Life changes while living abroad
A) Registration of marital status and family relationships at the same time with a personal identity code request
The registration of marital status and family relationships, such as parenthood and marriage requires that you present official certificates. Without a certificate, we don't record information about your family relations or marital status. You must present the certificate either as an original or as a certified copy. In addition, a legalisation and translation may be required for the certificate. Check if the original certificate from the population register must be legalised and/or translated.
If you want us to record information on parenthood, fill in the form:
Notification of child born outside Finland
If you want us to record information about your marriage or a registered same-sex partnership, fill in the correct form:
Notification of marriage outside Finland
Notification of civil partnership registered outside Finland
B) Registration of foreign changes in family relations or personal data in Finland
If you live abroad, remember to report any changes to your personal data to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. This way your data will be up to date in the Population Information System and using the services of the Finnish authorities will be easier.
It is important to have the information up to date in the Population Information System. For instance, the electoral register for an election is drawn up based on the information in the Population Information System. If your address is incorrect, the authorities may not be able to reach you in official business related to, for example, your right to vote, pension decisions or military service.
Finnish citizens who live abroad have the legal obligation to report any changes to their personal data during their time abroad, including the birth of a child, marriage, divorce, and changes of name and address. If you are unsure about what details has been stored on you in the Population Information System, please, first check your own personal details.
You must provide us with the original documents or copies that have been certified. Unfortunately, we cannot process scanned documents. See more detailed instructions for delivering documents.
Instructions and forms:
Instructions for document legalisation
Instructions for delivering documents
Processing time
- 3–4 months.
- If we need any supplements from you, the processing time may be a longer than average.
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Contact us
You can find the average processing times on our website.
If your message contains personal or other confidential information, remember to use secure email. Choose the address [email protected] as the recipient.
Telephone service
Telephone service: 0295 536 320
Service hours: Mon–Fri 9–15
See also
Finnish citizens can deliver documents to a Finnish mission or alternatively post them to Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PL 1003, 00531 HELSINKI, FINLAND.
If you deliver the documents to a mission, the mission will charge a fee shown on its price list for this service. Submitting your documents through a mission will make their processing faster and safer than if you send them by post.