Guidance

Finland: Knowledge Base profile

Updated 9 April 2024

About: Finland

This document contains useful information about Finland which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 3.0
• published for Home Office staff on 9 April 2024

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Finland: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Finland.

Strict naming conventions apply in Finland. Names consist of:

• up to 4 forenames
• up to 2 surnames, they can be hyphenated

A child can be given either parents surname or a combination of the two. For a child born to unmarried parents the parent with parental responsibility chooses the surname.

An extract from the Finnish Population Information System will show if a name change has taken place. These extracts are called a:

• ‘VIRKATODISTUS’ in Finnish
• ‘ÄMBETSBETYG’ in Swedish

Change of name

There are alternative spellings of names in Finland. For example, surname VÄÄNÄNEN is not the same as VAANANEN.

Surnames can be changed after marriage.

Unmarried cohabiting partners can use their own surname or a combination of the 2 partners surnames if they have lived together for 5 years or more.

Finland: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Finland.

Dual nationality is not recognised in Finland, except under the following circumstances:

• a child who is born a dual national
• a Finland citizen who automatically (without formal request) acquires the nationality of their foreign spouse

To retain Finland citizenship, a dual national child who is born abroad must return to live in Finland before the age of 22.

Finland: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Finland.

Legitimacy

Finland does not recognise a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births. All children are born legitimate whether a child’s parents are married or not.

Parental responsibility

Both parents have parental responsibility if they were married at the time of the child’s birth or marry after the birth. If the parents are not married, the mother has parental responsibility.

Finland: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Finland.

Adoption is legal in Finland.

Finland: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Finland.

Surrogacy is illegal in Finland.

Finland: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Finland.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Finland.

Finland: civil partnerships

This section gives HM Passport Office staff information about civil partnerships in Finland.

Civil partnerships are recognised in Finland. A civil partnership is called rekisteröity parisuhde or registrerad partnerskap.

Same sex marriage is recognised in Finland.

Finland: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Finland.

An extract of the Population Information System may be issued for different purposes and shows all events registered with the local authorities, including:

• births
• deaths
• marriages

It shows details of:

• grandparents
• parents
• children (custody and paternity)
• residence

As Finland is officially bi-lingual, documents may be in both Finnish and Swedish. These can also be issued in English.

Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by member states. An MSF will:

• contains a reference to the convention signed at Vienna on September 8 1976, this may be on the reverse of the document
• be marked as a Formul A (birth certificate), normally in the top right corner on the front of the document in the language of the country where the document was issued
  • there will also be marriage certificates and death certificates that will have a different Formul version that is also not acceptable

These documents are an extract of a civil registration record translated into the language needed and not a full, original certificate.

Birth certificates

The mother is issued with a hospital birth certificate as a certificate of live birth that shows the:

• mother’s details only
• gender of the baby
• time, date and place of birth

Hospital documents are then transferred to the local Registry office (Maistraatti) where the parents go to declare the baby’s name. This declaration together with the hospital documents can then be used for registration purposes.

Parents who:

• live permanently in Finland will be issued with an extract from Population Information System (called VIRKATODISTUS in Finnish or ÄMBETSBETYG in Swedish)
• are non-residents will be issued with the hospital birth certificate (certificate of live birth) only
• are foreign diplomats working in Finland will receive a Virkatodistus

As all information is kept electronically, if any mistakes later come to light new copies are issued with the correct information.

Marriage certificates

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland runs a separate population register alongside the state run register. Both are legal in Finland. A marriage certificate equivalent in Finland is an extract from the population register.

Death certificates

All deaths are registered in Finland.

Identity documents

Finland has a voluntary identity card called:

• henkilökortti in Finnish
• identitetskort in Swedish