Registering a child born abroad in Finland
Notify us of your child born abroad so that we can register them in the Population Information System. If you are a Finnish citizen, you have the obligation to notify any changes in your personal data to the Finnish Population Information System.
A) Finnish citizens
Your child who was born abroad will receive a personal identity code when you register them if they are born with Finnish citizenship. Your child will be born with Finnish citizenship if:
- the mother who gave birth to the child is a Finnish citizen
- the child's father is a Finnish citizen and the parents are married to each other.
If only the child's father is a Finnish citizen and the parents are not married to each other, your child will not receive Finnish citizenship automatically even if the paternity has been confirmed. To obtain Finnish citizenship for your child, you must submit a declaration of citizenship to the Finnish Immigration Service.
If the child has two mothers and only the child's non-birth mother is a Finnish citizen, your child will not be automatically born with Finnish citizenship even if maternity has been confirmed. To obtain Finnish citizenship for your child, you must submit a declaration of citizenship to the Finnish Immigration Service.
Other nationalities will not be added automatically unless they are directly shown in the birth certificate.
B) Citizens of other countries
A Finnish personal identity code can only be issued to a child born abroad if they live in Finland and meet the conditions for registration. Read more about the registration of a personal identity code and how to obtain it.
If your child has been born and lives abroad, we can record them as your child in the Population Information System. In this case, however, the child is not given a Finnish personal identity code and they can only be found under your data in the Population Information System. A personal identity code will only be issued if they move to Finland.
Required documents
- birth certificate
- document relating to the confirmation of parenthood
- if necessary, translations of the certificates or an appendix compliant with Article 39 of the Brussels II a Regulation appended to a decision on custody in the EU.
Remember to check whether any of the documents must be legalised. At least the decision and the population register extracts of some countries must be legalised. The legalisation method depends on the country that issued the document.
Also note that we can only accept documents in Finnish, Swedish or English. If you have documents in other languages, they must be translated into any of these three languages. See the instructions for legalising and translating documents.
How we register parenthood and custody in Finland for a child born abroad
If you are of a different sex and married to each other and the child was born during your marriage, you are both automatically the guardians of your child. The person who gave birth to the child is the child's mother and their spouse is the child's father. However, note that your marriage must be recorded in the Finnish Population Information System. If your marriage has not been recorded in the Population Information System, submit a notification of the marriage concluded abroad at the same time when you are registering your child's birth. Visit our website for instructions for notifying a marriage.
If you are not married to each other when the child is born, the person who gave birth to the child is automatically the child's mother and guardian. However, the child's paternity must be confirmed so that we can record the child's father in the Finnish Population Information System. We can usually acknowledge a decision on paternity and guardianship issued abroad without a separate confirmation. If the child and both parents reside in Finland and paternity has not been confirmed anywhere else, we can usually also confirm paternity in Finland.
When your child is born abroad and has two mothers, the birth mother is automatically the child’s parent and guardian. We can usually acknowledge a decision on the parenthood and guardianship of the non-birth mother issued abroad.
Do the following
1. Fill in the notification form for a child born abroad
Notification form for a child born abroad
2. Check if the original child’s birth certificate or any document relating to the confirmation of parenthood must be legalised and/or translated.
- You must present the certificate either as an original or as a certified copy
- If your document must be legalised, a copy of it must be requested of the legalised document. The copy is then also legalised.
- A certified copy can be issued either by a notary public or by the same authority that issued the original document
3. Deliver the documents as follows:
A) Through the Finnish mission
- If you are a Finnish citizen or a foreign citizen permanently residing in Finland
- Otherwise, you can ask the diplomatic mission whether it is possible to submit documents through them
B) By post
- Send the form and documents to 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.
C) By bringing the documents to our service location
NOTE. Only electronic documents that can be verified can be sent by email (for example, the document was originally issued electronically by a foreign authority). If necessary, the electronic document must also be legalised. An electronic document does not mean a scanned document.
See more detailed instructions for submitting documents.
4. Please note that inquiries and email messages will not speed up the processing of the notifications. We will contact you if we need more information. You will receive an extract from the Population Information System after your details have been recorded. Check that the 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.
This is how you get the document:
You will receive a notification of registration after your data has been saved.
You will receive a notification via encrypted email when your data has been saved. If you have enabled Suomi.fi Messages, you will receive a message there instead of via email. If you do not have Suomi.fi Messages or email, you will be notified by letter.
We will contact you if we need more information.
Check that all your details have been entered correctly. If the information you have provided cannot be entered in the Population Information System, we will send you a decision on the case. Instructions for submitting a request for administrative review are attached to the decision.
Frequently asked questions
Unfortunately, scanned copies are not sufficient. You must provide us with the original documents. In addition, you must verify whether you need to have the documents legalised or translated.
Yes, you do. Submit a notification of the marriage concluded abroad at the same time when you are registering your child's birth. Read the instructions on how to submit a notification of a marriage on our website.
Your marriage must be recorded in the Population Information System at the same time so that we can enter the information on the child's parents and guardians correctly.
We will not record other citizenships automatically unless the citizenship is clearly indicated on the birth certificate. If your child holds the citizenship of another country in addition to the Finnish citizenship, you must present evidence, such as a passport, of the other citizenship. Read the instructions on how to submit a notification of another citizenship on our website.
As a rule, cases are processed in order of arrival. We can speed up registration only for serious reasons, such as if there is a need to obtain a passport for a Finnish citizen born abroad.
Yes, because we do not receive them from other authorities.
Complete and submit the form "custody decision issued abroad" and the original legalised documents to us. A custody decision issued by an EU country or a country that has acceded to the Hague Convention on Child Protection, or a translation of such a decision, does not need to be legalised. Read the delivery instructions and general legalisation instructions for documents.
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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Contact us
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Telephone service
Telephone service: 0295 536 320
Service hours: Mon–Fri 9–15