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 Digital and Population Data Agency in your municipality of residence. Documents that are used abroad, must be legalised.
Some clergy members working among expatriate Finns, who are employed by Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (list in Finnish), have the right to conduct marriages abroad, but not the right to perform marriage ceremonies 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 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 are valid as such.
An apostille is not required for a marriage certificate issued by the authorities of an EU country. A translation of the certificate is not required, either when the document is accompanied by a multilingual standard form in accordance with the EU Regulation.
Registration of a marriage concluded in China
A marriage concluded abroad is only recognized in Finland once it has been registered in the Finnish Population Information System.
The registration is made at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
You will need the following documents for registration:
- Notification of a Finnish citizen married abroad
- The original marriage certificate issued by the Chinese authorities, with an Apostille certificate
- A translation of the marriage certificate into Finnish, Swedish, or English. Translations done abroad must also be certified with an Apostille certificate
- Photocopies of the personal data pages of the passports of the married parties (optional)
The documents can be sent directly to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or to the Finnish Embassy in Beijing or Shanghai. The service provided by the embassy is subject to a service fee.
Legalization instructions in China
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the competent authority for issuing Apostilles for documents issued in mainland China. See the contact details of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices at this link.