THINGS THAT INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS MUST DO AFTER ARRIVING IN FINLAND!

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As a new international student in Finland, there are a number of things that you need to take care of right after arriving to this country. So in this blog (and the video below) I will remind you about the first things that you need to do after relocating to Finland for your studies.

If you haven’t enrolled yet, do it immediately!

First things first, if you have not yet enrolled as an attending student at your university, make sure to do that immediately after your arrival! Not only will enrolling just barely before the start of the semester slow down the start of your studies, but by failing to do so by the given deadline will cause you to loose your right to study at that university… While the deadline to register as an attending student is often around the first week of the academic year, please check the exact dates from your university website just to make sure!

Get a prepaid sim card or a mobile subscription

After enrolling to your university you can start taking care of the more meaningful stuff. First of these is to get a local sim card for your phone. I would recommend taking care of this right after your arrival because getting access to internet and being able to call and text, for example, your university tutor will make your life so much easier.

However, before you get a sim card, a couple of notes about what kind of a card you should buy. First, if you are an exchange student, you should buy a prepaid sim card. Since you are staying in Finland only for short period of time, usually just for one or two semesters, Finnish mobile operators might actually not sell you a full mobile subscription, and thus a prepaid sim card is your best choice. You can buy prepaid sim cards from multiple kiosks and grocery stores all around the town. However, while walking around the city, I would recommend you to keep an eye out for places like R-kiosks, K-markets, S-markets or for example Alepas. Each of these places should sell prepaid cards – just ask for one from the cashier.

So while a prepaid sim card is the best choice for an exchange student, if you are coming to Finland for a full multi-year degree, you should opt for a monthly mobile subscription. To buy a subscription, visit one of the stores for any of the multiple operators that we have in Finland. You should be able to find these in every shopping centre around the country but if you want a personal recommendation, I would suggest that you look for shops from either Telia, Elisa or DNA*. In terms of the subscriptions, Finland has some of the best mobile plans available anywhere on the planet and they are also super affordable! Many companies also offer student discounts and you can see many of the student discounted subscriptions from the free Frank students app.

When you visit one of these shops, make sure to take with you your passport as well as your admission letter from your university. This will function as proof of your longer stay in Finland. Also, if you don’t, for some reason, yet have a Finnish personal ID number and the operator declines to sell you a subscription because of it, please check the next two steps to learn how to get a personal ID 👇.

Register your right of residence

I you are a citizen of a European Union or a European Economic Area country, the next step for you is to register your right of residence. This must be done within three months of the day of your arrival in Finland. Do note that the application can be submitted online, but the registration process itself requires a personal visit at the Finnish Immigration Service service point. When your right of residence is registered, your personal information will be recorded and you will receive a Finnish personal identity code.

Please note that it is advisable to book the appointment to the immigration service well before arriving to Finland because September is a super busy time for the immigration service and there might not be any time slots available if you book the time only after your arrival. Also note that many of the following steps in this blog will require you to have a Finnish personal ID so you have to take care of this on time!

If you are a citizen of a nordic country, you do not need to register for a residence permit, but you must register in the Finnish Population Information system at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. You will receive your Finnish personal ID this way. 

If you are a non-EU or EEA citizen, you do not need to do either of these steps as your information has already been registered as a part of your student residence permit process, and you should already have a personal ID when you arrive into the country.

Apply for a municipality of residence

The next step applies to all students who are staying in Finland for more than a year regardless of their nationality. This step is to register your permanent municipality of residence by registering at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in the municipality you live in. Please note that this is a mandatory step and it enables you, for example, the rights to use student discounts for public transportation and the rights to use municipal health care services.

Registering your municipality requires you to have a permanent address in Finland. Once you have the address, fill in the application form in advance and visit one of the DVV offices in your municipality to take care of this.

Note for any exchange students who are in Finland for less than a year, you do not need to register in your municipality as you are not in the country on a permanent basis! However, if you haven’t received your Finnish personal ID-code with your residence permit application, you can apply for it at the DVV.

Get a public transit ticket

The next step after registering your municipality is to get a public transport ticket with a student discount. Again, please note that you can only register for a student discounted public transit ticket once you have been assigned a municipality of residence so make sure to do these things in the right order!

Depending on your city, the way you register for a student ticket will vary, but as a rule of thumb, first you need to visit your university to get a travel card application form filled by the school, after which you need to visit the local public transit service point to register your student status.

If you study in Helsinki, you do this by visiting one of the service points of Helsinki Regional Transport Authority or HSL in short. After you have done this, you will receive a personal travel card that has been registered with your personal student ID so that every time you update the card specifically with a seasonal ticket, you will automatically be granted a student discount. This process has to be repeated every academic year so that the local transit company can verify that you are still an active student.

Again, if you are an exchange student, you do not need to register your municipality of residence but rather, you can go directly to your university learning services office to get the travel card application form.

Make a notification of move

This next step only applies to exchange students and international joint masters students. While you do not need to register you municipality of residence, you DO NEED TO make a notification of move within ONE WEEK of your arrival in Finland. This is done by filling out a form available at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or at a post office. 

Open a bank account

The next step is to open a bank account from one of the banks operating in Finland. Getting a Finnish bank account has countless of benefits if you intend to stay in Finland for a longer period of time, but it is important to know that the European Union has pretty strict regulations for banks, and some of these regulations have made it more difficult for international students to open a bank account especially if they are coming from outside the European Union, and if they are intending to stay in Finland only for a short period of time. However, if you are staying in Finland for a longer period, for example, for the duration of an entire degree, you should be able to open a bank account and get full online banking services. 

Do note that each bank in Finland has their own practices to opening a new account and it is recommended to call a bank before making an appointment in order to ask which documents they require from you. However, no matter what additional documents they ask for, you will always need a Finnish personal ID-code so make sure to get that before contacting a bank!

There are a bunch of different banks that operate in Finland, but the largest, and most popular ones among students are Osuuspankki, Nordea, and Danske Bank. 

Get a university library card

The next thing to do is to order a university library card. Each university has their own procedure for applying and receiving a library card so please make sure to check out the university website for more information. If you cant find this info, you can also ask for help from your personal tutor during the orientation week.

Participate in the university orientation

Finally, please remember to follow the instructions provided by your university regarding the orientation week. Taking part in the orientation week is very much recommended because it will help you get started with your studies and it will also allow you to get to know other international as well as local students. If you are looking to make friends in Finland, this is an important week to participate in!

Next i recommend you to watch the video below in which I talk about what you should know about Finland before moving here 👇.