreign citizen may cross the border into Finland
See Border Guard's guidelines for travellers (raja.fi)
