With a D visa, you can enter Finland immediately after you have been issued with a residence permit
If you apply for a D visa, you can travel to Finland immediately after the following conditions are met:
- you have received a positive decision on your residence permit application; and
- the D visa sticker has been attached to your passport
Your residence permit card will be delivered to you in Finland. On average, the D visa allows you to travel to Finland for 1–2 weeks earlier than usual.
You can be issued with a D visa if you are applying for or have been granted one of the following residence permits:
- Residence permit for a specialist
- EU Blue Card
- Residence permit for a start-up entrepreneur
- Residence permit for a specialist or manager on the basis of intra-corporate transfer (ICT residence permit)
- Residence permit for work in the top or middle management of a company
- Residence permit for studies
- Residence permit for a researcher
Your spouse and children can also apply for a D visa if they are applying for a residence permit on the basis of family ties.
You can also apply for a D visa if you will be working for a certified employer
To check if your employer is certified, see the page Certified employers.
- Residence permit for an employed person
- Residence permit on the basis of research completed in Finland
- Residence permit on the basis of a degree completed in Finland
- Residence permit for work in the service of a religious community
- Residence permit for work in the field of culture or the arts
- Residence permit for work in the field of mass media
- Residence permit for employment with international organisations or cooperation between states
- Residence permit for preparation of company’s arrival in Finland and supervision of orders
- Residence permit for delivery of a machine or system
- Residence permit for an athlete or a coach
- Residence permit for a consultant
- Residence permit for a visiting teacher, lecturer or trainer
- Residence permit on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement
Your spouse and children can also apply for a D visa if they are applying for a residence permit on the basis of family ties.
How to apply for a D visa
If you apply for a residence permit via the fast-track service, you can also apply for a D visa. With a D visa, you can enter Finland without a residence permit card as soon as you have been issued with a residence permit.
Apply for a D visa in Enter Finland at the same time as you apply for a residence permit. When you visit a VFS application centre or a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) to prove your identity, give your passport to an official. The D visa will be affixed to your passport when the Finnish Immigration Service grants you a residence permit and the D visa.
If you cannot leave your passport with the official when proving your identity, contact the Finnish mission to find out how you can receive the D visa sticker for your passport later.
The processing fee for a D visa application is 95 euros. Pay the D visa at the same time as you pay your residence permit application in Enter Finland.
You do not need a D visa if you are from a country whose citizens are not required to have a visa. See the website of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs to check whether you need a visa to Finland.
Apply for a D visa in Enter Finland at the same time as you apply for a residence permit. When you visit a VFS application centre or a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) to prove your identity, give your passport to an official. The D visa will be affixed to your passport when the Finnish Immigration Service grants you a residence permit and the D visa.
If you cannot leave your passport with the official when proving your identity, contact the Finnish mission to find out how you can receive the D visa sticker for your passport later.
You can pay the D visa fee online in Enter Finland or when you go and prove your identity. The processing fee for a D visa application submitted online is 95 euros.
If you apply for a D visa with a paper application, submit the application form when you visit a Finnish mission to prove your identity.
The D visa will be affixed to your passport. The processing fee for a D visa application that is submitted on paper is 120 euros. Pay the processing fee while visiting a Finnish mission to prove your identity. Fill in and print out a paper application for a D visa.
If you are applying for a D visa with a paper application, attach to your application:
- a copy of your valid passport; and
- a passport photo complying with the passport photo instructions issued by the Finnish police.
If you apply for a D visa after submitting a residence permit application, you must visit a Finnish mission again and use a paper application to apply for a D visa. The D visa is valid for 100 days. It becomes valid as soon as you have received the decision. Please note that your D visa must still be valid when the validity period of your residence permit starts.
When you visit a VFS application centre or a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) to prove your identity, give your passport to an official. The D visa will be affixed to your passport when the Finnish Immigration Service grants you a residence permit and the D visa.
If you cannot leave your passport with the official when proving your identity, contact the Finnish mission to find out how you can receive the D visa sticker for your passport later.
The processing fee for a D visa application that is submitted on paper is 120 euros. Pay the processing fee while visiting a Finnish mission to prove your identity. Fill in and print out a paper application for a D visa.
If you are applying for a D visa with a paper application, attach to your application:
- a copy of your valid passport; and
- a passport photo complying with the passport photo instructions issued by the Finnish police.
If you are abroad and your residence permit card is lost, stolen or broken or has expired, for example, you can apply for a D visa for returning to Finland if you still have a valid residence permit in Finland. In such a case, fill in a paper application for a D visa. Submit the paper form when you visit a Finnish mission to prove your identity.
If you cannot leave your passport with the official when proving your identity, contact the Finnish mission to find out how you can receive the D visa sticker for your passport later.
When you apply for a D visa, attach to your application:
- a copy of your valid passport
- a passport photo complying with the passport photo instructions issued by the Finnish police
- a document stating why you do not have a valid residence permit card
- The document can be, for instance, a certificate stating that you have reported the lost or stolen card to the authorities.
In this case, the processing time for a D visa is usually 2–4 weeks.
If we need additional information, for example about living in Finland, the processing may take up to two months in some cases.
Good to know about the D visa
- When you apply for a D visa, your residence permit card will be delivered to Finland.
- With a D visa, you can arrive in Finland during a time period of 100 days before the residence permit becomes valid. The validity period of your D visa needs to overlap with the validity period of your residence permit for at least one day.
- Please note that if you apply for a residence permit long before your studies begin, for example, it may not necessarily be possible to grant you a D visa together with the residence permit. In such cases, it is possible that your card is delivered to Finland but you are not necessarily able to collect it from the collection point in Finland. If this happens, someone else can pick up the card for you.
- During the period of validity of your D visa, you can travel without restrictions. The D visa granted by Finland is also valid for travel and residence elsewhere in the Schengen area.
- You need to post or personally bring your passport to the Finnish mission and leave it there so that the D visa sticker can be glued to your passport after the visa has been issued.
- In order to receive your residence permit card in Finland, you need to provide a Finnish address. The address can be, for instance, your workplace address, or the address of the hotel or other accommodation where you will be staying. Your residence permit card will be sent to the nearest DB Schenker collection point. Please state only your own email address and phone number under contact details so that you will know when the card is available.
- In the following cases, the D visa will not necessarily shorten the waiting time before you can move to Finland:
- You already live in the Schengen area and have a residence permit in some other EU Member State, as residence permit cards are usually quickly delivered to all EU countries.
- You need to travel to another country or post your passport to a Finnish mission in order to have the D visa sticker attached to it.
- You do not need a D visa if you are from a country whose citizens are not required to have a visa to travel to Finland. To check if you need a visa, see the website of Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. If you decide to apply for a D visa anyway, your residence permit card will be delivered to Finland.
- You are not allowed to start working before you have a valid residence permit. Work for which a residence permit is not required is an exception to this rule.