Registration of citizenship
You can have several citizenships recorded in the Population Information System. We can record your citizenship in the Population Information System based on a valid passport, an original decision on naturalisation or some other reliable evidence.
If you are a Finnish citizen, you have the obligation to notify the Finnish Population Information System of the foreign citizenship you have received.
Read more about losing and retaining Finnish citizenship.
If you are applying for Finnish citizenship, contact the Finnish Immigration Service.
Which documents can I use to prove my citizenship?
- We will enter the date on which you received your citizenship as the reseption date of citizenship.
- Verify whether you need to have the decision legalised and/or translated. Read more about the legalisation of documents. Legalisation is not required if you present the decision and your new passport to us at the same time.
- Submit the original document or a certified copy of it.
- Do not send your passport to us by post.
- If you are a Finnish citizen, you must present a decision on naturalisation or equivalent document issued by official authority. Acquiring a citizenship of another country may affect your Finnish citizenship. The decision on naturalisation does not need to be legalized and you do not need to show us the original document. Present a translation if required.
- A certified passport copy issued by another EU country does not need to be legalised. However, copies issued by other countries need to be legalised. Read more about the legalisation of documents.
- If you are a Finnish citizen, you must present a decision on naturalisation or equivalent document issued by official authority. Acquiring a citizenship of another country may affect your Finnish citizenship. The decision on naturalisation does not need to be legalized and you do not need to show us the original document. Present a translation if required.
- The passport must be valid.
- We will enter the date on which you received your citizenship as the reception date of citizenship.
- The certificate does not need to be legalised.
*We accept photo identity cards from the following countries:
• EU countries, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, or San Marino
- If you are a Finnish citizen, you must present a decision on naturalisation or equivalent document issued by official authority. Acquiring a citizenship of another country may affect your Finnish citizenship. The decision on naturalisation does not need to be legalized and you do not need to show us the original document. Present a translation if required.
- If you provide a certified copy of an identity card, it does not need to be legalised if it has been issued by another EU country. However, a copy issued by other countries need to be legalised. Read more about the legalisation of documents.
If you are unsure what information about you is registered in the Finnish Population Information System, first check your personal and address details.
If your current or most recent municipality of residence is in Åland, we are unable to process the matter. Please contact Statens ämbetsverk på Åland.
Do the following
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Get the necessary document to show your citizenship.
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Check if the original document must be legalised and/or translated
We require the original document or a certified copy for registration.
Do the following if you submit a copy:
- First request legalisation for the original document, if necessary.
- Request a certified copy of the document. A certified copy can be issued either by a notary public or by the same authority that issued the original document.
- Legalise the certified copy as well.
Read more -
Fill out the online form
You can use this form to request:
- the addition of a new citizenship
- the removal of a lost citizenship
- the deletion of incorrect citizenship information
- the addition or correction of your place and country of birth
If you are not able to use the online form, fill in and print out the paper form and deliver it together with your original documents.
Note: Please fill in only one form.
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Deliver the documents within one month of submitting the online-form
A) By post
- Send the form and documents to Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PL 1003, 00531 Helsinki, FINLAND.
- Note! Do not send your passport or idnetity card by post.
B) By bringing the documents to our service location
- You can leave documents at the Agency´s lobby service or mailbox.
- Book an appointment in advance, if you want personal customer service.
See more detailed instructions for submitting documents.
If you do not present the documents to us within the time limit, the information provided on the form will not be registered in the Finnish Population Information system. In such a case, you will receive a negative decision.
Are you submitting an electronic document?
In many countries, authorities issue electronic documents without a handwritten signature or stamp. We can accept such a document only if we can verify its authenticity electronically, for example with a QR code, or a link in the document.
Note that a scanned copy or photo of a certificate is not the same as an electronic document.
Electronic documents must also be legalised if required.
You can submit an electronic document by attaching it to the online form.
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We will notify you once your information has been registered
We are processing your application. We will contact you if we need additional information.
Once your citizenship has been registered, we will send you an extract from the Population Information System using one of the following methods:
- in Suomi.fi Messages, if you are using it
- by post to the address registered in the Finnish Population Information System. Please make sure your address is up to date
- by secure email to the email address you have provided, if you have a Finnish phone number
If you submitted an original document, we will return it to you by post at your own risk.
Submitting documents through the Finnish embassy
- If you are a Finnish citizen or a foreign citizen permanently residing in Finland, you may also submit the documents to us through a Finnish embassy. The embassy will charge a fee for this service. You can either deliver the documents in person, or send them by post to the embassy.
- If you are not a Finnish citizen, or do not live permanently in Finland, you can ask the embassy whether it is possible to submit the documents through them.
Fill in the paper form Citizenship and Foreign Place of Birth at the embassy or in advance. Do not use the online form. This way, all documents related to your matter will be kept together.
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)
Didn’t find what you were looking for on our website?
Contact us
You can find the average processing times on our website.
Telephone service
Telephone service: 0295 536 320
Service hours: Mon–Fri 9–15
The call and the waiting time will cost you the local and mobile rates agreed with your operator.
If your message contains personal or other confidential information, remember to use secure messaging service. Choose International registrations, [email protected] as the recipient.