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.
Notification of a marriage in Japan
Send the notification of marriage with the following documents:
- copies of passports of both spouses
- copies of the Japanese residence card of both spouses (if applicable)
- from the ward office a koseki tohon (if one of or both spouses are Japanese citizens) or a juri shomeisho (if both spouses are non-Japanese). These documents must be legalized with an Apostille
- translation of the Japanese document in English, Finnish or Swedish, also the translation of the document must be legalized with an Apostille if done outside of Finland
Send the documents to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
You can also send them to the Embassy to be transferred to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. For this service we charge a fee (service fees). In this case, please contact the Embassy before sending the documents to us.
If you visit the embassy in person, book an appointment time, and pay by card or cash on Japanese yen.
If you send documents by post, please contact the embassy by email in Consulate.TOK(at)gov.fi and receive payment instructions for the transfer.
For your information: certificate of accessibility for marriage in Japan
The Embassy does not issue accessibility certificates. When your data are found in the VTJ, you should contact the DVV directly. Further information is available on the DVV website.
In Japan, the electronic version of the document is not valid, but usually it is required that this certificate need to be legalised by an Apostille which is issued by a notary public at the Digital and population data services Agency (DVV). You can order an Apostille certificate from the DVV at the same time as you order a certificate on your right to marry abroad. This is a chargeable service, find more information from DVV.
Order the certificate well in advance. The certificate shall be valid for four months from the date of its signature. The validity of the certificate may not be extended. If necessary, you can place a new order.