Identification

If you apply for a residence permit or citizenship in the online service Enter Finland, you have to visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service, or if you are applying for a residence permit abroad, a Finnish mission (embassy or consulate) to prove your identity.

During the same visit, you must present the originals of the documents that you have attached to your application, and possibly give your fingerprints for a residence permit card.

You should normally visit a Finnish mission or a service point in Finland to identify yourself in person within three months of the date on which you submit your application via the Enter Finland online service. The deadline for identification has now been extended until 31 August 2021. Read more at migri.fi/en/handling-matters-during-the-coronavirus-epidemic.

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Extended permit without visiting a service point to prove your identity

You may not have to visit a service point when you apply for an extended permit on the Enter Finland online service. Use strong electronic identification when you log in to Enter Finland before you fill in your application for an extended permit. When you submit your application, Enter Finland will let you know if you have to go and prove your identity at a service point or not. 

This is what you should do:

  1. Log in to Enter Finland online service using your Finnish online banking credentials, citizen's certificate or mobile certificate. These three options for logging in to the service are referred as strong electronic identification. 
  2. Attach the retrieval code for your digital passport photo to your application. You can get a digital passport photo and its retrieval code by visiting a photo shop. Enter your photograph retrieval code in the field ‘Passport photo’ on the first page of the application form.  If you do not attach a photo retrieval code to your application, you must visit a service point to prove your identity.
  3. Fill in all sections of the application.
  4. Pay the fee for your application on Enter Finland. You can pay the fee for your application on the fifth page of the online application form using the most common payment cards or with Finnish online banking credentials. If you do not pay the fee for your application on Enter Finland, you must visit a service point to prove your identity.
  5. When you submit your application, the online service will tell you whether you need to visit a service point or not.

Apply for an extended permit before your previous residence permit expires.

Use strong electronic identification before you apply for an extended permit. If you only use strong identification after you have submitted your application for an extended permit, you must visit a service point. If you already have an Enter Finland account, go to the bottom of this page to read about changing it into an account which uses strong identification.

Also a child under 18 years of age may not need to visit a service point, if the child is applying for an extended permit together with his or her parent. The child’s parent must use strong identification. In addition to this, the parent must receive a notification in Enter Finland informing that he or she does not need to visit a service point. 

Enter Finland will tell you whether you need to visit a service point or not

I used strong electronic identification but Enter Finland still told me that I must visit a service point. Why?

Do you already have an Enter Finland account? This is how you update it into an account which uses strong electronic identification

If you have only logged in to Enter Finland using your e-mail address and password, you must visit a service point.

Update your account into one that uses strong electronic identification.

This is what you should do:

1.   In the menu, select ‘My Account’.

2.    Select ‘Change now’ to get to the Suomi.fi login page, where you can log in to the online service using strong electronic identification, for example your Finnish online banking credentials.  

After you have logged in to the online service using strong identification, your account will be updated to an account with strong identification. In the future, you must always log into your account using strong electronic identification.

Change your account to an account with strong identification before applying for an extended permit. If you change your account to an account with strong identification after submitting your application for an extended permit, you cannot avoid visiting a service point.