Work in Finland

You have to apply for the residence permit yourself. When you apply for the permit in the Enter Finland service,  your employer must fill in the employment conditions for your aplication via the Employer's Enter Finland e-service. Your employer can follow the status of your residence permit application in the online service of the Finnish Immigration Service. It may also pay the processing fee on your behalf. 

When you receive the residence permit, show your residence permit card to your employer.

The Finnish concept of family is more limited than in many other countries. The following people are considered family members:

• spouse
• registered partner
• cohabiting partner
• guardian of a child aged under 18
• child

When you visit the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, bring the following documents with you: 

• valid passport
• residence permit card 
• if you can receive a municipality of residence based on your temporary residence permit B, bring with you proof of work in Finland lasting more than 2 years (employment contract) 

Your family member needs the following documents, which you will have to already obtain in the country of origin:

• a valid passport or an official identity card with a photograph 
• original certificates of family relations. You can submit the certificates in Finnish, Swedish or English. If the certificate is in some other language, have it translated.
• If you submit a certificate of guardianship, the document must be legalised. Read the instructions for legalisation.Opens in a new window.

Your family member needs the following documents, which you will have to already obtain in the country of origin:

• a valid passport or an official identity card with a photograph 
• original certificates of family relations. You can submit the certificates in Finnish, Swedish or English. If the certificate is in some other language, have it translated.
• If you submit a certificate of guardianship, the document must be legalised. Read the instructions for legalisation.Opens in a new window.

In addition, your family member must have the certificate of registration of the right to residence of an EU citizen, which they can obtain in Finland from the Finnish Immigration Service. Therefore, make an appointment for the registration of family relations in such a way that your family member will visit the Finnish Immigration Service before visiting the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Your family member needs the following documents: 

• a valid passport

• a residence permit card

• the original, legalised and translated certificates of family relations. Remember to check if the certificates must be legalised or translated. Read the instructions for legalisation.Opens in a new window.

You can have documents and certificates translated:

• By an authorised translator in Finland. For more information about authorised translators, go to the website of the Finnish National Agency for Education (the information is in Finnish)Opens in a new window.. You do not need to legalise the translation. 
• By an official translatorOpens in a new window. in another EU Member State. You do not need to legalise the translation.  
• A standard form, which you can use as a translation aid, can be attached to a public document issued by an EU Member State. You can request more information on the standard forms from the authorities of the country from which you obtain the certificate. You do not need to legalise the standard form.  
• You can also order the translation from a translator that is not authorised or does not have any official status. In such cases, the translation must be legalised. Read the instructions for legalisation.Opens in a new window.

If your underage child moves to Finland, you can manage your child’s matters if your guardianship has been registered. For example, healthcare, day-care centres and schools give information about the child only to the official guardians. 

If your spouse moves to Finland, it is advisable to also register your marriage in Finland.

Some European countries belong to both the customs territory and the fiscal territory of the EU. Some countries belong to only one of them. A list of the countries in the customs and fiscal territory of the EU can be found on the website of the Finnish Customs.Opens in a new window.

If you are not sure whether you should clear your removal goods through the customs, ask Customs for advice.

You do not need to clear your removal goods through the customs. 

Usually, you also do not need to pay any customs duties or tax on your removal goods. Tobacco and alcohol products are an exception. You can bring them with you only if

• they come on the same transport as you
• they are intended for your own use.

Read about importing alcohol and tobacco from EU countries in more detail on the website of the Tax Administration.Opens in a new window.

You must clear your removal goods through the customs. There are different ways to clear customs:

• When you bring the goods yourself, you clear customs yourself. Your representative may also carry out the customs clearance. 
• When your removal goods are imported by a transport company, you can authorise the company or the forwarding agency to take care of customs clearance on your behalf.
• If you send goods in advance, you must apply to Customs for an advance import licence.

Whether you have to pay customs duty and tax on your removal goods depends on the case. You usually have to pay duties and tax if

• you have not lived outside the EU for at least 12 months
• the consumer durables have not been used by you for at least 6 months before your move
• you bring your removal goods to be used for some other purpose than the purpose for which they were used in your previous place of residence.
• you do not clear your goods through the customs within 12 months of your move.

Also pay attention to the following:

• Customs requires you to provide certificates proving that the conditions for exemption from customs duty and taxes are met. For example, these include long-term residence outside the EU.
• If you decide to sell, rent out or pawn your removal goods before 12 months have passed from your move to Finland, you have to pay the customs duties and taxes on them.

How to declare removal goods – instructions on the Finnish Customs website.Opens in a new window. 

If you move from within the customs and fiscal territory of the EU, you do not need to clear your vehicle through the customs.

If you move from outside the EU or from outside the fiscal territory of the EU, you must declare your car and possibly pay customs duties and taxes. The same conditions regarding customs duties and taxes apply to the vehicle as do to the other removal goods.

Also pay attention to the following:

• If the vehicle has not been registered to an EU or EEA country, obtain a transfer permit for it from Traficom to be able to drive it in Finland before its registration.
• Submit a declaration of use and a car tax return to the Tax Administration and be prepared to pay car tax.
• Have your vehicle inspected and registered.
• If the vehicle is new, check with the Tax Administration whether you have to pay the VAT on new means of transport.

Read about bringing a vehicle to Finland in more detail on the website of the Finnish Customs.Opens in a new window.

The permits are issued by different authorities. Ask 

• the Police about permits required for firearms and ammunitionOpens in a new window.
• the Finnish Food Authority about bringing animals and animal productsOpens in a new window. and plants and plant productsOpens in a new window.
• Traficom about bringing pleasure boats, personal watercraft and outboard motorsOpens in a new window.
• The Finnish Environment Agency (ympäristö.fi) about bringing products made from endangered animals and plants Opens in a new window.
• Fimea about importing medicines.Opens in a new window.