Residence permit application for a guardian whose child is Finnish citizen

Requirements

Make sure you meet the following requirements and the general requirements for entry into Finland. See the general requirements for entry into the country on the page First residence permit.

General attachments

• A valid passport issued by your country of nationality. For more information, see the page Passports and other travel documents. Show the passport when you visit a service point to prove your identity. 
• A passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police (poliisi.fi), or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
  • The passport photo must be no more than 6 months old.
• Colour copy of the passport page containing your personal data and copies of all passport pages with notes
• Colour copy of the passport page containing personal data and of all pages with notes in the passport of the child living in Finland
• Supplement form for a child LIITE_HUOLTAJA (pdf) (to be filled in and signed by the child living in Finland)
• Document showing that you are legally staying in the country where you submit the application
• Form MP_1 (pdf) (if you already are in Finland and apply for your first residence permit)
• Birth certificate of the child living in Finland, with information on the child’s parents (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries or in an EU Member State)
• Document on the custody of the child living in Finland (must be legalised if not issued in the Nordic countries)

Application-specific attachments

Below is a list of application-specific documents. Submit the documents that your situation requires. The documents must be legalised, unless they have been issued by authorities of the Nordic countries or by authorities of an EU Member State. See the page Interpretation, translation and legalisation for instructions on how to have your documents legalised.

• If the child was born to parents who were not married to each other, submit a certificate of establishment of paternity.
• If the child is adopted, submit a decision on adoption.
• If the child is a foster child, submit
  • evidence that the persons who previously had custody of the child have died or are missing
  • evidence that you or your spouse had actual custody of the child before the child entered Finland.
• If you and the child’s other parent or guardian are divorced, submit a divorce certificate.
• If there are agreements or other documents on the custody of the child and on right of access to the child, submit these documents.
• If the child’s other parent has died, submit a death certificate.
• If you must meet the income requirement, submit evidence of sufficient financial resources. The application form contains further details on what documents you must submit as proof of your income and financial resources. What documents you must provide depends on how you will secure sufficient financial resources for yourself in Finland.
  • Examples of acceptable income sources:
    • gainful employment or business activities
    • pension, assets or other income (such as rental income or income from dividends).

Fill in the application:

Prepare for your life in Finland

Right to work

You have an unrestricted right to work. You cannot start working before you get a residence permit.