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)

Notifying of a marriage in Hong Kong

A Finnish citizen married in Hong Kong should notify the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in Finland of the marriage with the following documents:

The notification form and appendices should be mailed to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (PL 1003, 00531 HELSINKI, FINLAND) or to the Consulate General of Finland in Hong Kong. Forwarding of the documents via the Consulate General is a paid service. 

All sections of the form must be carefully filled and both spouses must sign the form. If a spouse’s family name changes after the marriage, the change of name should also be announced in the form. You can find more information on the change of name as a result of a civil union at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency(Link to another website.).