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31.03.2014

Municipality of residence

The "Registration Information of a Foreigner" form has a section where you can choose whether you wish to have a municipality of residence registered for you or if you wish to remain as a temporary residing foreigner in Finland.

Registering a municipality of residence is recommended if you are staying in Finland on permanent basis since it  makes you eligible for municipal services and gives you an opportunity to apply for a Finnish ID card.

If you are not able to or wish not to register a municipality of residence you will be considered a temporary foreign resident. This means that you will not necessarily enjoy the same rights as a person resident in the municipality (limitations in health care and social and welfare services, no possibility to apply for a Finnish ID card).

There are some differences in registering the municipality of residence between different nationalities.

Nordic citizens

A person moving to Finland from another Nordic country has to register his/her municipality of residence (kotikunta) to a Finnish municipality if the duration of the visit exceeds 12 months. If the temporary stay lasts for over 3 month but under 12 months, the person has to submit a notification of move of a temporary moving.

According to the Nordic population register agreement, Nordic citizens can only be registered to one Nordic municipality at a time.

EU/EEA citizens

A Finnish municipality of residence (kotikunta) can be registered for an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who plans to stay in Finland permanently (1 year and more) and has an employment contract for at least one year.

Non-EU/EEA citizens

A Finnish municipality of residence (kotikunta) can be registered for a non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who has the first residence permit for at least one year and an employment contract for 2 years or residence permit for 2 years.

Registering as a resident of municipality is recommended especially for non-EU citizens since the eligibility to the public health care services depends solely on it.

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