Types of visas to Finland and their features

Types of visas to Finland

The purpose of travel to the country determines the type of visa required for entry:

• A - airport. This type of document is issued when transferring in Finland to another country. The permit allows you to stay in the country without leaving the airport.
• B - transit. You can stay in the country for no more than 5 days. You can leave the airport, but the tourist must definitely visit another country.
• C - tourist. This is the most common visa category among visitors and tourists to Finland. It is issued for guest visits, business-related trips, recreation and entertainment for a period of 3 to 12 months.
• D - national. Suitable for students studying at universities, contract workers, or those citizens who decide to come to obtain a residence permit.

Visas are classified according to length of stay:

1. One-time. Issued for a period of up to 3 months and allows you to visit Finland once.
2. Multiple visa. Allows you to cross the border several times, but the period of continuous stay should not exceed 3 months. The document is valid for up to 12 months, but not less than six months.
3. Transit. Issued only for the purpose of traveling to another country. The longest period of validity is no more than 5 days.
4. Returnable. The document allows you to return home to your homeland, and is usually issued by employees of the internal affairs bodies.

If a person visits Finland to study at an institute, he must present a certificate of enrollment in order to obtain a student visa. There is also a business visa, which is issued specifically for business travel.

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Types of visas to Finland and briefly about them

Depending on the purpose of your trip to Finland, there are different types of visas that will apply to the occasion. If you plan to visit, study or work and reside permanently in Finland, you will have to apply for the appropriate document.

Depending on the nature of the trip, Finnish Schengen is:

• Tourist. Allows foreign nationals to enter the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days within a 6-month period for the purpose of tourist visits to European Union countries.
• Guest. Provides the opportunity for third-country citizens to visit friends or relatives permanently residing in the territory of the Finnish state.
• Educational. Allows entry into the Schengen area to third-country nationals wishing to visit and stay for a short period in any of the member states for the purpose of study.
• Business. If the mission or service commitment does not exceed 90 days, the foreign national is issued a short-term visa equivalent to the length of stay declared by the company management. You must leave your host country before your visa expires.
• Workers. There is no formal work visa for employment in Finland. However, a Russian citizen has the right to work in the Schengen area if he has a national class D visa for employment purposes issued by the Finnish consulate.
• Transit. This is an official permit for persons who need to enter the Schengen territory only to change modes of transport. There are two types of Schengen transit visas: for seafarers and air passengers.

Depending on the number of entries into Finland, a Schengen visa can be single, double or multiple. The Finnish multiple visa provides its owner with the opportunity to visit this amazing northern country multiple times within the established validity period of the document. In most cases, Finns issue multiple-entry Schengen visas valid for 1 year. Unlimited permission to enter the territory of the state for a period of 2 years is very rare.

Registration procedure

The procedure for obtaining a permit to cross the Finnish border involves going through the following stages:

1. Filling out the applicant's application form and collecting the necessary documents. Their list will be indicated in the review below.
2. Make an appointment with the visa service on the official website. In addition, it is possible to visit the specified establishment without an appointment.
3. Submitting an application for a Finnish permit to the consulate or visa department.
4. Payment of consular and service fees for services, receipt of a receipt.
5. Checking the readiness of documents on the portal and receiving a completed visa.

The law provides for several ways to obtain entry permission:

1. Personal visit to the consulate. To do this, you will need to present a passport of a Russian citizen or a citizen of another state, a receipt for the state fee and an agency agreement.
2. With the help of close relatives. In this case, you need certificates proving family ties.
3. Through an employee of your company. For the visa service, you must issue a notarized power of attorney and a photocopy of the authorized person’s passport. For the consulate, you need to present your work book instead of a power of attorney.
4. Through other persons. By analogy with the previous method, you need to prepare a copy of your passport and a power of attorney. When contacting the consulate, a member of the group trip must present documents.

The second and fourth methods are relevant if you previously underwent biometrics when applying for a Schengen visa. Otherwise, you will have to visit the consulate in person.

Price

The components of the price for a visa to Finland are payment of the consular fee and services. The consular fee for a Finnish visa in 2021 is:

The cost of a Finnish visa in 2021 for children under 6 years of age, regardless of citizenship, is still zero. For citizens of other countries, but living in the Russian Federation and applying to centers located in Russia, other tariffs are possible . How much exactly to pay must be clarified at the center.

Consular and service fees are paid in rubles, according to the exchange rate in effect on the day of payment before submitting the application. Cash or payment cards are accepted for payment.

In case of refusal, the cost of a Schengen visa to Finland is not refunded.

When citizens turn to intermediaries for help, payment for the services of travel companies is added to the cost of a Schengen visa to Finland. Prices vary depending on hospitality rates.

Required documents

The set of required documents for obtaining a Finnish visa includes the following documents:

1. Completed application form with personal signatures. For persons under the age of 18, one of the parents or a guardian can sign. Information must be indicated in Latin block letters.
2. Passport photo – 1 piece, size 3.5x4.5 cm.
3. A foreign passport received in the last 10 years, valid for at least another 3 months after returning to your home country. It is necessary to have two free pages.
4. Photocopy of internal passport – page with personal information and registration.
5. Medical policy worth more than 30 thousand euros. Its duration must cover the travel time. Issued for all tourists, including children. The exceptions are parents under 21 and children who are citizens of the European Union.
6. Consent to the processing of personal information.
7. Documents proving the purpose of travel: plane tickets, hotel reservations, or an official invitation from relatives indicating their contacts, passport details, duration and purpose of the visit.
8. Certificate of income. This may be an extract from the employment contract, which indicates the position, duration of work, and salary. A bank account statement is also suitable, which should contain an amount of 60 euros per day. For example, if you decide to visit Finland for 7 days, then your account should have more than 420 euros. If there is no money in the bank, you can find a guarantor by providing a copy of his passport and evidence of financial solvency.
9. Parental consent for children to visit Finland. If the parents are not traveling with the child, then they need a power of attorney to consent to their children crossing the border.
10. Originals and copies of children's birth certificates.

For foreigners, when applying for a visa to Finland on the territory of Russia, you need justification for your stay in the country - registration, residence permit, student card, call to work. Sometimes consular officers schedule an interview or provide additional certificates to prove the purpose of travel.

Attention! It is recommended to take photographs, copies of documents and insurance in advance, as this will cost much more at the visa service.

Photo requirements

The following requirements apply to photography:

1. Size – 3.5x4.5 cm.
2. Manufacture date: no more than 6 months ago.
3. The distance from the top of the head to the chin is within 25-35 cm.
4. The face area should occupy 70% of the photo size, the top of the shoulders should be visible.
5. The photograph is taken in color, with natural shades on a light background, without the use of computer correction.

Passing biometrics

Everyone wishing to visit Schengen is required to provide biometric data. This is filming using special equipment, taking fingerprints. Information is entered into a single database and stored there for 59 months. If it is impossible to attend the procedure in person, you can order it at home.

Exempt from biometrics:

1. Disabled people, people who, due to health reasons, cannot submit fingerprints.
2. Children under 12 years of age.
3. Previously undergone the procedure within the last 5 years.

Cost and processing time

The consular fee is 35 euros and must be paid by Russians when applying for a visa to Finland. The visa center fee is 26.75 euros. The insurance fee is set at 300-500 rubles, depending on the type of document and the duration of the trip. For urgent applications to the consulate, you will have to pay up to 70 euros. Services at a travel agency will cost around 3,000 rubles.

Not everyone knows how long it takes to obtain a regular Finnish visa. No more than 10 days are allotted for its registration. For urgent orders, the period is reduced to 3 days. Once documents are submitted, it is not possible to expedite their review.

Types of visas

A visa to Finland for Russians in 2021 is issued depending on the purpose of the trip:

• Tourist;
• Guest room;
• Transit;
• Working;
• Student.

According to the frequency and duration of validity, the Finnish Schengen is:

• One-time;
• Double;
• Multiple for 180 days;
• Multiple for a year;
• Multiple for two years.

There is also an option for permission to cross the border such as a return Schengen visa to Finland. It is issued by law enforcement agencies and gives the right to return to Russia. The most common type of permit is a multiple-entry monthly permit, the most rarely issued is a 2-year visa to Finland .

Failure Cases

Information provided to consular officers must be truthful. Visa applications can be refused for many reasons, but in practice this is rare. Refusals are possible due to non-compliance with the visiting time, inaccurate purpose of travel, violation of the law in previous trips.

They will also refuse a visa if the main time is spent in another country. The first time they will issue a warning, and then there will be a refusal.

Where to get a visa to Finland?

A permit to visit the Finnish state can be ordered and issued at visa centers and official consular offices:

1. Moscow. The visa center is located on Kalanchevskaya street, building 13. Contact number 8-495-662-8739. The Embassy of Finland is located on Kropotkinsky Lane, building 15, office No. 17. Phone: 8-495-787-4174.
2. Saint Petersburg. The Consulate General is located: Preobrazhenskaya Square, building 4, telephone: 8-812-331-7601. Visa center: st. Stremyannaya, house 27-5, phone: 8-812-309-2889.

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These are the main addresses of official representative offices of Finland. There are also visa centers in other Russian cities.

You can apply for a Finnish visa yourself, without going through intermediary companies. If there is no official Finnish consulate or embassy in your area, then the best way is to contact a visa service. But all services there will cost more.

Registration deadlines

Visa centers and Consular Sections issue permits approximately within two weeks after receiving documents.
Passports are usually issued earlier than the stated deadline, but it may take longer. The approximate deadline for the readiness of a visa to Finland for Russians is announced when accepting documents. A more precise date can be clarified later by monitoring the progress of document review on the Visa Application Center website. It is possible to order Finnish Schengen registration in an expedited manner, then the documents will be reviewed within three working days. After receiving the applicant's papers, it is no longer possible to speed up the review process . Be careful and calculate how many days before your trip you should contact the Embassy.