Registration of the right of residence of a citizen of the European Union

If you are a citizen of a Nordic country, register your right of residence at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

• You have arrived in Finland as an employed person or a self-employed person.
• You have arrived in Finland as a family member.
• You have arrived in Finland as a student.
• If none of these grounds apply to you, you may still stay in Finland as long as you have sufficient funds to support yourself.

• Your Finnish family member needs to have lived in another EU Member State outside Finland for longer than three months.
• You can register your right of residence as an EU citizen if you have lived together or if the relationship that made you each other’s family members began while you were both living in another EU Member State.
• In other words, the relationship that made you each other’s family members must have begun before you move to Finland. You and your Finnish family member need to have lived in a partnership or led a family life in another EU Member State outside Finland.
• You are not required to present documentation of sufficient funds.
• Attach to your application documentation proving that a Finnish citizen has exercised his or her right of free movement and that you have lived together in another EU Member State.

You are not required to have a specific amount of money but you must have enough funds to support yourself. Social assistance may not be your principal means of support. We will take your personal circumstances into account when we consider this income requirement.

Submit the registration request online in the e-service Enter Finland or with a paper application.

You need to submit the application yourself. Your employer or family member, for example, cannot apply for registration on your behalf.

After you have filled in an application, book an appointment at one of the service points of the Finnish Immigration Service:

• If you have applied through the e-service, visit the Finnish Immigration Service to prove your identity and show the originals of the documents that you have attached to your application. If you submit your application through the e-service, pay for it there.
• If you have filled in a paper application, bring it with you. Prove your identity and show the originals of the documents that you have attached to your application.

The processing times for the registration of the right of residence of EU citizens and for residence cards for family members of an EU citizen are laid down in the Aliens Act.

The registration certificate shall be issued immediately after the EU citizen has provided a document showing that he or she fulfils the requirements for registration. A decision on a residence card application for a family member of an EU citizen will be made within six months of the application’s submission date. You may also use the Processing Time Checker to get an estimate on the remaining processing time of your application.

You can follow the processing of your application with the help of our chatbot Kamu. In addition, you will usually receive automated messages at the different processing stages of your application.

If you have submitted your application in the e-service and you need to supplement your application, do it in the e-service. If you have submitted a paper application and you need to supplement your application, do it by post or by bringing additional documents to an office or a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service during opening hours. Fill in a covering note and attach it to your additional documents. Read more on the page "Supplementing your application".

You may cancel your application at any time during its processing. Read more on the page "Cancelling an application".

If you meet the requirements for registration, the Finnish Immigration Service will issue you a registration certificate. It will be given to you when you visit the Finnish Immigration Service. The certificate includes your name and address as well as the date of registration. If we are unable to give you a decision on your visit because some documents are missing, you will receive it later by post or in the e-service Enter Finland.

If you have applied for registration online, you will receive an email or a text message notification when a decision has been made.

When you receive the decision in the online service Enter Finland, remember to save and print the decision for yourself. You may need it later when visiting Finnish authorities.

The decision will remain in Enter Finland for one 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.

The registration of your right of residence is valid until further notice. In other words, you do not have to extend the validity of the registration. When you have resided legally in Finland for a continuous period of five years, you have the right to permanent residence.

You will receive the registration certificate on paper. If you wish to have a Finnish identity card, you may apply for one from the police after the Finnish Immigration Service has registered your right of residence. Further information about applying for an identity card is available on the website of the Finnish police. Please notice that it is not obligatory to apply for an identity card. You may apply for one if you wish.

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 you registered your right of residence 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.

Send your request to the Finnish Immigration Service

• by email: [email protected] or
• by fax: 0295 411 720 or
• by letter: PO Box 10, 00086 Maahanmuuttovirasto

If more than two years have passed since the decision, you can request a certificate of your right to stay in Finland from the Finnish Immigration Service. The processing fee for the certificate request is 50 euros.

Read more on the page Certificate requests.

If you are not satisfied with the decision, the Finnish law gives you the right to appeal against the decision to an Administrative Court. Instructions on how to appeal will be attached to the decision.

The majority of decisions made by the Administrative Courts are subject to a fee. Contact an Administrative Court to find out more about court fees.