EU citizens may enter in the territory of the Finnish Republic with travel documents accepted by the Finnish authorities and stay there without a visa. The personal identity card issued for Hungarian citizens is accepted as a travel document in Finland.
The Embassy handles visa applications by citizens of states subject to a visa requirement. (For further information on visa requirements to the Schengen states and travel documents accepted by Finnish authorities visit Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Applicants may be granted a standard Schengen visa if they comply with the entry criteria of the Schengen Convention:
All applicants must have travel insurance valid in the Schengen states, which provides a minimum equivalent coverage of EUR 30,000 for the costs of medical care and return home, if required.
A passport-size colour photo must be enclosed to the visa application. The administrative costs of handling visa applications must be paid when the application is submitted (see price list). If an application is refused, the Embassy cannot refund administrative costs. Visa applications are processed in 1 to 10 business days.
Please contact the Embassy of Finland for further information related to visas.
Citizens of the European Union and the states of the European Economic Area with a valid personal identity card or passport may stay in the territory of the Republic of Hungary with no special permit required for a period of up to 90 days. In the event that the stay of Finnish citizens in Hungary exceeds 90 days, they must apply for a residence permit. Applications must be submitted at the customer service office, competent according to the applicant's address of accommodation, of the Immigration and Citizenship Office of the Ministry of the Interior, at least 15 days before the expiry of legal stay.
For further information on the rules of obtaining a residence permit please contact the Immigration and Citizenship Office of the Ministry of the Interior or the Embassy of Hungary in Helsinki.
Similarly, citizens of the European Union and the states of the European Economic Area may spend three months in Finland without an obligation of registration. Moreover, EU citizens looking for a job may stay for some more but reasonable time in Finland seeking a job if they are likely to find a job (Aliens' Act, Article 158).
Hungarian citizens do not need to have a residence or work permit to be able to stay in Finland, so they do not need to obtain any permits in advance from the foreign representation of Finland. However, if their stay in Finland exceeds 3 months, they must be registered at the police headquarters according to their address of accommodation. Residence may be registered for the purposes of education, work, or family unification, as earlier.
Finland has ceased to apply transition periods for free movement of workers of the new member states of the European Union on 1 May 2006. The restrictions applied to work permits for workers coming from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic will end. Cyprus, Malta, Romania and Bulgaria are the new member states of the EU to which transition periods have not been applied.
The Finnish Parliament is currently dealing with the matter of registration obligation to be applied to workers from the new EU member states. The purpose of registration is to improve the statistics on and monitoring of the labour force moving between Finland and the other member states of the EU.
The registration obligation will not restrict the mobility of the labour force nor will it be applied to brief employment relationships. Registration is not a precondition for beginning to work in Finland. Neglecting to register oneself is not intended to be punishable. The intention is for the law to be in effect for a set term of three years. The law is due to come into effect at the earliest in June 2006.
For further information please go to the homepage of the Ministry of Labour and the homepage of the Finnish Immigration Service.
Citizens of third countries living in Hungary may apply for a residence permit and visa for Finland at the Embassy similarly to the above. Non-EU foreign citizens must still obtain a residence permit if they stay in Finland for the purposes of study or employment or as family members. In case of employment, an employee's residence permit must be applied for. In this case, a request to the Labour Office or a resolution previously obtained from the Labour Office by the employer must be enclosed to the application. Then the applications are forwarded by the Embassy to the Finnish Immigration Service for assessment, and upon a positive decision, the permit is stamped in the applicant's passport.
By virtue of the Aliens' Act, some jobs require the acquisition of only a visa but not a residence permit. For further information, please go to the homepage of the Ministry of Labour of Finland. According to the rules, the first residence permit must be obtained at the Finnish Embassy competent according to the applicant's domicile. In some cases, where the purpose of stay is family unification, the application may also be submitted by the family member of Finnish citizenship living in Finland or the applicant at the police in Finland. Employees' residence permits may also be submitted on behalf of the employee to the Labour Office, to the police, or to the Finnish Embassy competent according to the employee's domicile by the employer.
For further information on provisions related to the employment of foreigners, please go to the homepage of the Ministry of Labour at www.mol.fi/finnwork; the homepage of the Finnish Immigration Service provides more information on residence-related rules. The required forms are also available on these pages.
Updated 2/23/2008
