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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: 

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.

How to apply for a D visa

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.