Registration, banking and utilities in Helsinki

Residence basis comes first

Nothing else starts until your right to be here is settled. Non-EU citizens apply to the Finnish Immigration Service, Migri, for a residence permit before arriving, while an EU citizen staying longer than three months without interruption registers their right of residence with Migri, which carries no processing fee and needs a valid passport or identity card, proof of the grounds (work, self-employment, study or family) and evidence of sufficient means. A non-EU family member applies instead for a residence card. Have birth, marriage and qualification certificates legalised and translated before you leave, because that is the step that is hard to do from Finland.

Registering with DVV

Registration with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency is what produces the personal identity code, and it is free. You submit the online form first, which needs no electronic authentication, then book an appointment within one month, and a personal visit is compulsory for everyone being registered, children included. Processing runs two to three weeks where the grounds are work or study and three to four weeks otherwise, counted from the visit rather than from the form.

• Bring a valid passport, or an official photo ID if you are an EU, EEA, Swiss or San Marino citizen.
• Bring the residence permit card, residence card or EU registration certificate.
• Bring an employment contract or a certificate of student status.
• Bring legalised and translated marriage and birth certificates if family relationships are being registered.

The municipality of residence

DVV grants a municipality of residence if you are moving to Finland for at least a year. Finnish and Nordic citizens, EU and EEA citizens with a registered right of residence, and holders of permanent (P) or continuous (A) permits qualify, while a holder of a temporary (B) permit must show intent to stay, such as a contract or a course of study lasting two years or more. With it come schools and early childhood education, health and social services, integration and employment services, a Finnish identity card and a driving licence.

Tax card, bank account, and the credentials that are a separate application

Give your employer a tax card (verokortti) before the first payday, because without one the employer must withhold 60 per cent of your salary. Bring a valid passport or ID card, your employment contract, the completed application and an estimate of your total annual income; if you already have a personal identity code you can get the card by calling Vero's tax card service on +358 29 497 050 on weekdays between 09:00 and 12:00, or by walking in, and if you do not, book on +358 29 497 010 to get the code and the card in one visit. To open a bank account you need an official identity document, and banks accept a narrower list of them than you would expect, so ask the bank which ones it takes before you make the appointment; anti-money-laundering rules also oblige it to establish what you intend to use the account for. Then treat online banking credentials as a second and stricter application, because they are the login for nearly every Finnish public service and InfoFinland states plainly that in some cases you cannot get them even though you have an account.

• If you cannot produce an accepted identity document, the police can issue a foreigner's identity card, which a bank will accept. It needs a valid permit or registered right of residence, a municipality of residence and your details already in the Population Information System, and it is not a travel document.
• A Finnish phone subscription needs an identity code, a Finnish address and a clean payment record. Otherwise expect to pay in advance, or use a prepaid SIM, which needs neither.
• Construction workers need a tax number as well as a tax card.

International House Helsinki, moving house and Kela

International House Helsinki at Ratapihantie 7 is the one-stop office, open Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:00, with desks for Migri, DVV, the Tax Administration, Kela, the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. Desk services there are mainly by appointment, so book before you cross the city. A notification of move (muuttoilmoitus) has to reach DVV at the latest one week after moving, and can be filed online or on paper at a post office from a month before; in a block of flats, tell the house manager (isännöitsijä) as well. Kela covers you if you are considered to live in Finland permanently or if you work here, and work qualifies you for Kela benefits only above an earnings floor, currently €800.02 a month in salary or wages from work done in Finland, so confirm the figure with Kela before you rely on it.

In order

1. 1Settle the residence basis: non-EU applicants apply to Migri before travelling, EU citizens staying over three months register their right of residence with Migri.
2. 2Have foreign birth, marriage and qualification certificates legalised and translated before you leave.
3. 3Arrange housing, because DVV registration needs an address.
4. 4Submit DVV's online form, book the appointment within a month, and attend with everyone being registered.
5. 5Get a tax card from Vero and give it to your employer before the first payday.
6. 6Open a bank account, then apply separately for online banking credentials.
7. 7Register with Kela for social security and the Kela card.
8. 8File the notification of move with DVV within a week of moving in, and tell the house manager.
9. 9Sign up for integration services.