Marriage concluded abroad
If you have got married abroad, please notify us following the instructions on this page. We will record the information about your marriage in the Finnish Population Information System to keep your personal data up to date. At the same time, we can record your surname if it changed when you got married. If you are a Finnish citizen, you have the obligation to notify any changes in your personal data to the Finnish Population Information System.
Recording a changed surname
If you changed your surname when you got married, we can also record your new surname. The change of surname should be indicated either in the marriage certificate or the proof of identity document.
However, if your new surname is not shown in the marriage certificate or your proof of identity document, we can register your new surname based on your notification under certain conditions. This is possible if you live in Finland or are a Finnish citizen and if your spouse consents to adopting his/her surname. We can also register your new surname based on a separate certificate. Read more about changing your name abroad.
Finnish citizens living in Sweden
The Swedish authorities will inform us of the marriage. If you are a citizen of both Finland and Sweden, Sweden considers you to be a Swedish citizen only and will not forward the information. Persons with dual citizenship therefore have to submit the notification themselves.
Do the following
1. Fill in the form below.
Notification of a marriage outside Finland
2. Verify whether the documents related to your marriage need to be legalised and/or translated.
Read more about the legalisation of documents.
3. Submit the documents either by visiting a service location in person, through a Finnish mission or by sending them by post to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PL 1003, 00531 HELSINKI, FINLAND. If your municipality of residence was in Åland before moving abroad, send the documents to Statens ämbetsverk på Åland.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept scanned documents. Submit all the necessary documents at once to speed up the process. Read our website thoroughly to ensure you have the necessary documentation.
See more detailed instructions for delivering documents.
Required documents:
- notification form for a marriage concluded abroad which you have filled in
- the original or a certified copy of the marriage certificate, legalised if required
- if necessary, the original or a certified copy of the translation of the certificate, legalised if required
4. Inquiries and email messages will not speed up the processing of notifications. We will contact you if we need further information. You will receive a confirmation from us once your marriage and possible change of surname have been recorded. Check that your information has been entered correctly. If for some reason we do not record the information you have submitted in the Population Information System, you will receive a decision on this. Instructions for submitting a request for administrative review are attached to the decision.
N. B.! Cases are processed in their order of arrival. Unfortunately, we cannot speed up an individual case unless there is a very exceptional and very important reason for doing so. For example, opening a bank account is not a sufficient justification for speeding up the process.
Frequently asked questions
Scanned copies of documents alone are not sufficient. You must also submit the original documents to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. See also separate instructions for the legalisation and translation of a document.
Didn’t find what you were looking for on our website?
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 number is +358 295 536 320
Service hours:
- Mon 9-15
- Tue-Fri 9-12
Service locations
See also
Finnish citizens can deliver documents to: Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PL 1003, 00531 HELSINKI, FINLAND or visit a Finnish mission. If you submit the documents to the delegation for further dispatch to the Digital and population data services agency, the delegation will charge a fee for its service in accordance with its price list.
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