Visa Section is open for customers at the Consulate General of Finland in Hong Kong Mon-Fri from 10am to 12pm.
The Consulate General of Finland in Hong Kong issues Finnish and Swedish tourist and business visas and Norwegian business visas for Schengen area.
The Schengen area covers the following 22 EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, as well as the two EEA countries Norway and Iceland. A Schengen visa issued by another country is also valid for Finland. When travelling to several Schengen countries, the visa is applied at the Consulate or Embassy of the main destination of the journey. If the passenger intends to visit several Schengen countries but does not have a main destination he/she should apply for a visa at the embassy or consulate of first point of entry. The processing time for visa applications is 5-18 working days depending on the nationality of the applicant. The HKSAR and BNO passport holders and their access to all Schengen countries are visafree.
Visa application form (also available at the Consulate General):
Schengen Visa Application Form (PDF, 75 kB)
Applications should preferably be submitted to the Consulate in person. Applications sent by e-mail or telefax will not be processed. The application form must be signed, and all questions on the application form must be answered. One recent passport-size colour photograph must be attached. Please make sure that your passport is valid for three months after the end of the journey and that there is at least one unused page left in the passport. The following documentation must be attached to support your application:
The above mentioned requirements may not be a complete list of documents. Relevant Schengen Consulate General maintains the right to ask for further documents/information if necessary.
If the intended length of stay in Finland and other Schengen countries exceeds 90 days within a period of six months', a residence permit is required. In case of employment a residence and work permit are required, even if the length of stay is shorter.
Residence and work permit application forms are available at the Consulate General. For each application two passport photos are needed
A residence permit can be issued in the following cases:
family ties in Finland, Finnish descent, remigration to Finland, humanitarian reasons or other special conditions regarding studies or employment.
Citizens of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland) may freely enter Finland and reside in the country without a residence permit. They can also take up paid employment without a residence permit for an employed person.
EU citizens and citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland have the right to enter, reside, study, seek work, or practise a profession in Finland for three months without a residence permit. If the stay lasts longer than that, they must register their right to reside in Finland at a police department.
EU-member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
The first residence permit is applied for from a Finnish embassy within the applicants native country. The embassy provides application forms and further information on the application process.
In some cases the application for a residence permit can be submitted on the grounds of family ties by the applicants relative residing in Finland. The application can be handed to the local police.
Decisions regarding residence permit applications are made by the Finnish Immigration Service.
Anyone applying for a residence permit, or their representative, must provide a photo for the photo sticker conforming to the photo guidelines issued by the police. All residence permits issued following an application lodged.
Furhtermore, the issuing of separate residence permit stickers for children, reagrdless of whether they already own a passport or other travel related documentation will be implemented. The sticker for minors significantly reduces the illegal transport of children across borders and consequently prevents child trafficking. Each under-aged child will be required to fill out a separate residence permit application.
Everyone applying for a residence permit must fi ll in a separate form. This applies to all children too. The application is subject to a fee, which will be charged for children too, even if they are entered in the passport or other travel document of a parent or guardian.
The application form for a residence permit (OLE 1) and a list of the required attachments is available from diplomatic missions or it can be printed out from the The Finnish Immigration Service’s website at www.migri.fi.
In order for a residence permit to be granted, the applicant must have a valid passport or other travel document. For a child who has no travel document, the residence permit sticker with photo will be attached to the parent’s or guardian’s travel document.
In Finland, the residence permit sticker with photo is in Finnish or Swedish, depending on which language the applicant chooses on the application form. There is no provision for residence permit stickers in English, since EU legislation requires that national languages be used in each EU Member State.
If you have a residence permit, you can reside and travel in Finland for as long as the permit is valid, and you may use the residence permit as a visa for visiting other Schengen countries.
A person holding a residence permit can stay in the Schengen countries within six months for 90 days maximum, providing he or she is not subject to any prohibition from entering any of the countries.
The first residence permit is always issued for a fixed period. Permits are issued for a maximum of one year or for the duration of employment or studies. A permanent residence permit can be acquired when the individual has resided in Finland for a contiunuous period of four years.
Foreign students who are non-EU citizens or of a comparable status, must acquire a residence permit if their studies in Finland last for longer than three months.
The average processing time for residence permit applications for studies is four to seven weeks.
The Finnish Immigration Service gives priority to residence permit applications for studies, so no requests to hasten the processing of applications are required. The student gets a decision on his or her application in four weeks on average.
In order to secure a smooth and fast processing of a residence permit application, it is important that the application is filled in with care and all necessary appendices are attached to the application when submitting it (please see migri.fi > Application forms. Insufficient information will delay the processing and decision-making.
Because of the large number of applications, the Finnish Immigration Service cannot take individual requests to hasten the processing into consideration during the busiest period. Therefore e.g. plane tickets bought in advance cannot be taken into consideration. The residence permit applications will be handled and solved in order of arrival.
Applications must be submitted immediately when the study place is confirmed.
It is worth while submitting the residence permit application for studies immediately when the study place is confirmed. The Finnish Immigration Service cannot guarantee that an application which is submitted late or which contains insufficient information can be solved before the studies begin.
EU citizens and citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland must register their right to reside in Finland at a police department, if their stay lasts for longer than three months.
Employment of a foreign national in Finland requires a residence permit which is applied for before arriving in Finland from a Finnish mission abroad. Private entrepreneurship or the exercise of a profession in Finland requires a separate residence permit intended for entrepreneurs.
Residence permits for employees or entrepreneurs are not required for citizens of EU-member states or citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
EU- and EEA-citizens right to work in Finland
EU citizens and citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland can freely work in Finland if the work lasts for a maximum of three months. After that, they must register their right to reside in Finland, but they do not need a special residence permit.
Updated 5/18/2010
