Dri­ving in Fin­land: What Immi­grants Need to Know About Exchang­ing a Driver’s License 

If you’re plan­ning to set­tle in Fin­land or have already begun your jour­ney here, don’t for­get an essen­tial step — sort­ing out your driver’s license! Whether you’re con­tin­u­ing to use your cur­rent license or exchang­ing it for a Finnish one, under­stand­ing the require­ments is key to stay­ing on the road legal­ly and safe­ly. 

This guide will walk you through the process of exchang­ing or endors­ing your for­eign driver’s license, based on offi­cial Finnish reg­u­la­tions. Read on to find out what steps you need to take depend­ing on the type of license you hold and your coun­try of ori­gin. 

How to Exchange a For­eign Dri­ving License for a Finnish License 

 If you’re plan­ning to live in Fin­land or have already estab­lished res­i­dence, you may need to exchange your for­eign dri­ving license for a Finnish one. Here’s a guide to under­stand­ing the rules and require­ments based on the ori­gin of your license. 

1. EU and EEA Licens­es 

If you hold a dri­ving license from an EU or EEA Mem­ber State, you can con­tin­ue to dri­ve in Fin­land as long as your license remains valid. How­ev­er, if you’ve been liv­ing in Fin­land per­ma­nent­ly or study­ing here for at least six months, you may wish to exchange your EU/EEA license for a Finnish one. Addi­tion­al­ly, if your EU/EEA license is lost, stolen, or dam­aged, you can apply for a replace­ment Finnish license. 

 2. Licens­es from Con­tract­ing States 

 If your license was issued in a “Con­tract­ing State” — such as Hong Kong, Macao, Tai­wan, or a coun­try par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Gene­va or Vien­na Road Traf­fic Con­ven­tions — you may exchange it for a Finnish license in cat­e­gories A1, A2, A, or B with­out a dri­ving test. How­ev­er, for Group 2 and BE cat­e­go­ry licens­es, you must pass the Finnish dri­ving exam­i­na­tion. 

To qual­i­fy for a direct exchange (with­out a test), you must apply with­in two years of obtain­ing a per­ma­nent address in Fin­land and before your orig­i­nal license expires. 

Your for­eign license will be sub­mit­ted to Trafi­com for safe­keep­ing while your Finnish license is processed. Dur­ing this peri­od, you’ll receive a tem­po­rary license valid for up to six months or until your for­eign license expires. 

3. Non-EU, EEA, and Non-Con­tract­ing State Licens­es 

 For licens­es issued out­side the EU, EEA, or Con­tract­ing States, Fin­land requires dri­vers to apply for a Finnish dri­ving license per­mit and pass a dri­ving exam­i­na­tion, which includes both the­o­ry and dri­ving tests. This process ver­i­fies that you meet Finnish dri­ving stan­dards. 

 Addi­tion­al Infor­ma­tion and Ser­vice Points 

All appli­ca­tions and exchanges take place at Ajo­var­ma ser­vice points, which process dri­ving per­mits on behalf of the Finnish Trans­port and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Agency (Trafi­com).  

For the lat­est infor­ma­tion on required doc­u­ments and addi­tion­al sup­port, con­sid­er check­ing Trafi­com’s web­site or vis­it­ing an Ajo­var­ma office. 

Exchang­ing a for­eign dri­ving licence for a Finnish licence | Ajoko­rt­ti-info 

Text by: Déb­o­ra Oliveira and Jes­si­ca Segu­ra