Immigration and emigration

Persons who have moved to Finland and intend to reside or have resided one whole year without interruption in Finland shall inform the register office of their place of residence (Population Data Act 507/1993). For those who intend to live permanently in Finland and have a valid residence permit for at least one year, the place of domicile is generally determined according to the same principles as with Finnish nationals (Act on the Municipality of Domicile 201/1994). The register office then delivers these data to the Population Information System.

Those emigrating to a place of domicile abroad shall supply a notice of change of address just as do those that migrate within the country (Decree on the Municipality of Domicile 351/1994). Those who intend to leave the country for more than one year are primarily considered emigrants, barring diplomats and those working in development co-operation, etc. (Act on the Municipality of Domicile 201/1994). In accordance with an agreement made between the Nordic countries, generally a period of residence of less than six months is not construed as a move (on the entry into force of the agreement relating to the population registers in the Nordic countries 851/1990, Agreement Series 49 and Decree on the Municipality of Domicile 351/1994).

When migrating from one Nordic country to another, the local population register of the country of exit shall provide the migrant with a Nordic certification of notice of departure to be delivered to the local population register of the country of entry (Decree on the Municipality of Domicile 351/1994, 851/1990, Agreement Series 49). The local population register authority of the country of entry returns the certification to the register centre of the country of exit. The day on which the migrant is entered into the local population register of the country of entry is recorded as the date of move.