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 Hong Kong

A Finnish citizen born in Hong Kong should be registered to the Population Register with the following documents:

  • A fully completed and signed registration form. You can find the form above.
  • The original full birth certificate issued by the Hong Kong authorities. The birth certificate must be attached with an Apostille. In Hong Kong, Apostilles are issued by the Apostille Service Office, High Court Registry(Link to another website.).
  • Photocopies of the passports of both parents.
  • The registration form and all the appendices should be posted to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Address: PL 1003, 00531 HELSINKI, FINLAND or if your municipality of residence was in Åland before moving abroad, send the documents to Statens ämbetsverk på Åland, PB 58, 22101 Mariehamn, FINLAND) or to the Consulate General of Finland in Hong Kong. NB! A fee is charged for the registration process through the Consulate General starting on 1.9.2020

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

Apostille Service in Hong Kong

If you need an Apostille in Hong Kong for a document issued by a Hong Kong authority, you should contact the Apostille Service Office. Contact information and instructions on Apostille can be found here: Apostille Service Office, High Court Registry(Link to another website.).