Alien’s passport

You will always get an alien's passport if:

• you have been granted a residence permit on the basis of subsidiary protection in Finland; or
• you have a residence permit on the basis of temporary protection but do not have a valid travel document.

An alien’s passport may also be issued to you at the discretion of the Finnish Immigration Service if you have a valid residence permit in Finland and one of the following applies to you: 

• You cannot obtain a passport from the authorities of your country of nationality.
• You are stateless.
• The embassy or consulate of your country of nationality in Finland is not able to grant you a passport.
• You need to travel to your home country or to the embassy or consulate of your home country abroad to obtain a passport.
• You have tried to obtain the passport of your country of nationality but have not received it. 
  • A new alien’s passport will not be issued to you if you did not apply for the passport of your country of nationality while your previous alien’s passport was valid and are not planning to apply for it now. 
  • You can apply for an alien’s passport again if you are going to obtain the passport of your country of nationality and the necessary documents from outside Finland. 
• You are applying for a residence permit and meet the requirements for the permit but the passport of your country of nationality has expired during the time your asylum application was being processed in Finland. 
  • You cannot be expected to obtain the passport of your home country while your asylum application is still being processed

An alien’s passport is valid for a maximum of five years.

If your alien’s passport is lost or damaged    

• Report the loss of your alien's passport to the police. 
• If your alien's passport is damaged, visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service to apply for a new one.
• If your alien's passport is lost or damaged when you are outside Finland:
  • Contact a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate). A Finnish mission can grant you an alien’s passport that is valid for a maximum of one month so that you can return to Finland.

Application process: alien’s passport

1. Submitting an application

To submit an application for an alien’s passport, visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service in person. 

• Each applicant must submit an application of their own, even children under the age of 18. 
• Children under the age of 18 must be present at the service point of the Finnish Immigration Service when they apply for an alien’s passport.  
• Submit your application before your current passport expires. Apply for an alien’s passport approximately three months before the expiration date of your current passport. 
• You cannot fill in the application form beforehand. Instead, an employee at the Finnish Immigration Service will print out a form for you, which you will then have to sign. 

Before you visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service, book an appointment in our appointment system. 

• At the service point, you will need to pay the processing fee for the application, and your fingerprints will be taken, as well as the fingerprints of all applicants who are at least 12 years of age.

Bring with you the attachments needed for the application:

• a passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
• an identity document
• a passport issued by your country of nationality or your previous alien’s passport
  • If you have the passport of your country of nationality, present the passport at the service point. It can be used to verify your identity. If an alien’s passport is issued to you, you need to hand over your national passport to the Finnish Immigration Service if the passport is still valid.
  • If you have previously been granted an alien’s passport, return your old alien’s passport to the Finnish Immigration Service when you receive your new alien’s passport. The new alien’s passport will come with a return envelope, which you can use to return your old alien’s passport.
• If necessary, an employee of the Finnish Immigration Service may ask you for a written statement or document on why you are applying for an alien’s passport. The statement or document can be: 
  • A certificate issued by the authorities of your country of nationality on the fact that you cannot be granted a passport.
  • A free-form written statement containing the following information:
    • A description of how you have tried to obtain the passport of your country of nationality. You can attach, for instance, messages from the mission of your country of nationality as proof. 
    • An explanation of how and when you intend to obtain the passport of your country of nationality and which documents you will need for that.
    • Reasons why you should be granted an alien’s passport.
• When a child under the age of 18 is applying for an alien’s passport, the child’s parents or guardians or the legal representative of the child must provide a written consent to the child's application for an alien’s passport. The consent form or statement must be attached to the child's application. The child's parents or guardians or the legal representative can either fill in a separate consent form or in some other way express their consent in writing. The form is available at the service point. The consent form or statement must be signed by the parent, guardian or legal representative of the child.

Pay the processing fee when you submit the application. See the sum at the top of this page.

Processing of the application

• See the expected processing time at the top of this page. You can also use the Processing Time Checker on our website to get an estimate of the processing time. 
• If you have also applied for a residence permit, the applications will be processed and decided simultaneously.
• If we notice that something is missing from your application or if we need additional information from you, we will contact you.
• It is not possible to speed up the processing of the application because of a holiday trip abroad. We do not recommend booking a trip before you have received your alien’s passport.

2. Supplementing or cancelling your application

If you need to add information or documents to your application, you can send the additional information:

• by post; or
• by email.
  • If you choose to send the information by email, please use encrypted email. For instructions on how to send encrypted email to the Finnish Immigration Service, see the page Contact information.
• It is also possible to bring your documents to an office or service point of the Finnish Immigration Service during opening hours. Our service points have a postbox meant for additional documents. Put your documents in the box.

You can cancel your application at any time before a decision has been made. If you cancel your application, the Finnish Immigration Service will stop processing it and makes a decision on the expiry of your application. You cannot appeal the expiry decision to an administrative court.

• If you wish to cancel your application, send a free-form written notification of this to the Finnish Immigration Service in English, Finnish or Swedish. 
• Remember to date and sign the notification. 
• Mention in the notification why you are cancelling your application.

3.  Decision and notification of the decision

The Finnish Immigration Service will post your decision as a registered letter or with advice of delivery to the address that has been entered for you in the Population Information System of Finland. 

• If the decision is positive, you will receive your alien’s passport together with it. 
• The period during which you may appeal against the decision begins on the day when the decision has been served on you.
• Please collect the letter as soon as you have received an arrival notification by post. Read the arrival notification to see where you can collect the letter and when is the last possible day to claim the letter.
• You will need to prove your identity at the post office. A list of identity documents accepted by post offices can be found on Posti’s website.
• If you do not have an identity document accepted by post offices, you can give a written authorisation to a person who has an accepted identity document.
  • More information on using a power of attorney can be found on Posti’s website. There is also a sample power of attorney that you can fill in.

4. Appeal

• If you are not satisfied with the decision, you have the right to appeal against the decision to an administrative court. Instructions on how to appeal will be attached to the decision.
• Processing an appeal in an administrative court is subject to a fee. For more information about court fees, please contact the relevant administrative court. 
• When you appeal against a decision of the Finnish Immigration Service, the Finnish Immigration Service is no longer the authority that is responsible for processing the matter. This means that if you have questions about the matter or wish to submit additional information or documents, you need to contact your legal counsel or the administrative court that is processing your matter.

Alien’s passport

1. Book an appointment for visiting a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service.
2. Make an application at the service point. An employee of the Finnish Immigration Service will verify your identity and take your fingerprints. The employee will print out a form for you to sign. 
3. The Finnish Immigration Service processes the application and issues a decision. You may appeal against the decision.
4. The decision will be served on you. You will either receive a registered letter or an advice of delivery letter.
5. a) Positive decision: You will receive your alien’s passport together with the decision. You may appeal against the decision.
6. b) Negative decision: You may appeal against the decision to an administrative court.