This could include approved vaccinations, required certificates, avoidance of close contact, COVID-19 tests, or other obligations under the Communicable Diseases Act? The best way to find information on these issues is on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL):
Finnish citizens must have the required travel documents when leaving the country.
Foreign citizens must have the required travel documents and, if necessary, the required visa or a residence permit.
However, travel documents that deviate from those required earlier are not needed for crossing an internal border. In traffic between Nordic countries, it is sufficient for Nordic citizens to be able to prove their identity in some way. Further information about travel documents
Internal border traffic, or traffic crossing the internal border, refers to traffic crossing the border between Finland and another state that is a member of the Schengen area. The Schengen countries include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Spain, and of the non-EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
External border traffic, or traffic crossing the external border, refers to traffic between Finland and a state that does not belong to the Schengen area. To traffic crossing the border between Finland and another state, the guidelines concerning border crossing apply, if the other state does not belong to the Schengen area. This also applies to non-Schengen EU member States. Of the EU member states, Bulgaria, Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are not part of the Schengen area. Neither is the United Kingdom part of the Schengen area.
If you have a residence permit issued by Finland, you can enter the country through internal and external borders. The residence permit card must be presented at the border check.
The constitutional right to enter and leave the country also applies to you. If you do not have a passport or driving licence, Finnish citizenship can be proven, for example, by some other document granted by a Finnish authority or by a Finnish identity number.
Family members of Finnish citizens are allowed to travel to Finland if they meet the requirements of Section 37 of the Aliens Act. However, a family member of a Finnish citizen may be a family member of a Finnish citizen living in Finland or abroad. The family member must also have the required travel documents and, if required, a visa or residence permit.
From 26 July onwards, however, people of all nationalities may enter Finland if they have a certificate of an approved COVID-19 vaccination series received at least 14 days before arrival in Finland. You can check which vaccines have been approved by Finland on the THL website: Which vaccines are accepted at the points of entry into the country? - Infectious diseases and vaccinations - THL
Internal border controls have been discontinued 26.7.2021. For external border traffic the transit on regularly scheduled routes is permitted. As a rule, during the transit journey, a person must remain in the transit area of the airport, but in isolated cases, a person may also be permitted to enter the country for the purpose of the transit referred to above. For example, a person may take lodging in a hotel near the airport especially if the waiting time at the airport would prove to be lengthy. Such situations include unreasonable waiting times resulting from a cancelled connecting flight.
Destination countries may also require passengers to take a coronavirus test at transit airports. Waiting for the test and the test results is not as such a ground for allowing entry during transit.
Receiving insurance compensation for a cancelled or interrupted journey is a matter between the customer and their insurance company. The Border Guard does not take a stand on insurance compensation matters or issue certificates related to the matter. Basic information on travel insurance can be found on the Finnish Financial Ombudsman Bureau website.
The EU and Schengen countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, France, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Romania. This section also applies to Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.
Yes. There are no travel restrictions when arriving from these countries.
Remember, however, that the obligations under the Infectious Diseases Act apply to all those entering Finland. You must familiarise yourself with the health authorities' instructions before entering Finland. See the THL website for health safety instructions.
Internal border controls have been lifted on travel by pleasure craft between Schengen countries, including pleasure craft travel between Finland and Sweden. This means that it is not necessary to pass through border controls when using a pleasure boat. In addition to the sea area, it is also possible to enter the country on a recreational boat at the waterways on the border between Finland and Sweden as well as Finland and Norway.
Remember, however, that the obligations under the Infectious Diseases Act apply to all those entering Finland. You must familiarise yourself with the health authorities' instructions before entering Finland. See the THL website for health safety instructions.
For cruise ship traffic from another EU or Schengen state port, land access for cruise ship passengers is permitted under certain conditions.
Please note that regular ferry connections between Helsinki and Tallinn or Turku and Stockholm are not counted as cruise ship traffic. They are Schengen internal traffic and thus free from restrictions on entry. A cruise ship refers to a ship that tours around along a longer, planned route, with tourist stops in different ports, and which does not normally have passengers joining or leaving the vessel along the route.
This section applies to all countries and regions for which traffic is not normalised and which are not listed in the above sections. This section includes, for example, entry from Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Turkey.
A person may be admitted if he or she has a certificate of an acceptable COVID-19 vaccination series received at least 14 days before arrival in Finland. You can check which vaccines have been approved by Finland on the THL website: Which vaccine products are accepted at entry points?- Infectious diseases and vaccinations - THL
The certificate you present on entry must indicate the name and date of birth of the person who has been vaccinated, the vaccine administered, the date of each dose received in the vaccine series, the place and date of issue of the certificate, and the signature and stamp of the person issuing the certificate or other equivalent confirmation. The presented certificate must be in Finnish, Swedish or English. In the Sámi area, the certificate may also be in a Sámi language. A certified translation can also be used as a certificate. The certificate can also be an EU digital Covid certificate.
Entry to Finland may be permitted for special groups, such as representatives of culture, sports and business life if entry is justifiable for those persons or groups of persons. These kind of tasks include activities essential for ensuring the revitalisation, new growth or long-term operating conditions for particular industries.
Applications relating to special groups should be sent by email directly to the Finnish Border Guard ([email protected]). The application is made by the party extending the invitation.
The applications must include justification regarding the national significance of the activities and the reasons why other procedures cannot be observed as well as the procedures that will be used to ensure the implementation of health security. The employer or other such party inviting the person or persons to enter the country must be able to present a health security action plan that complies with the national instructions for them.
If the health security measures are at least in accordance with currently valid national recommendations from the health authorities, the application does not require a separate statement from the health authorities on these measures. In cases where the health security measures presented in the application contain deviations from the current recommendations or an application is otherwise different (e.g. a large group size or several separate groups), a separate statement from the local infectious disease authority (municipality or hospital district) must be included in the application.
The applications are sent from the Finnish Border Guard to both the relevant government ministries and also the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare or the local health authority, who then issue a statement on them. After receiving the statement, the Finnish Border Guard will prepare a policy concerning entry to Finland and inform the applicant of that policy. The final decision on entry to the country, however, is made during the border check.
You can enter Finland from countries subject to travel restrictions on the basis of a partnership relationship
This includes both persons who are married and those living in a marriage-like relationship in the same household on a permanent basis, regardless of their gender. In this regard, partnerships are also accepted without the requirement for having lived together for a continuous two-year period. In addition, distance relationships in which the individuals mostly live in different countries are accepted as partnership relationships, as are other well-established forms of being in a relationship.
As a rule, border inspectors trust passengers own statement about their partnership relationship. It is possible to ask for more detailed information in isolated cases. However, only Finnish citizens, EU and Schengen citizens living in Finland and their family members as well as third-country nationals residing in Finland with a residence permit have been allowed to enter the country on the basis of their partnership relationship. A dependent of a person who is entering the country on the basis of a dating relationship may also enter Finland.
It is possible to enter Finland from countries subject to travel restrictions for pressing personal reasons. A pressing personal reason should involve a pressing or unpredictable cause which requires personal attendance, which cannot tolerate delay, and which would cause undue harm within the context in question if the person concerned would not tend to it. Pressing personal reasons are assessed on a case-by-case basis in connection with the border check.
A pressing personal reason may also be the arrival of a person who owns property in Finland if that person is entering the country for the purpose of essential maintenance work on the property, or measures related to maintenance that cannot be delayed, and if the failure of the person to come would lead to significant damage to the property considering the circumstances.
Travellers may enter Finland for pressing family matters. Such family matters include, for example, the birth of one’s own child, serious illness of a close relative, one’s own wedding, meeting a relative, or courting relationship.
For the purpose of meeting a relative, the entry into Finland is applied to the following persons:
The entry into Finland of relatives of Finnish citizens residing or staying in Finland
Relatives of EU/Schengen citizens residing in Finland or of their family members
The entry into Finland of relatives of third-country nationals residing in Finland with a residence permit.
Relatives include spouse, children, parents, parents-in-law, and grandparents, including the family members (spouses and minor children) of the above-mentioned persons. As a rule, authorities assume that the traveller’s own notification of the kinship is correct. The guardian or trustee of a dependent person is also treated as a relative in this purpose of entry.
With regards to external border traffic, other essential traffic refers particularly to border traffic which is related to work that is important for the functioning of society or security of supply, requires work tasks to be carried out by persons from another country, and cannot tolerate delay.
The admission of seasonal labour critical to security of supply is permitted during the growing season 2021. For seasonal workers (third-country nationals), this covers work on agricultural and horticultural farms as well as forestry. The seasonal work permit must be granted before entering the country, so that the employee has a real opportunity to carry out work that is critical to security of supply that cannot be delayed.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has overseen the process of defining the types of work that are important for the functioning of society or security of supply and cannot tolerate delay. This list of critical tasks does not constitute an advance decision granting entry into the country. The employer must use a separate form to justify why the work of the employee coming to Finland is critical and cannot tolerate delay. The employer fills in the 'Employer's or client's justification for the necessity of an employee's entry' form and gives it to their employee. In addition to the other documents required for border crossing, the employee seeking to enter Finland presents this form at the border check.
The border control authority will take into account the list of critical tasks and the employer's explanation when assessing a necessary reason for entry.
List of critical tasks (tem.fi)
To the extent that there are restriction on external border traffic, leisure travel (for example, visiting the summer cottage of an friend) is not an essential reason for a foreign citizen to come to Finland.
Entry into Finland is nevertheless permitted from all countries if the traveller has proof of receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination series.
Cruise ships are allowed to visit ports provided that passengers do not disembark.
The entry into Finland of inhabitants of Hong Kong, Macau, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan is permitted without restrictions for traffic arriving from the above countries, although such entry is still subject to the normal regulations on the entry of foreign citizens into Finland.
In principle, a person travelling with a passport issued by one of these countries can be assumed to live in that country. As the place of departure for a third-country national must be determined in connection with the border check, questions may also be asked during the border check in order to determine the country or region of residence. As a rule, authorities assume that the traveller’s own notification of their country or region of residence is correct.
If necessary, place of residence can be confirmed by presenting, for example, an ID or driving licence issued by the third country in question or another document demonstrating residence. In addition, residence and work permits of the countries concerned indicate a person’s residence in those countries or regions. Other official documents that confirm residence may also be used to prove residence in the said country or region.
If you are not a national or a permanent resident of these countries, you will need to have either a necessary reason as mentioned in the border crossing instructions or a complete vaccination series.
