EU registration (free movement)

If you are a citizen of an European union (EU) member state, a Nordic country, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you do not need a residence permit to stay in Finland. To register your right of residence, apply for EU registration if: 

• you are a citizen of an EU Member State, Liechtenstein or Switzerland; and
• you will stay in Finland for longer than 3 months without interruption. 

You do not need to register your right of residence if you are staying in Finland for 3 months or less at a time. The calculation of the 3-month residence always restarts from the moment when you return to Finland after travelling outside its borders.

When you reside in Finland, you must have a valid passport or identity card.

If you are a Nordic citizen (citizen of Denmark, Iceland, Norway or Sweden), it is sufficient for you to register your personal data at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (dvv.fi). Nordic citizens do not need to apply for EU registration at the Finnish Immigration Service.

You must have grounds for residing in Finland

To stay in Finland for over 3 months at a time, EU citizens must have grounds for residing in Finland. If you are an EU citizen, you can live in Finland for longer than 3 months if:

• you have arrived in Finland as an employee or as a self-employed person;
• you have arrived in Finland as a student; or
• you have arrived in Finland as a family member of an EU citizen.

A registration certificate can be issued when you meet the requirements for EU registration.

• If you apply for EU registration on the basis of employment, for example, you can be registered only after your employment relationship has started.
• If you apply for EU registration on the basis of studies, you can be registered only after your studies have started.
  • You cannot apply for EU registration on the basis of studies if you participate in comprehensive education or pre-primary education, in integration training for immigrants or in language training for immigrants. 

Your grounds for residing in Finland determine whether or not you are required to have sufficient financial resources for living in Finland. To check which requirements apply to your grounds for residence, see the page Registration of right of residence.

Sufficient financial resources may also be your grounds for residing in Finland. This is possible if you have sufficient funds for yourself and your family members, meaning that you will not need to rely on social assistance, for example. Under law, an EU citizen must not cause an unreasonable burden to the Finnish social security system. 

When you apply for EU registration, you need to present documentation of your grounds for residence and of your sufficient financial resources. However, you are not required to have a specific amount of money. We will consider your personal circumstances when assessing whether or not your financial resources are sufficient. If you have sufficient financial resources, you do not need to give a reason for your residence in Finland.

Right to work

As an EU citizen, you have the right to start working immediately after you have arrived in Finland. You have an unrestricted right to work already when you are waiting for a decision on your EU registration application. 

If you live in Finland, your family member can start working immediately when he or she arrives in Finland. Your family member has an unrestricted right to work even if he or she is not an EU citizen.

Family members of an EU citizen 

If you yourself are an EU citizen and also a family member of an EU citizen, you need to register your right of residence.

If you are a family member of an EU citizen but not an EU citizen yourself, apply for a residence card. The card is intended for family members of EU citizens.

Registration of children who are EU citizens

For a child who is an EU citizen, a registration certificate is usually applied for on the basis of family ties. 

The registration requires the following:

• You need to fill in a separate application for the child.
• The child must have their own valid passport or identity card.
• The child and the child’s parent or guardian must be present at the service point of the Finnish Immigration Service to submit a paper application. If you have submitted an online application, the child and the child’s parent or guardian must be present at the service point when proving their identities.
  • If the child has 2 parents or guardians, attach the other parent’s or guardian’s written consent to the child’s application. If the other parent or guardian does not live in Finland or is not moving to Finland, the consent must be notarised.

If your child is born in Finland, apply for EU registration for the child within 3 months of the birth.

Personal identity code and permanent address

After the Finnish Immigration Service has registered your right of residence as an EU citizen in Finland, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency can grant you a Finnish personal identity code and a municipality of residence and register a permanent address for you.

For more information about obtaining a personal identity code, a municipality of residence and a permanent address, see the website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Copy of the original registration certificate

When you register your residence in Finland, you will receive a registration certificate at the service point of the Finnish Immigration Service or in the online service Enter Finland. The decision will remain in Enter Finland for 1 year after the date when you open the decision for the first time. After a year, the decision, the application, and the attachments will be removed from the online service for reasons of data protection. After that, you will not be able to print the decision from the online service. If you have not saved your EU registration certificate and it has been removed from the online service, you can request the certificate from the Finnish Immigration Service.

If your right of residence was registered less than two years ago and you only need a copy of the decision, you can request the copy from the Finnish Immigration Service free of charge. Tell your customer number or your full name and date of birth in your request. Use our Securemail service to send us the request by encrypted email. For more information, see the page Contact information.

If your right of residence was registered over two years ago, you can request a certificate of your right of residence in Finland. To do so, you need to send us a certificate request. The certificate is subject to a fee.

1. Request a certificate using this form: Request for a certificate from the Finnish Immigration Service, TOD_P (pdf).
2. Pay the processing fee for the certificate request (EUR 50). For payment instructions, please see the request form.
3. When you submit your certificate request, attach a receipt or other reliable proof of having paid the processing fee. Include a copy of your identity card or passport. You can get the certificate in English, Finnish or Swedish. 
4. When filling in the section ‘I hereby request the Finnish Immigration Service to issue a certificate for myself or for my child regarding’, tick the box “another matter, please specify”. Write in the field that you need a copy of your EU registration certificate.  
5. Send your request to the Finnish Immigration Service. For instructions on how to send us the certificate request, please see the request form.

You might also be interested in the following information:

• Video: How to register an EU citizen's right of residence (youtube.com)
• Right of permanent residence
• Cancellation of right of residence
• Find the right permit for you