Submitting foreign documents to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency 

 

Deliver the documents as follows:

 

A) Through the Finnish mission 

If you are a Finnish citizen and live abroad, submit the necessary documents to the DVV through a Finnish mission abroad in person or by mail.

The Finnish diplomatic mission will send your scanned documents to DVV and return the original documents to you. The diplomatic mission charges a fee for its service in accordance with its price list. As the original documents may be unique, it is recommended to submit the documents primarily through a Finnish diplomatic mission.

Submitting the documents through a diplomatic mission benefits you in the following ways:

  • You can be sure that your documents will arrive at DVV and will not disappear on the way
  • The diplomatic mission delivers your documents electronically and quickly to the DVV so that your case can be started immediately.
  • You can keep the original documents.

 

B) By post

If you submit the documents by mail to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, deliver them as certified copies following the instructions based on the country of origin of the document found under the headline "Documents". Read detailed information about the legalisation of documents. Notice that the certified copies are not returned, they will be kept for six months after which they will be destroyed.

If you deliver original documents to DVV, they will be returned to you as ordinary mail (not registered mail) under your responsibility. Original standard extracts from registers issued by the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland) and Estonia are not returned. They will be kept for six months after which they will be destroyed..

If you send documents from outside the EU, send them as standard mail. This is the best way to avoid customs. 

NOTE: Do not send money or a passport in the envelope to DVV. 

Send the 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, PB 58, 22101 Mariehamn, FINLAND.

 

C) By bringing the documents to our service location

Book an appointment in advance.

 

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. 

 

Processing times

Inquiries and email messages will not speed up the processing of notifications. We will contact you if we need further clarification. Otherwise, we will not contact you until registration is complete. If you have provided your e-mail address, we will send you a notification of registration in the Population Information System as an encrypted e-mail message. If you have not provided your e-mail address, we will send you a notification of registration to the Population Information System by mail. 

So, just be patient and wait. 

Instructions in French for submitting foreign documents to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency

Instructions for submitting foreign documents in French: dvv.fi/remettre-des-documents-etrangers-a-l-agence-du-numerique-et-du-registre-de-la-population 

 Documents 

Didn’t find what you were looking for on our website?

Contact us

You can find the average processing times on our website

Email

If your message contains personal or other confidential information, remember to use secure email. Choose the address  [email protected] as the recipient.

Send secure email

Telephone service

Telephone service: 0295 536 320

Service hours: Mon–Fri 9–15