Did you get a study place or a job in Oulu and are now plan­ning to relo­cate here? It’s com­plete­ly nor­mal to have ques­tions and feel a bit uncer­tain before mov­ing to a new city. To make your tran­si­tion eas­i­er, we at Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu have pre­pared this arti­cle to help you set­tle in smooth­ly.

In this arti­cle, you will find:

Before Arriv­ing in Oulu

If you are mov­ing to Oulu from anoth­er coun­try, there might be a lot of things to be tak­en into con­sid­er­a­tion regard­ing legal require­ments, resid­ing, work­ing and study­ing.

Depend­ing on your per­son­al cir­cum­stances, you might need to do some or all of the fol­low­ing before arriv­ing in Oulu

Appli­ca­tion Process

Dur­ing the appli­ca­tion process, you will need to inter­act with a few author­i­ties and search for prac­ti­cal infor­ma­tion in asso­ci­a­tion with your relo­ca­tion. These include:

• On the web­site of the Finnish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice (Maa­han­muut­tovi­ras­to), check whether you need to apply for a visa, a res­i­dence per­mit, or EU reg­is­tra­tion, and confirm that you meet the require­ments: Appli­ca­tion finder | migri.fi 
• Accord­ing to the appli­ca­tion finder, you need to fill in the appro­pri­ate appli­ca­tion online at EnterFin­land or fol­low the instruc­tions pro­vid­ed by the Finnish mis­sion.
• Find your near­est Finnish mis­sion: Finland’s embassies, con­sulates gen­er­al and hon­orary con­sulates by coun­try | umi.fi

Doc­u­ment Prepa­ra­tion

It is impor­tant to make sure the required doc­u­ments are in order before arriv­ing in Oulu, Fin­land, if com­ing from abroad. This will make it eas­i­er to take care of offi­cial mat­ters. Thus, make sure you:

• Pre­pare the orig­i­nal doc­u­ments, for exam­ple: birth cer­tifi­cate, mar­riage cer­tifi­cate, pass­port, ID card, driver’s license, edu­ca­tion cer­tifi­cates, job- relat­ed doc­u­ments (con­tracts, pro­fes­sion­al qual­ifi­ca­tions), and health-relat­ed doc­u­ments.
• Check if some of them need to be trans­lat­ed and legal­ized: Instruc­tions for legal­iza­tion | Dig­i­tal and pop­u­la­tion data ser­vices agency | dvv.

Accom­mo­da­tion and  Cost of Liv­ing

Mov­ing to a new city can be both excit­ing and chal­leng­ing. It is impor­tant to start prepar­ing well in advance to make your tran­si­tion smoother and eas­i­er. Hous­ing costs can vary depend­ing on the neigh­bor­hood and type of accom­mo­da­tion. How­ev­er, it is help­ful to have an over­all under­stand­ing of the cost of liv­ing in Oulu, as well as in Fin­land in gen­er­al. You can learn more and pre­pare finan­cial­ly by vis­it­ing: Cost of liv­ing in Fin­land | infofinland.fi.

It is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to start search­ing for hous­ing ear­ly, espe­cial­ly before the aca­d­e­m­ic year begins. In Oulu, rental apart­ments are avail­able through pri­vate land­lords and hous­ing com­pa­nies.

In Fin­land, hous­ing is gen­er­al­ly unfur­nished. How­ev­er, most apart­ments include essen­tial kitchen appli­ances (except for the dish­wash­er). Some apart­ments may also have a wash­ing machine, while oth­ers pro­vide access to a shared laun­dry room. 

There­fore, you should be pre­pared to pur­chase your own fur­ni­ture, such as a bed, sofa, desk, kitchen tools, and cur­tains. Most of the rental apart­ments  in Fin­land allow pets, but some may have restric­tions, so make sure to check this in advance. If you are mov­ing to Fin­land with pets, per­son­al belong­ings, or a car, you can find more infor­ma­tion on how to bring them through Finnish Cus­toms: Mov­ing — Finnish Cus­toms | tulli.fi

Stu­dents can apply through stu­dent hous­ing providers. Check rental con­tracts care­ful­ly in order to under­stand deposit rules (usu­al­ly 1–2 months’ rent). It is com­mon to pay the rent month­ly via bank trans­fer.

• Hous­ing in Oulu | Hous­ing Guid­ance Ser­vice | City of Oulu
• Oulu munic­i­pal rental hous­ing (Sivak­ka) | https://www.sivakka.fi
• Oulu region stu­dent hous­ing provider (PSOAS) | Stu­dent hous­ing in Oulu | PSOAS

In addi­tion to this, most rental agree­ments require ten­ants to take out home insur­ance on their belong­ings. There­fore, you should con­tact a home insur­ance provider for more infor­ma­tion. Home insur­ance is impor­tant because it cov­ers your per­son­al belong­ings in case of dam­age, theft, or unex­pect­ed acci­dents.

Elec­tric­i­ty Con­tract

In some apart­ments in Fin­land, elec­tric­i­ty is not includ­ed in the rent. In these cas­es, you are expect­ed to sign your own elec­tric­i­ty con­tract with a provider soon after sign­ing your lease. How­ev­er, some apart­ments do include elec­tric­i­ty, so make sure to check your rental agree­ment. Typ­i­cal­ly, the rent does include heat­ing, but elec­tric­i­ty for appli­ances and per­son­al use is usu­al­ly sep­a­rate. If need­ed, you can com­pare elec­tric­i­ty providers and prices online for exam­ple at Sähkönhinta.fi. The elec­tric­i­ty trans­mis­sion com­pa­ny is deter­mined by your loca­tion. For exam­ple, in Oulu, this is typ­i­cal­ly han­dled by providers such as Oulun Ener­gia or Oulun Seudun Sähkö. The trans­mis­sion com­pa­ny is respon­si­ble for charg­ing for the elec­tric­i­ty trans­fer (net­work fee).

• Com­pare elec­tric­i­ty com­pa­nies | https://www.sahkonhinta.fi
• Gen­er­al guid­ance | https://www.infofinland.fi/en/housing/electricity

A help­ful reminder: when mov­ing out, remem­ber to can­cel your elec­tric­i­ty con­tract by con­tact­ing your elec­tric­i­ty provider. Con­tracts are not auto­mat­i­cal­ly ter­mi­nat­ed when you move, and providers are not noti­fied unless you inform them your­self.

Health Check-up 

Before relo­cat­ing to Fin­land, it is advis­able to com­plete gen­er­al med­ical and den­tal check-ups in your home coun­try. Health­care ser­vices are of high qual­i­ty in Fin­land but they can entail wait­ing times for non-urgent care. Make sure you bring copies of impor­tant med­ical records, pre­scrip­tions, vac­ci­na­tion his­to­ry, and any ongo­ing treat­ment plans. If you use reg­u­lar med­ica­tion, check whether it is avail­able in Fin­land and bring suf­fi­cient sup­ply for the first months. Hav­ing prop­er doc­u­men­ta­tion will make it eas­i­er to con­tin­ue treat­ment after arrival.

Local Author­i­ties 

Before mov­ing to Fin­land, con­tact the rel­e­vant author­i­ties in your coun­try of ori­gin to check whether you need to offi­cial­ly declare your relo­ca­tion. Some coun­tries require dereg­is­tra­tion from the pop­u­la­tion reg­is­ter, tax author­i­ty, or social secu­ri­ty sys­tem. You may also need doc­u­ments con­firm­ing your mar­i­tal sta­tus, fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships, or edu­ca­tion­al qual­i­fi­ca­tions. Ensure that impor­tant doc­u­ments are trans­lat­ed and legal­ized if required. Tak­ing care of these for­mal­i­ties in advance can pre­vent legal or admin­is­tra­tive com­pli­ca­tions lat­er.

Finnish Lan­guage

Learn­ing basic Finnish before arrival will make your tran­si­tion smoother and help in dai­ly life sit­u­a­tions such as shop­ping, using pub­lic ser­vices, or social­iz­ing. Even though many peo­ple in Oulu speak Eng­lish, Finnish lan­guage skills improve job oppor­tu­ni­ties and inte­gra­tion. You can explore online Finnish lan­guage cours­es before mov­ing and con­tin­ue with local cours­es after arrival. Lan­guage cours­es are avail­able through uni­ver­si­ties, adult edu­ca­tion cen­ters, and inte­gra­tion pro­grams. Start­ing ear­ly will boost your con­fi­dence and inde­pen­dence in Fin­land.

• Find Finnish lan­guage cours­es taught online and in Oulu through this web­site: Learn Finnish | City of Oulu

More about Oulu and Fin­land

Before arriv­ing, take time to learn about Finnish soci­ety, cul­ture, cli­mate, and every­day prac­tices. Oulu is known for its strong tech­nol­o­gy sec­tor, cycling cul­ture, and safe liv­ing envi­ron­ment. Win­ters are long and cold, so under­stand­ing sea­son­al changes helps with prepa­ra­tion. Famil­iar­iz­ing your­self with local cus­toms, pub­lic ser­vices, and lifestyle expec­ta­tions will ease your adap­ta­tion. Reli­able infor­ma­tion is avail­able through offi­cial gov­ern­ment and city web­sites.

• Essen­tial infor­ma­tion about Oulu | infofinland.fi

The “Wel­come to Oulu” guide pro­vides prac­ti­cal infor­ma­tion for new res­i­dents, includ­ing reg­is­tra­tion steps, pub­lic ser­vices, hous­ing, and employ­ment. It is espe­cial­ly use­ful for inter­na­tion­al new­com­ers who are not famil­iar with Finnish sys­tems. Review­ing this guide before and after arrival can help you under­stand what to expect and what actions are required. It also intro­duces sup­port ser­vices avail­able for inter­na­tion­al res­i­dents. Keep­ing this guide acces­si­ble dur­ing your first months in Oulu is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed.

Offi­cial home­page for Oulu:

• https://www.ouka.fi/oulu/english
• Wel­come to Fin­land — Guide | valtioneuvosto.fi

Con­nect­ing with Locals

Build­ing a social net­work is impor­tant for inte­gra­tion and well-being. You can fol­low Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu on social media to stay informed about events, work­shops, and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. Par­tic­i­pat­ing in local events helps you meet both Finns and oth­er inter­na­tion­als. Com­mu­ni­ty activ­i­ties, vol­un­teer­ing, and hob­by groups are excel­lent ways to con­nect with peo­ple.

Social inte­gra­tion sup­ports both per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment. Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu: https://oulu.com/en/ihoulu

Con­nect with for­eign­ers liv­ing in Oulu, for exam­ple, through these Face­book groups: Oulu Inter­na­tion­al Par­ents, Inter­na­tion­al  Spous­es in Oulu, Inter­na­tion­al Friends in Oulu etc.

After Arriv­ing in Oulu

There are also cer­tain things you should take care of after arriv­ing in Oulu. Some of these are legal require­ments, while oth­ers will help you set­tle and inte­grate smooth­ly into soci­ety.

Get­ting a Finnish SIM Card & Inter­net

Mobile inter­net is wide­ly used in Fin­land. You can pur­chase a pre­paid SIM card from super­mar­kets or mobile shops with­out a Finnish ID. For long-term stay, it is cheap­er to sign a month­ly sub­scrip­tion con­tract. Major oper­a­tors offer good cov­er­age in Oulu.

If broad­band and cable ser­vices are not includ­ed in your rent, you can choose from sev­er­al inter­net and cable TV providers in Fin­land. It is rec­om­mend­ed to ask your land­lord or hous­ing com­pa­ny (taloy­htiö) which inter­net con­nec­tions are avail­able in the build­ing. In some cas­es, a spe­cif­ic provider or con­nec­tion type may already be set up as the best or only option, so you may not need to con­tact mul­ti­ple com­pa­nies. A deposit may be required when set­ting up a new con­nec­tion. Inter­net ser­vices can also be bun­dled with oth­er ser­vices or pur­chased sep­a­rate­ly.

Stream­ing ser­vices may be avail­able as part of ser­vice pack­ages, or they can be pur­chased inde­pen­dent­ly.

• Mobile ser­vices in Fin­land | https://www.infofinland.fi/en/housing/telephone-and-internet
• Telia | https://www.telia.fi
• Elisa | https://www.elisa.fi
• DNA | https://www.dna.fi

Pub­lic Trans­port

Before arrival, it is help­ful to learn about Oulu’s pub­lic trans­port sys­tem. Bus­es are the main pub­lic trans­porta­tion in the city. You can pur­chase sin­gle tick­ets via a mobile app or buy a trav­el card for reg­u­lar use. It is also pos­si­ble to pay on the bus using cash or a bank card. Trains con­nect Oulu to Helsin­ki and oth­er cities. Taxi ser­vices are avail­able via apps or phone book­ing.

• Oulu pub­lic trans­port (OSL) | https://www.osl.fi/en
• Finnish Rail­ways (VR) | https://www.vr.fi/en
  

Offi­cial Reg­is­tra­tion and Doc­u­ments

Depend­ing on your sit­u­a­tion, you may need to inter­act with the Finnish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice (Migri) and The Dig­i­tal and Pop­u­la­tion Data Ser­vices Agency (DVV).

If you plan to stay in Fin­land for more than three months, vis­it DVV to reg­is­ter your tem­po­rary or per­ma­nent address in Fin­land. DVV can also issue a per­son­al iden­ti­ty code (”henkilö­tun­nus ” in Finnish) for you, if you haven’t received it ear­li­er. This code is essen­tial for every­day mat­ters in Fin­land, such as open­ing a bank account, access­ing health­care ser­vices, and sign­ing employ­ment con­tracts.

For­eign­er’s Iden­ti­ty Card

It cer­tifies your iden­ti­ty when you use dif­fer­ent ser­vices. The police can issue the card for for­eign

cit­i­zens who reside in Fin­land per­ma­nent­ly. Banks might also require it if you want to have access to full bank­ing ser­vices.

• Learn more: Apply for an iden­ti­ty card — Police | poliisi.fi

Dri­ving Licence

If you hold a dri­ving license from an EU/EEA coun­try, it is usu­al­ly valid in Fin­land. Non-EU licens­es may need to be exchanged with­in a spe­cif­ic peri­od. You may need to take a dri­ving test depend­ing on your coun­try of ori­gin.

• Dri­ving license in Fin­land | Trafi­com – trans­port and com­mu­ni­ca­tion ser­vices for you | Trafi­com

Tax­es

If you stay in Fin­land for more than six months, you are gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered a tax res­i­dent and must pay tax in Fin­land on income earned both in Fin­land and abroad. To work in Fin­land, you will need a tax card from the Finnish Tax Admin­is­tra­tion (Vero). Your employ­er uses this card to with­hold the cor­rect amount of tax from your salary.

• Learn more: Tax­es in Fin­land | vero.fi

Bank­ing — Deposit­ing & With­draw­ing Cash

Fin­land is large­ly a cash­less soci­ety, and most pay­ments are made by card or mobile apps. How­ev­er, cash can still be with­drawn from ATMs (pankki­au­tomaat­ti: Otto or Nos­to), if need­ed. Deposit­ing cash is pos­si­ble at cer­tain bank branch­es or des­ig­nat­ed deposit ATMs.

It is rec­om­mend­ed to open a Finnish bank account after arrival to access salary pay­ments and access online bank­ing ser­vices. Many banks in Fin­land offer ser­vices in Eng­lish. To open an account, you will usu­al­ly need to book an in-per­son appoint­ment with your cho­sen bank. Banks are typ­i­cal­ly open on Mon­day to Fri­day from 9.00 to 16.00 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.), but most of the every­day bank­ing is han­dled online or by phone.

• Check if you can use your bank card in Fin­land or need to take cash (Euro). Reg­u­la­tions for bring­ing cash: Cash — Finnish Cus­toms | tulli.fi
• Otto ATMs | https://otto.fi/en/

Kela

The Social Insur­ance Insti­tu­tion (Kela) admin­is­ters social secu­ri­ty ben­e­fits on a nation­al lev­el in Fin­land. If you are work­ing in Fin­land or move to Fin­land on a per­ma­nent basis, you may be eli­gi­ble for Kela ben­e­fits and receive a Kela card start­ing from the time of your move.

Depend­ing on your sit­u­a­tion, you may be enti­tled to social secu­ri­ty cov­er­age through KELA .The Kela card is used to access health­care ser­vices and receive reim­burse­ments for med­ical expens­es and cer­tain med­ica­tions.

• Learn more: Quick guide when you move to Fin­land | kela.fi

Pub­lic and Stu­dent Health Ser­vices

Once reg­is­tered and cov­ered by KELA, you can use pub­lic health ser­vices through your local health cen­ter. Ser­vices include gen­er­al prac­ti­tion­ers, mater­ni­ty clin­ics, and den­tal care. Appoint­ments are usu­al­ly booked by phone or online.

• Health­care in Fin­land | https://www.infofinland.fi/en/health
• Well­be­ing ser­vices in Oulu region | Front page — Pohde

Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents are enti­tled to ser­vices from the Finnish Stu­dent Health Ser­vice (FSHS / YTHS). Ser­vices include gen­er­al health­care, den­tal care, and men­tal health sup­port.

• FSHS | https://www.yths.fi/en/

Every­day Life

Every­day life in Fin­land is well-orga­nized and easy to adapt to. Below you will find prac­ti­cal infor­ma­tion about dai­ly habits, ser­vices, and activ­i­ties that will help you set­tle in.  These tips will make it eas­i­er for you to nav­i­gate dai­ly life in Oulu and in Fin­land.

Traf­fic Rules

Oulu is one of the best cycling cities in Fin­land. You should always fol­low the traf­fic rules. Pedes­tri­ans use foot­paths (side­walks), cyclists use cycle paths. Some areas have shared paths for both pedes­tri­ans and cyclists. There are strict park­ing rules: always check park­ing signs to avoid fines.

• Finnish Trans­port and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Agency:
  https://www.traficom.fi/en

Gro­ceries & Shop­ping Guide

Large super­mar­kets such as Pris­ma, K‑Citymarket, and Lidl oper­ate in Oulu. Gro­cery stores are usu­al­ly open until late evening.

• Gen­er­al gro­cery shop­ping tips for Fin­land | https://ohjekeskus.fi/finland-grocery-shopping-guide-prices-stores-tips-for-new-arrivals/

Recy­cling & Trash Sort­ing

Fin­land has a strict waste sort­ing sys­tem. Sep­a­rate paper, card­board, bio-waste, plas­tic, glass, and met­al accord­ing to spe­cif­ic guide­lines. Incor­rect sort­ing may lead to penal­ties or addi­tion­al charges.

• Waste man­age­ment in Oulu (Kier­tokaari) | https://kiertokaari.fi

Sec­ond­hand Items & Fur­ni­ture

You can buy afford­able fur­ni­ture and house­hold goods from sec­ond­hand shops and online mar­ket­places. Recy­cling cen­ters and Face­book Mar­ket­place are also pop­u­lar among new­com­ers.

• Recy­cling Cen­tre Likke (sec­ond-hand and dona­tion shop) | https://kiertokaari.fi/recycling-centre-likke/
• Tori mar­ket­place | https://www.tori.fi
• SPR Kont­ti – Finnish Red Cross sec­ond-hand depart­ment store (fur­ni­ture, home items, more)

Enter­tain­ment & Activ­i­ties

Oulu offers cin­e­mas, swim­ming halls, gyms, sports facil­i­ties, cul­tur­al events, and out­door activ­i­ties all year round.

• Enter­tain­ment | InfoFin­land — Leisure
• City events | https://www.ouka.fi/tapahtumat

Fam­i­ly and Child­care in Oulu

If you are mov­ing to Oulu with chil­dren, you can apply for munic­i­pal ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion (day­care) through the City of Oulu. It is rec­om­mend­ed to apply ear­ly, as places can be lim­it­ed. Fees are based on fam­i­ly income.

School-aged chil­dren attend local schools, and edu­ca­tion in Fin­land is gen­er­al­ly of high qual­i­ty and free of charge.

• City of Oulu day­care ser­vices | https://www.ouka.fi/oulu/english/early-childhood-education
• Child­care in Fin­land | https://www.infofinland.fi/en/family/children
• For more infor­ma­tion about the preschool edu­ca­tion in dif­fer­ent lan­guages and mul­ti­lin­gual pupils in basic edu­ca­tion in Oulu: Immi­grants & For­eign-lan­guage Speak­ers | City of Oulu

Job Search and Career Sup­port

Oulu offers sev­er­al oppor­tu­ni­ties and ser­vices to sup­port job seek­ers. Recruit­ment events such as Mega­Match­mak­ing and PestiPäivä con­nect employ­ers with inter­na­tion­al pro­fes­sion­als, while job por­tals and LinkedIn are wide­ly used for find­ing job oppor­tu­ni­ties.

You can also receive career guid­ance from the Employ­ment Ser­vices Fin­land or uni­ver­si­ty career cen­ters. These ser­vices may include CV work­shops, inter­view prepa­ra­tion, and job search advice.

• Business­Oulu events | https://www.businessoulu.com
• TE Ser­vices job por­tal | https://tyomarkkinatori.fi
• Employ­ment ser­vices | https://tyomarkkinatori.fi
• Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu | https://www.ihoulu.fi

Emer­gency: 112

In case of emer­gency (police, fire, ambu­lance), call 112. The num­ber works nation­wide and is free of charge | https://112.fi

AT YOUR SERVICE

Feel free to con­tact Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu before or after your arrival in Oulu! We will be glad to help!

Fol­low us on Insta­gram, Face­book, and LinkedIn to stay informed on upcom­ing events, info ses­sions, and fun activ­i­ties for the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty!

If you have any sug­ges­tion about/for these tips, please do not hes­i­tate to tell us via email.

ihoulu@ouka.fi

www.ihoulu.fi

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