Registration of birth in the Population Register System

Births of Finnish citizens outside Finland must be notified to the Digital and Population Data Agency(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window). You can also submit the notification at a Finnish embassy or send it there to be posted to the Local Register Office for registration.

Birth certificates issued by an EU country are accepted without requiring that a so-called apostille(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) be attached to the document.

In other countries the original birth certificate or a copy of it, authenticated at a mission of Finland, must be appended to the notification. The document must be legalised(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window) 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 stamp is not required for a birth certificate, which is issued by an EU country authority and a translation of the certificate is not needed if a multilingual standard form is appended to the document.

Registration of birth in the UK

A Finnish citizen born in the United Kingdom must be registered to the Finnish population register by submitting the following documents:

  • A fully completed and signed registration form. You can find the form on the website of the Local Register Offices: Notification of a Finnish Citizen Born Outside Finland(Link to another website.).
  • The original full birth certificate issued by the British authorities. The full version of the birth certificate states the parents’ names. Certificate does not require a translation. Paternity is acknowledged in Finland when the father's name is provided in the birth certificate. Birth certificates issued by British authorities must be legalised (Apostille certificate). Information on how to get your document legalised(Link to another website.).
  • Photocopies of the parents’ passports

The registration form and all the appendices should be posted to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency(Link to another website.) (address: Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PB 1003, 00531 HELSINKI). If municipality of residence is Åland, address is: Statens ämbetsverk på Åland, PB 58, 22101 MARIEHAMN. If the registration documents are submitted via the Consular Section of the Finnish Embassy in London, there will be a fee of 45 euros according to an act by the Ministry of Foreign affairs.

If you submit the documents by mail to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, deliver them as legalized copies following the instructions on the website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency(Link to another website.). Certified copies are not returned. If you deliver original documents to DVV, they will be returned to you as ordinary mail (not registered mail) under your responsibility.

The registration is processed at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in Finland. All the related enquiries should be sent directly to them. Contact details to the agency offices in Finland: Digital and Population Data Services Agency(Link to another website.).

Each part of the form should be filled in carefully and signed. When a child’s birth is registered, all dual or multiple nationalities should also be filled into the form. Only one mother tongue can be entered in the register.