Finnish personal identity codes for workers arriving in Finland

Bring these documents to the service point:

• the registration form and application (5057e or 5042e) (make sure to fill these in beforehand)
• a valid passport or official proof of identity with a photograph, from which you can be easily identified
• an employment contract if you work for an employer who pays you wages
• a commissioning contract if you work as a self-employed individual
• if your employment contract or commissioning contract does not describe the work you do in Finland, your employer or principal customer or the Finnish party ordering the work must write a report that includes the following information:
  • your full name and date of birth
  • details on your employer or principal
  • information on the work you do in Finland
  • the start and end dates of your work in Finland
  • the place where you work (e.g. workplace, contract site and address)
  • the party in Finland who ordered the work.

Bring these documents to the service point:

• the registration form and application (5057e or 5042e) (make sure to fill these in beforehand)
• a valid passport from which you can be easily identified
• a valid residence permit or visa, where applicable (depending on the length of your stay and your nationality)
• an employment contract if you work for an employer who pays you wages
• a commissioning contract if you work as a self-employed individual
• if your employment contract or commissioning contract does not describe the work you do in Finland, your employer or principal customer or the Finnish party ordering the work must write a report that includes the following information:
  • your full name and date of birth
  • details on your employer or principal
  • information on the work you do in Finland
  • the start and end dates of your work in Finland
  • the place where you work (e.g. workplace, contract site and address)
  • the party in Finland who ordered the work

If you are not a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, you will usually need an employee’s or an entrepreneur’s residence permit to work in Finland. Your right to work or do business is usually stated on your residence permit decision or card. If your right to work in Finland is not valid, the Tax Administration cannot issue the identity code to you.

It is within the Tax Administration’s jurisdiction to issue a Finnish identity code only to a worker who requests it because of his or her work in this country. When submitting your request for the identity code, you need to show your employment contract and additionally, documentation concerning the work to be carried out in Finland. If enough information on the work to be done here is not indicated by your contract, your employer company will be required to give the following details in writing:

• What work you will do in Finland
• Start and end dates of your work
• The Finnish location where work will be done
• Name of the company that ordered the work assignment

If your work here is based on your operation of a trade or business as a self-employed professional, you need to present a copy of the contract of your assignment or job in Finland.

If the text of the contract contains no mention of the work commissioned from you to perform here as a self-employed person, you will additionally need to present a written account on which your customer describes your upcoming work in Finland. The written account should contain the same details as are required of employees (see above).

In the same way, if your work here is based on using an invoicing service or on working as a leased employee, you will be required to give the same details and present similar documentation. The identity code cannot be issued only by reference to an employee leasing contract, made between a leasing agent company and an individual worker who agrees to perform work as a leased employee in the future. Issuance of the identity code is only possible at the stage when a contract is signed, outlining the leased employee’s exact assignment/job to be done here. In the same way, freelance workers using an invoicing service company (sometimes called “light” entrepreneurship) would be required to present their contract with the invoicing service company, and additionally, their contract concerning an exact assignment or job to be done.

If you have some other role – you are not an employee – in a foreign company (if you are the company’s shareholder or member of the board of directors, etc.), you will be required to give details of that role and present the company’s trade register certificate or similar documents to provide proof of your activities.  In addition, you need to submit a written account describing your work to be done in Finland – for example, a photocopy of a contract between your company and a customer having a business operation in Finland, a written description prepared by your customer containing facts and information on the commissioned work performance, etc.

In general, if your citizenship is of a country outside the EU, and you are not a citizen of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you need to have the Finnish Immigration Service grant you a residence permit, which gives you the right to work in Finland.

However, some specialists and people in certain other occupations are given the right to work here for a short period, under provisions of § 81 b of the Aliens Act, even if they have no residence permit. In that case, you would need to present an employer-provided document that affirms that the requirements relating to § 81 b of the Act are applicable to your circumstances. For more information on the requirements, including professional qualifications and restrictions on maximum earnings, see the website of the Immigration Service:

Working without residence permit | Migri

Residence permits on the basis of work | Migri.

The legal norms that govern your right to work here are found either in the Aliens Act or in the Act governing seasonal work. Work permits issued by other EU countries do not entitle you to work in Finland. However, to have a work permit in another EU country may provide you a right of residence.

Read more about posted workers’ right to work here (Työsuojelu.fi)

If instead of a residence permit issued by the Immigration Service, or instead of the provisions of the Act governing seasonal work or § 81 b of the Aliens Act, you have the right to work by virtue of other legal grounds — for example, you are a family member of an EU citizen — you must turn to the Finnish Digital Agency (the DVV) to request the Finnish personal identity code.