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Moving to Finland – the first 30 days, step by step and in the order that works

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

You have a job offer or a permit, a folder of certificates and a list of agencies with four-letter names. The order in which you visit Migri, DVV, Vero and Kela decides whether your first month in Finland flows or stalls – here is the sequence, step by step.

Woman with a suitcase checking her phone on a platform as a train arrives
Photo: Alliance/Adobe Stock

Several rules changed just before you arrived: since 1 January 2025 you register as a jobseeker with your municipality, not a state TE Office, and on 1 June 2026 International House Helsinki moved to Pasila; part 2 covers the 2025–2026 permit reforms. The order of your first 30 days is unchanged, and it matters.

Almost everything hangs on the henkilötunnus (personal identity code), the eleven-character code that banks, employers and every authority use to identify you. The second key is the kotikunta (municipality of residence), registered separately by DVV (Digital and Population Data Services Agency; Myndigheten för digitalisering och befolkningsdata in Swedish), which opens healthcare, schools and benefits.

Before you travel: permits, papers and removal goods

Citizens of the Nordic countries, the EU, Liechtenstein and Switzerland need no residence permit and arrive with a valid identity card or passport. Everyone else applies to Migri (Finnish Immigration Service; Migrationsverket in Swedish) before coming, because a first permit for work cannot be applied for from inside Finland – see part 2.

Have birth, marriage and divorce certificates and diplomas legalised and translated before you leave: the authorities accept Finnish, Swedish or English, nothing else. Removal goods from outside the EU customs territory need a customs declaration within 12 months of the move, and pets fall under the Finnish Food Authority’s rules, which often require vaccinations.

The first 30 days in Finland, in order

InfoFinland, the official guide run by the City of Helsinki with the ministries, and the agencies themselves give this order; each row has its own part later in the series.

StepWhatWhere
1Settle your right to stayMigri; DVV for Nordic citizens; a permit before travel for others
2Secure an addressLandlord; part 5
3Get the personal identity code, unless Migri issued itDVV, or a tax office for tax purposes
4Apply for a municipality of residence – a separate stepDVV
5Get a verokortti (tax card)Vero (Tax Administration)
6Open a bank account; ask for online banking codesYour bank; part 4
7Tell Kela about your move; apply for the Kela cardOmaKela or form Y 77e
8Register as a jobseeker if you have no workYour municipality’s employment services
9Find your terveysasema (health station)Your hyvinvointialue (wellbeing services county)
10Phone, foreigner’s identity card and, if needed, a licence exchangeAn operator; the police; Ajovarma

Source: InfoFinland, Migri, DVV, the Finnish Tax Administration and Kela, read 24 September 2026.

Week one: your right to stay and where to go

EU citizens staying more than three months register their right of residence with Migri within three months of arrival, only after moving, for 53 euros. Nordic citizens instead register in person at DVV within one month of moving if they stay more than six months. Permit holders get a residence permit card, delivered to a collection point in Finland within about two weeks of the decision; it is not an identity document.

In Helsinki one address covers most of week one. International House Helsinki, at Ratapihantie 7 in Pasila since 1 June 2026, handles EU registration for Migri, the code and municipality of residence for DVV, the tax card for Vero, jobseeker registration and Kela by remote service, Monday to Friday 9.00–16.00. Identity cards are the exception: newcomers go to the Helsinki Police Department at Pasilanraitio 11. Espoo and Vantaa residents use the same house, because DVV’s Espoo office has closed permanently.

CityMigri service pointDVV service locationTax office
HelsinkiKaupparaitti 10 (Malmi); EU registration also at International HouseRatapihantie 7, floor K1, appointments Mon–Fri 9.00–16.15Ratapihantie 7, Mon–Fri 9.00–16.00
TampereTekniikankatu 1, wing AHatanpään valtatie 36, appointments Tue–Fri 9.00–16.00Hatanpään valtatie 36
TurkuNallinkatu 8 in Raisio – none in Turku itselfKulttuurikuja 1, Mon–Fri 9.00–16.00Kulttuurikuja 1, Suomi-piste
OuluAlbertinkatu 4 BViestikatu 1, Tue–Wed and Fri 9.00–16.00Uusikatu 52

Source: Migri, DVV and the Finnish Tax Administration, read 24 September 2026.

Weeks two to four: what needs the personal identity code

If Migri grants you a residence permit, EU registration or a residence card, you are registered automatically and the code comes with the decision. Otherwise you request it from DVV with an online form and visit in person within one month, every family member included; it is free and takes two to three weeks in work and study cases. Tax offices in larger cities issue codes for tax purposes only, usually within one to three business days. Neither of those codes gives you a municipality of residence – for that you still apply to DVV, as part 3 explains.

TaskCode needed?What applies
Prepaid SIM cardNoSold at R-kiosks and supermarkets; no address needed either
Registering as a jobseekerYes, in practiceJob Market Finland asks for a DVV extract or Kela card as proof; non-EU citizens also need a valid residence permit
Bank accountYes, in practiceThe bank needs your name, code and address; a driving licence is not accepted as ID
Online banking codesYesA bank may refuse them if you have no code or are not in the Population Information System
Kela benefits and the Kela cardYes, plus a bank accountKela pays nothing in cash
Contract phone subscriptionYes, plus an addressA credit check follows; otherwise you pay in advance

Source: InfoFinland, Job Market Finland, Finanssivalvonta and Kela, read 24 September 2026.

Tax, healthcare and work in the first month

Everyone with income in Finland needs a tax card from Vero; new arrivals get it at a service point, and if you do not show it to your employer, 60 per cent of your pay is deducted as tax. The tax-card phone line is 029 497 050.

Your right to public healthcare depends on having a kotikunta, not on the Kela card, which Kela (Social Insurance Institution) sends automatically to everyone covered by national health insurance and which is not an ID card. If you work for at least 800.02 euros a month you can get certain Kela benefits and the card from the start of the job, whatever your country of origin. EU, EEA, Swiss and UK workers without a kotikunta apply to Kela for the right to medical care; others without one get emergency care only and can be billed afterwards. Health stations usually open Monday to Friday 8–16; call 116 117 before an emergency clinic, and 112 in an emergency.

Register with your municipality’s employment services on your first day without work, because unemployment benefit is paid only from the registration date. Since 1 May 2026 Kela’s general social security benefit has replaced the labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance, and since 1 April 2026 a refused residence permit application ends residence-based Kela benefits immediately.

Three mistakes that cost time or money

MistakeWhat happensHow to avoid it
Assuming the code from Migri or Vero makes you a residentNo kotikunta, so no health station, school place or residence-based benefitsApply for the municipality of residence at DVV
Submitting DVV’s form and forgetting the visitThe visit must take place within one month of the form, for every personBook the appointment when you submit
EU citizen letting three months passYou are staying without registering and cannot get a kotikuntaApply to Migri within three months of arrival

Source: InfoFinland, DVV and Migri, read 24 September 2026.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Check your route to residence (part 2); legalise your certificatesBefore you book the move
2Secure an addressBefore you register
3Register your right of residence, or visit DVV as a Nordic citizenWithin three months, or one month for Nordic citizens
4Request the personal identity code and the municipality of residenceRight after arrival; visit DVV within one month
5Collect your tax card and open a bank accountBefore your first payday
6Notify Kela, register as a jobseeker if needed, find your health stationDuring your first weeks
7Apply for the foreigner’s identity card onlineOnce the kotikunta is registered

Source: InfoFinland, Migri, DVV and Kela, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.