Regular channels to enter in Finland
October 13, 2016
You want to apply to visit or live in Finland. You want to ask for asylum or you are applying for citizenship. You have to apply to the Finnish Immigration Service.
Finnish Immigration Service
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior, is the agency that processes and decides on matters related to immigration, residence, refugee issues, and Finnish nationality. The agency commenced operation on 1 March 1995 by name the Directorate of Immigration. The name was changed to the Finnish Immigration Service on January 1, 2008.
Working idea
The Finnish Immigration Service is an expert, decision-making and service organisation in matters related to migration, asylum, refugees and citizenship. It also implements Finland's migration policy. The Finnish Immigration Service provides information services in support of political decision-making and for national and international co-operation.
Values
The values of the Finnish Immigration Service are: openness, competence and justice.
The Finnish Immigration Service
• grants residence permits to foreign nationals entering Finland, such as students, employees, self-employed people, returnees and family members of foreign nationals living in Finland
• processes asylum applications, from the asylum interview to the decision
• steers and plans the practical reception of asylum seekers and those granted temporary protection
• issues alien’s passports and refugee travel documents
• decides on refusals of entry and deportations
• processes citizenship applications and declarations and determination of citizenship status
• maintains the Register of Aliens
• produces information services for international needs and for Finnish decision-makers and authorities
• participates in international cooperation in its own field.
Eservices: enterfinland.fi
If you want to apply for:
First residence permits
You must apply for a first residence permit if you plan to stay in Finland for longer than 90 days. Select the application form on the basis of whether you will work or study in Finland.
Extended residence permits
You need to apply for a new fixed-term residence permit before your current permit expires. The Finnish police grants extended fixed-term residence permits. The application should be submitted in good time before you previous permit expires. The processing times may vary between different police departments.
You have to visit the page enterfinland.fi
Apply for Asylum in Finland
If you want to ask for asylum in finland or know how you can do it, you can visit the page of the agency dedicated to this purpose: Asylum in Finland
Contact Information
The Finnish Immigration Service serves its customers
- through its website
- through the e-services
- by telephone
- at Citizen's Service Office in Helsinki
- by e-mail and letter
General contact information
Postal address: P.O. Box 18, FIN-00581 Helsinki, Finland
Head office: Panimokatu 2 A, Helsinki
Reception (in urgent cases supplementary information can be submitted at the reception): Lautatarhankatu 10, Helsinki
Billing address:
OVT 003710199535
OpusCapita Group’s operator code 003710948874
Business ID of the Finnish Immigration Service 1019953-5
VAT number FI10199535
E-mail: migri@migri.fi (official registry office e-mail address)
firstname.lastname@migri.fi
Note! The Finnish Immigration Service does not reply to e-mail inquiries. This is to enable us to make rapid decisions on applications. You can send additional information about your pending matter by e-mail, but please remember that you do so at your own risk, since the connection is not secure.