As a foreigner in Finland
On this page, you can find useful information for foreign citizens about the services of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
New in Finland
If you are a foreign citizen and move to Finland, your information will be recorded in the Finnish Population Information System if the conditions are met. At the same time, you will be assigned a Finnish personal identity code. To get a personal identity code, you must visit a service location in person. If you have already received a personal identity code from the Finnish Immigration Service or the Finnish Tax Administration, we can record your address and family relations, for example. Read more about address registration and the personal identity code on our page on Registration of a foreigner’s personal data.
Registration of municipality of residence
You can be assigned a municipality of residence in Finland under certain conditions. We will register your municipality of residence and the permanent address associated with it in the Population Information System. You may need a municipality of residence to use the municipal services, to be granted social benefits, to receive an identity card and to vote, for example. If you intend to live in Finland for more than a year and would like to get a municipality of residence, read more on our page on Municipality of residence.
Updating personal data
If your personal data has already been recorded in the Population Information System but it has changed while you were living abroad, we can update it. For example, you may have changed your name or gotten married abroad. You can read more about reporting changes to your personal data on our page on Life changes while living abroad.
Further information:
- Registration of a foreigner’s personal data
- Municipality of residence
- Life changes while living abroad
- Instructions for document legalisation
Links to Acts related to the matter
Acceptance of documents issued by authorities in EU Member States
Act on the Population Information System and the certificate services of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (661/2009) (in Finnish)
Municipality of Residence Act (in Finnish)
Didn’t find what you were looking for on our website?
Customer service
Please do not enquire about the processing time by email as it will lead to congestion in our service. We will process the applications in the order we have received them. N.B! At the moment, we are not answering any enquiries about processing times.
Please use secure email if your message contains personal or otherwise confidential information. Please choose this address as the recipient: [email protected]
Telephone
Please do not enquire about the processing time by phone as it will lead to congestion in our service. We will process the applications in the order we have received them.
Service hours Monday–Friday 9–12
Telephone +358 295 536 320
Service locations
- Individuals
- Processing times
- Marriage
- Examination of impediments to marriage
- Marriage ceremony
- Prenuptial agreement
- Notification of a marriage concluded abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of the act applicable to the matrimonial property regime
- Registration of a deed of division of property
- Dissolution of cohabitation
- Removal of marital rights to property
- Extracts issued of the register on the right to officiate at weddings
- Having or adopting a child
- Names
- Moving
- Guardianship
- Continuing power of attorney
- Appointment of a guardian
- Duties of the guardian
- Guardianship for a minor
- Who can act as a guardian?
- Actions that require the permission of the guardianship authority
- Appointing a substitute guardian
- Termination of guardianship
- Giving up the guardian’s task
- Guardianship authority's means of supervision
- Looking after the interests of an absent person or the future owner of the property
- Restrictions to competency and declaration of incompetence
- Extracts from the Register of Guardianship Affairs
- Life changes while living abroad
- Registration of a child born abroad
- Marriage concluded abroad
- Partnership registered abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of a name change performed abroad
- Death abroad
- Registration of citizenship
- Notification of retaining Finnish citizenship
- Legalisation of foreign documents
- Submitting foreign documents
- As a foreigner in Finland
- Elections and Right to vote
- Suomi.fi Web Service
- Citizen Certificate and electronic identity
- Certificates from the Population Information System
- Population information in the Population Information System
- Registration of a gift notification
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Citizens’ initiative
- Death and estate inventory
- Public Service Info
- Address service
- Forms
- Digital support for citizens
- Organisations
- Certificates
- Updating customer registers
- Sampling services
- Search services of the Population Information System
- Local Register Office Register search services
- Extracts from registers
- Maintaining the Population Information System
- Suomi.fi services
- Services to promote digitalisation
- Digital support
- Digital security services
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Right to officiate weddings
- E-services
- Finnish Authenticator identification service
- About the agency