employees at campus

After arrival

Registration and other formalities

  • Arrange a meeting with your supervisor and get your work contract or contract for scholarship researcher signed.
  • If you will be staying with us as a visiting researcher, contact your host professor and get your contract for visiting researcher signed.
  • If you are a doctoral student, your first point of contact is the Graduate School. Please contact the Specialist at the Graduate School to arrange the registration as a doctoral student.

  • Contact us at the International HR team. We'll go through the essentials for your work start and the official matters that you need to take care of with different authorities. You will also receive your University of Vaasa welcome bag.

Make a notification of move. This must be done within one week of your move to Vaasa at the latest.

Register your information in the Population Information System in the local Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) You will be issued a Finnish personal identity code for identification purposes.

Also your right to have a municipality of residence will be determined upon your visit to the Local DVV office.

If you are an EU citizen and your stay in Finland exceeds 3 months, register your residence at the Finnish Immigration Services.

Obtain a tax card from the local tax office.

In order to obtain strong e-identification online banking codes, you will also need a Finnish identity card issued by the police. Finnish ID cards may be applied from the police: poliisi.fi/en/identity-card

If your stay in Finland and at the University of Vaasa is short-term, just a few months, opening a bank account in Finland is not necessary. Especially within the EU / Euro countries, The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) allows fast and secure transactions, which has made it relatively easy to use a foreign bank account while working in Finland.

However, if you have a longer work contract and will be staying in Finland for several months, it might be convenient to open a Finnish bank account.

When opening a bank account you will need a passport and an employment contract / an employment statement from the employer as well as an extract from the population information system (from the Digital and Population Dataservices Agency DVV).

When opening a bank account, you can also get a cash card, which enables you to withdraw money from the cash points (marked OTTO or NOSTO).

Cheques are not in use in Finland anymore, so bills are usually paid by using the online bank service or a self-service payment point. Online bank access codes to your account are usually issued only after income has been deposited to the account. In order to obtain strong identification online banking codes, you will also need a Finnish identity card issued by the police. Finnish ID cards may be applied from the police: poliisi.fi/en/identity-card


Banks in Vaasa:

Social Security

When you move to Finland to work, you need to apply for coverage of Finnish social security. Each application is assessed and handled individually, and the amounts of benefits change from case to case.You need to fill in the following forms: 

  • moving to Finland or employment in Finland form (Y77e)
  • application for Kela card (SV157e) 

If you need assistance, you can call the Kela customer service at +358 20 634 0200

See also Centre for International Affairs and Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare

Information about Kela's benefits:
Benefits available from Kela | Our Services | Kela

The Social Security in Finland is either based on permanent residence or work. If you are living in Finland permanently, you are covered by the National Health Insurance scheme of the Social Insurance Institution (Kela). You may also be covered by the National Health Insurance is you are working in Finland. For detailed instructions on social security when moving to Finland, please see Kela website

Permanent stay in Finland

If you move to Finland on a permanent basis, you can usually receive Kela benefits starting from the date of your move to Finland.

When you apply for a benefit Kela determines whether you are considered to be permanently resident in Finland or if you can become entitled to Kela benefits on the basis of your employment. The determination of residence is affected by, for instance, whether you are a returnee, whether you work in Finland for a long period of time or if you have close family ties to a person who is already resident in Finland. Kela can also consider the residence permanent if you have previously stayed in Finland for a year already.

Temporary stay in Finland

If your stay in Finland is temporary, you will normally not be entitled to benefits from Kela. You are usually not considered to have moved to Finland on a permanent basis, if you stay in Finland for a short period of time for instance as a student, a jobseeker, an au pair or a trainee. Asylum seekers are also not granted Kela benefits while the application for asylum is being processed.
If you are entitled to social security coverage in another EU country, you cannot at the same time be entitled to social security coverage in Finland and you can usually not receive benefits.

You are usually entitled to social security coverage in another country if:

  • you are a posted worker from another EU or EEA country or from Switzerland
  • you are a cross-border worker who lives in Finland or moves to Finland but you work in another EU or EEA country or Switzerland
  • you are employed by a foreign government or an intergovernmental organisation, and
  • you are not a Finnish citizen.