For futu­re Oulu citizens

Moving abroad and buil­ding a new life is an exci­ting, life-chan­ging expe­rience. But dea­ling with a dif­fe­rent count­ry can be chal­len­ging. Whe­re should I begin?

Nor­dic citizen:

If you are a citizen of a Nor­dic count­ry (Den­mark, Ice­land, Norway or Swe­den) and migra­te to Fin­land, you do not need to apply for a resi­dence visa or pro­vi­de any jus­ti­fica­tion for your stay. In Fin­land, you have the same emplo­y­ment, busi­ness, and educa­tio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties as Fin­nish natio­nals.

If you intend to stay in Fin­land for more than six months, plea­se regis­ter at a ser­vice loca­tion of the Digi­tal and Popu­la­tion Data Ser­vices Agency.

EU/EEA citizen:

If you plan to stay in Fin­land for less than three months, EU citizens have the same rights as Fin­nish citizens to work, stu­dy, and start a busi­ness. The same is true for Swiss and Liech­tens­tein resi­dents.

If you intend to stay in Fin­land for more than three months, you must apply to the Fin­nish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice (Maa­han­muut­to­vi­ras­to) for the regi­stra­tion of an EU citizen’s right of resi­dence, and you must have a job, a run­ning busi­ness, a stu­dy place, long-term fami­ly ties, or suf­ficient resources. The applica­tion must be sub­mit­ted no later than three months after the date of arri­val.

If you plan on moving to Fin­land for at least a year and want to live as a munici­pa­li­ty resi­dent, you must noti­fy the Digi­tal and Popu­la­tion Data Ser­vices Agency (Digi- ja väes­tö­tie­to­vi­ras­to). In Fin­land, if you have a munici­pa­li­ty of resi­dence (koti­kun­ta), you are usual­ly entit­led to use its ser­vices.

No-EU citizen:

If you intend to stay in Fin­land for less than 90 days, you must apply for a visa, which is an ent­ry per­mit for a short, tem­po­ra­ry visit of less than 90 days, unless you are a citizen of a visa-exempt count­ry. Plea­se visit the foreign ministry’s web­si­te to get more infor­ma­tion.

If you intend to stay in Fin­land for more than 90 days, you must first apply to the Fin­nish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice for a resi­dence per­mit. The type of resi­dence per­mit you requi­re is deter­mi­ned by your rea­son for moving to Fin­land. You must apply on your behalf for a resi­dence per­mit. If you are alrea­dy in Fin­land, you must visit the Fin­nish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice wit­hin three months of sub­mit­ting your applica­tion for a resi­dence per­mit. If you are not yet a resi­dent of Fin­land, you can apply for one onli­ne at EnterFinalnd.fi. Howe­ver, you must visit a Fin­nish embas­sy or con­su­la­te in per­son wit­hin three months of sub­mit­ting your applica­tion to con­firm your iden­ti­ty and pre­sent ori­gi­nal copies of your applica­tion appen­dices.

Once you have been gran­ted a resi­dence per­mit by the Fin­nish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice and have reloca­ted to Finland/Oulu, you must regis­ter your munici­pa­li­ty of resi­dence in the popu­la­tion regis­ter to use munici­pal ser­vices. Plea­se visit the Digi­tal and popu­la­tion data ser­vices agency’s web­si­te to get more infor­ma­tion about the regi­stra­tion for foreig­ners.