Registration of Marriage in the Population Information System

If you are a Finnish citizen and you get married abroad, you must notify the marriage to the Finnish Population System.

Ask the person conducting the marriage, what documents are needed when the ceremony is performed before a foreign public authority. A Finnish certificate of no impediment can be ordered in multiple languages from the (Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)Digital and Population Data Agency(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) in your municipality of residence. Documents that are used abroad, must be legalised.

Some priests working among expatriate Finns, who are employed by Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (list in Finnish)(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window), have the right to conduct marriages abroad.

You cannot get married at an embassy of Finland.

Notify the marriage to the Digital and Population Data Agency

When a Finnish citizen gets married outside Finland(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) it must be notified to the Local Register Office. You can also leave the notification at a Finnish embassy or send it there to be posted to the Digital and Population Data Agency.

The original marriage certificate or a copy of it, authenticated at the mission of Finland, must be appended to the notification. The document must be legalised and if it has been issued in some other language than Finnish, Swedish or English, an authorised translation in one of these languages must be provided. Translations made abroad must be legalised. Translations made by an authorised translator in Finland(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) are valid as such.

An Apostille stamp is not required for a marriage certificate, which is issued by an EU country authority and a translation of the certificate is not needed if a multilingual standard form(Link to another website.) is appended to the document.

Form: Notification - Marriage abroad (pdf)(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)

General information concerning solemnizing marriage abroad or in Finland is available at Local Register Office www.maistraatti.fi(Link to another website.). Information regarding the rights of Finnish Lutheran church pastors to solemnize marriages abroad is available at www.evl.fi(Link to another website.). Marriage ceremonies are not performed at the Finnish missions abroad. For information regarding the requirements and necessary documents for getting married in China, please contact the authority who is to perform the marriage.

The certificate of “non-impediment to marriage” should be requested from the Local Register Office in the last place of residence in Finland, as the equivalent document issued by a Church Registry Office is not accepted in China. The document of non-impediment to marriage shall first be legalized in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland, and thereafter in the Embassy of China in Helsinki(Link to another website.).

A marriage performed abroad is considered valid in Finland as long as it is valid in the country it was performed in, however, only after it has been registered to the Finnish Population Information System. The registration may be submitted directly to the Local Register Office in Finland or via a Finnish mission abroad. The registration is free of charge and takes 6 weeks. The following documents are required:

  1. Marriage Certificate shall be notarized at Chinese notary office, which also translates it into English. Contact information of local notary offices in China: https://api.egongzheng.com/thirdTransfer2.htm(Link to another website.) (in Chinese).
  2. After that, the notarized document shall be legalized either through local Foreign Affairs Office or an agency authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Contact information can be found at http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/zggmcg/lsrz/sblsrzxz/(Link to another website.) (in Chinese) or http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/wgrlh/lsrz/lsrzjjs/(Link to another website.) (in English).
    In Beijing's jurisdiction: At the Foreign Ministry of China
    Contact information: Legalization Division of the Consular Section of Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, 7th floor, South Tower, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, No. 2 Road, Chaoyangmen, Beijing. Tel. +86-010-65889761
    In Shanghai's jurisdiction: At Local Foreign Affairs Office, FAO
    Contact information: Shanghai Municipality Foreign Affairs Office (FAO), Authentication Office, Equatorial Hotel Office Building, Hua Shan Road No. 228, 2nd floor, Shanghai, Tel. +86-021-6247 0833
  3. Lastly, a Finnish mission shall legalize the document:
    In Beijing's jurisdiction: Embassy of Finland in Beijing
    In Shanghai's jurisdiction: Consulate General of Finland in Shanghai