Finnish visa application form: the most complete guide

Filling out the application form is the most difficult step in obtaining a Finnish visa. Everything else is oversimplified. In order not to be rejected, the Finnish visa application form must be completed without errors and deception. In this article, we tell you how to fill it out correctly. We analyze both options: the newfangled online and the classic “by hand” format. We show where to download the correct form, give the necessary links and chew on each item of the questionnaire in great detail! The information will assist in filling out the questionnaire for both adults and children.

Finnish visa application: online and the old fashioned way

From 09/14/2015, the Embassy in Moscow accepts only questionnaires pre-filled via the Internet on the website of the VFS Global visa center. It is the only official visa broker accredited by the embassy. Recall that in Russia there are four diplomatic institutions of Finland that issue visas:

embassy in Moscow;
Consulate General in St. Petersburg;
consulates in Murmansk and Petrozavodsk.

Moscow and St. Petersburg accept questionnaires filled out only via the Internet. Murmansk does not oblige, but recommends that you first fill out the application form online, then print it out, sign it and bring it to the consulate. Petrozavodsk, on the other hand, works exclusively with paper applications, but does not refuse to accept a printed form that was filled out via the Internet.

So, only four authorities issue visas, but you can also apply for an entry permit with the help of numerous intermediaries - visa centers. The official VC of Finland - VFS Global - has branches in 14 cities: Ufa, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Perm, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

Branches of VFS Global in the regions of Russia, except for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk and Petrozavodsk, accept only paper questionnaires.

It turns out that today both options for filling out an application for a visa to Finland are relevant: both online via the Internet and by hand. The hand can be replaced with text editors Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat and fill out a questionnaire on a computer in .docx and .pdf formats. You can download the current forms from us:

Any questionnaire is filled in English, Finnish or Russian. The Russian language is allowed only when using Latin letters (transliteration).

Finland visa application form

Step 1. Registration on the portal visa.finland.eu

On the page, enter your first and last name (in Latin letters), email address and phone number. We come up with a password. Be careful: the security system will not accept a password if it does not contain at least one number, uppercase and lowercase letters, and a special character. Length from 8 to 15 characters.

Bad password option: 12345678
Good: Gd78%xx#987

Done, the new user is registered. Your e-mail received the following letter:

After registering on the website of the visa application center, you will receive the following letter

Step 2. Authorization and filling out the questionnaire point by point

Enter your email and password from step 1.

You will be redirected to the first page of the questionnaire:

The first stage of filling out an electronic application for a Finnish visa

We fill. Items are numbered for convenience, there is no real numbering in the electronic questionnaire.

1. Place of submission

Choose from 8 options:

CONSULATE GENERAL OF FINLAND, ST. PETERSBURG– Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg (Preobrazhenskaya Square, 4);
CONSULATE OF FINLAND, MURMANSK– Consulate of Finland in Murmansk (Karla Marksa, 25A);
CONSULATE OF FINLAND, PETROZAVODSK– Consulate of Finland in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk, Center district, Gogol street, 25);
EMBASSY OF FINLAND, MOSCOW- Embassy of Finland in Moscow (Kropotkinsky per., 15-17, p. 1);
VISA CENTER OF FINLAND, MOSCOW– Exhibition Center of Finland VFS Global in Moscow (Kalanchevskaya, 13);
VISA CENTER OF FINLAND, MURMANSK– Finland VFS Global Exhibition Center in Murmansk (Karl Liebknecht, 13);
VISA CENTER OF FINLAND, PETROZAVODSK– Exhibition Center of Finland VFS Global in Petrozavodsk (Gogol, 6);
VISA CENTER OF FINLAND, ST. PETERSBURG– Finland's VFS Global Exhibition Center in St. Petersburg (21/5, Stremyannaya St. - on the corner from Marat St., 5).

2. Surname

Exactly like in the passport. If the surname is separated by some characters, we do not write them. For example, the double surname "Petrov-Vodkin" in the questionnaire should be written as " PETROV VODKIN»

3. Past surnames

If you had a passport for your old surname, indicate in accordance with it. If not, write what you think is right. If the surname has not changed, write the current one. If changed several times, enter all previous surnames separated by a space.

4. Name

We copy from the passport. If there are non-alphabetic characters, replace with a space. For example, if your name is Igor, and in the passport it says: “ IGOR'", then in the questionnaire the symbol "'" is not necessary to write, we just leave " IGOR».

5. Middle name

The middle name is not indicated in the foreign passport of the Russian Federation, therefore we fill out this item according to the general rules of transliteration.

6. Date of birth

7. Place of birth

We write off from the passport. Options: Moscow / USSR(if born in Moscow in the USSR before 1991), KAZAKHSTAN / USSR(if born on the territory of the Kazakh SSR also before 1991), VORONEZH / RUSSIA(if born in Voronezh after the collapse of the USSR). We enter our homeland by analogy.

8. Country of birth

Choose the name that existed at the time of your birth. That is, if you were born in Kazakhstan before the collapse of the USSR, your country of birth will be the Soviet Union. Since the questionnaire is in English, we are looking for the option “ SOVIET UNION».

9. Current Citizenship

If you are now a citizen of Russia, choose " RUSSIAN FEDERATION”, even if they acquired citizenship a week ago. If you have a passport of another country, that is, dual citizenship, indicate here the country with the passport of which you want to travel.

10. Citizenship by birth

Most likely, this item will coincide with the country of birth. If not, enter yours. Those born in the USSR before its collapse choose " SOVIET UNION", after - " RUSSIAN FEDERATION"or, if you have citizenship of the Republic of Belarus -" BELARUS».

11. Gender

MALE- male, FEMALE- female. Oddly enough, there are two more here: UNKNOWN And NOT APPLICABLE, which translates as UNKNOWN And NOT APPLICABLE. This is how European tolerance for minorities and freedom of choice is manifested. For the vast majority of our compatriots, these lines are not needed, I hope.

12. Marital status

SINGLE- single, not married;
MARRIED- married;
SEPARATED– I live separately from my spouse;
DIVORCED- divorced / divorced;
WIDOW(ER)- widower / widow;
OTHER- another.

When you select "Other", an additional field opens where you need to explain your choice.

13. Minor (under 18)

If filling out for a child, select " YES", for an adult -" NO».

14. Number of the identity document

This is a general civil internal passport.

15. I am the spouse or family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

Not really. Here everyone knows about himself.

16. Type of travel document

ALIEN'S PASSPORT– document of a stateless person;
DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT– diplomatic passport;
GROUP PASSPORT– collective passport. Issued in one copy per group of people. For example, if a teacher travels with students;
NATIONAL LAISSEZ-PASSER is a travel document issued by Denmark, Latvia and Estonia for non-citizens. It is also issued by Israel in case of repeated loss of the national passport;
OFFICIAL PASSPORT- almost the same as diplomatic;
ORDINARY PASSPORT- Travel passport. Issued to citizens for travel abroad. With a probability of 99% you have exactly this;
OTHERS– another category of passports, mainly for children;
SEAMAN'S PASSPORT- seafarer's passport;
SERVICE PASSPORT- very similar to OFFICIAL PASSPORT;
SPECIAL PASSPORT- a document similar to OFFICIAL PASSPORT And SERVICE PASSPORT;
TRAVEL DOCUMENT (1951 CONVENTION)- Refugee passport. Issued by the state that legally hosted a refugee so that these people can travel internationally. The passport is required to be issued by 145 states that have signed the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951;
TRAVEL DOCUMENT (1954 CONVENTION)- passport of a stateless person, that is, a stateless person. Issued if for some reason a person cannot obtain a passport in the country of birth;
UNITED NATIONS LAISSEZ-PASSER- UN passport. Issued to employees of international organizations such as WHO, IAEA and others. Written in English and French;

Those who have an ordinary foreigner should choose " ORDINARY PASSPORT».

For children, choose OTHERS"and add the phrase" Child's travel document", if the minor has his own passport. If the child is entered in the passport of the father or mother, we write " Father's travel document"(if in the father's passport) or" mother's travel document"(if the child is entered in the mother's passport). The following items are filled in in accordance with the document indicated in this line.

17. Travel document number

In Russian passports, the number is often written with a space in the format "00 0000000". We recommend that you do not indicate a space in the questionnaire, write like this: 000000000.

18. Number of travel document (again)

We enter the same so as not to be mistaken. We strongly do not recommend copying the number from the previous field in order to exclude an error. Due to this oversight, the Finnish visa application form will be invalid.

19. Date of issue

Date of issue in DD/MM/YYYY format. Example: 16/05/2012. In non-Russian foreign passports, the item is called " date of issue».

20. Valid until

Date in the same format as in the previous paragraph. In foreign passports, the item is titled as " date of expire».

21. Country of issue

We choose ours.

22. Issued

I mean issuing authority. Our passports usually say " FMS 0000". In the application for a visa to Finland, you need to write the same thing, only in transliteration: “ FMS 0000".

Congratulations, the first page is ready! Click "Save and Continue" and we get to the next step:

At this point, you will receive an email with the identification number of your visa application. It looks something like this: SCHEFI10927717154. It must be saved, it will allow you to return to filling out the online questionnaire at any time. Without it, access to the electronic questionnaire will be impossible.

We continue!

23. Applicant's address

We enter the street, house number and apartment number (if available). The city and country are written in the following paragraphs. Sometimes the question arises of what to enter if I am registered at one address and live at another. We recommend that you indicate the address of permanent registration in the Russian Federation, and do not burden the Finnish Embassy with information about the place of actual residence.

24. Postcode

If you don’t know, the Russian Post website will help. There you can find the postal code at the address.

25. City

Enter the name of your city in free transliteration. For example, if we live in Dubna, we write " DUBNA". If in Shchyolkovo - " SCHELKOVO».

26. Country

Specify the country. Most of our readers will choose " RUSSIAN FEDERATION», « BELARUS" or " KAZAKHSTAN».

27. Phone number

With the country code, but without the "+" sign: " 79090000000 »

28. Email address

Enter a real e-mail address.

29. Country of residence (if different from current citizenship)

If you are a citizen of the Russian Federation, the answer is “no”. If you are a citizen of another country, but have a residence permit here, put " YES» and enter the number and expiration date of your residence permit.

30. Current occupation

Choose the right one from the list:

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL AND SERVICE STAFF (DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS)- an employee of the embassy, a civil servant;
ARCHITECT- architect;
ARTISAN- craftsman;
ARTIST- artist, artist;
BANKER- banker;
BLUE COLLAR WORKER- worker, builder, locksmith;
CHAUFFEUR/ LORRY DRIVER- chauffeur / driver
CHEMIST/CHEMICAL ENGINEER- chemist, chemical engineer;
CIVIL SERVANT- a civil servant;
CLERGYMAN/RELIGIOUS FIGURE- priest/pastor
COMPANY EXECUTIVE- CEO, chief accountant;
COMPUTER EXPERT- programmer, IT-specialist;
DIPLOMAT- a diplomat
DIPLOMAT'S PRIVATE SERVANT- diplomat's assistant;
ELECTRONICS EXPERT- electronic engineer;
FARMER- farmer,
FASHION/COSMETICS- stylist, cosmetologist, hairdresser;
JOURNALIST- journalist;
LEGAL PROFESSION (LAWYER, LEGAL ADVISER)- lawyer, lawyer;
MAGISTRATE- judge;
MANAGER- manager, leader;
MEDICAL AND PARAMEDICAL PROFESSION (DOCTOR, SURGEON, NURSE, VET)- doctor, nurse, veterinarian;
NO OCCUPATION/NOT APPLICABLE– no profession (housewife, temporarily unemployed);
OTHER KIND OF TECHNICIAN- other tech. professions (engineer, technician);
OTHERS– other professions (seller, cashier, handyman);
PENSIONER- pensioner;
POLICEMAN/SOLDIER- police officer, soldier
POLITICIAN- politician;
PROFESSIONAL SPORTSPERSON- professional sportsman;
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHER- Researcher;
SEAMAN- sailor, sailor;
SELF-EMPLOYED- individual entrepreneur, freelancer;
STUDENT, TRAINEE– student, graduate student / trainee, trainee;
TEACHER- teacher, lecturer, educator;
TRADESMAN- trader, businessman;
WHITE COLLAR WORKER- "white collar": accountant, economist, secretary, administrator.

31. Employer

Full name of the organization in which they are employed. If you work at LLC "Romashka", write " OOO "Romashka"" or " Romashka LLC". If the option “ UNEMPLOYED" or " ”, then in the new version of the questionnaire, the item “Employer” may disappear. If you have not lost, write your full name in the format " SIDOROV PETR IVANOVICH».

32. Name of the educational institution

Fill in if you are a student, or the questionnaire is filled out for a student. If you want to indicate the name of the university or college, write the Russian abbreviation in Latin letters or translate the full name of the university into English. Example: Moscow State University. Its Russian abbreviation is MGU. In the form, you can write MGU. In English, MSU is called Moscow State University, so you can also write in the application. Well, the English abbreviation - MSU- can also be included in the questionnaire.

33. Address of employer or educational institution

If the option “ UNEMPLOYED" or " INDIVIDUAL ENTREPRENEUR / FREELANCER”, then there will be no column for entering the address. If there is an employer, enter the address by analogy with the previous paragraphs. Sometimes the question arises whether to write here the legal or actual address of the organization. From our experience, this does not really matter, but we recommend writing the actual one. If the questionnaire is filled out for a schoolchild or student, enter the actual address of the educational institution.

34. Postcode

Doesn't raise questions.

35. City

City where we work. Or, if we do not work, the city of permanent registration at the place of residence. As elsewhere in the Finnish questionnaire, according to the general rules of transliteration: DUBNA, YARTSEVO, PETROZAVODSK.

36. Country

Just select the country where we work from the list.

37. Phone number

Employer phone number with country and area code: " 79090000000 ". If the applicant does not officially work, enter a personal phone number. Students and schoolchildren write the phone number of a school, college or university.

38. Purpose of travel

TOURISM– tourism;
BUSINESS- business visit;
VISIT TO FAMILY OF FRIENDS– visiting relatives or friends;
CULTURAL– a trip related to a cultural event;
SPORT- sports;
OFFICIAL VISIT– official visit;
MEDICAL REASONS- treatment;
STUDY- studies;
TRANSIT– ground transit;
AIRPORT TRANSIT– transit through the airport;
OTHER– other (specify).

Tourism is most preferable, in which case the embassy does not have unnecessary suspicions. We recommend that you always choose this option if you are a simple tourist.

39. Country(s) of destination

We inform you which countries we are going to visit on a future Finnish visa. Only one country can be specified in the electronic visa application form. If there are more of them, the rest can be added at the last step in the "Additional Information" section. To obtain a Finnish visa, Finland must be the main destination of your trip - you need to spend more time in it than in other Schengen countries. Therefore, if you do not want to refuse, we recommend choosing only " FINLAND».

40. State of first entry in the Schengen area

Even if you plan to spend most of your time in Finland, you can enter the Schengen area through another country. For example, take a car to Tallinn, and from there take a ferry to Helsinki. In this case, the country of first entry is Estonia.

41. Requested number of entries

SINGLE- single entry
TWO– double entry;
MULTI– unlimited number of entries.

You can always choose MULTI". It will not get worse, but there is a chance to get a long Finnish multivisa.

42. Length of intended stay

The number of days that you plan to spend in the Schengen area is indicated. The most correct figure here is 90. It means that you can stay in Europe for 90 days out of every 180. According to the Schengen visa code, this is the maximum. Even if you are applying for a Finnish visa for 3 years, you still need to write 90.

43. Schengen visas issued within the last 3 years

Yes - " YES", No - " NO". Answer " YES” involves entering the start and end dates of the previous Schengen visa.

44. Fingerprints taken earlier

If you have already submitted biometrics for the VIS database for a Schengen visa, we answer “ YES", if not - " NO". Recall that fingerprinting became mandatory from September 14, 2015. In case of a positive answer, you can indicate the date of submission of biometric data. If you don't remember, leave it blank. This will not affect the decision to issue a visa.

45. Transit visa

Choose " YES” if you are applying for a transit visa. In 99% of cases, you should choose the option " NO". If " YES”, you will need to enter the country that is the final purpose of the trip and indicate the period of validity of the permission to enter this country.

46. Intended date of entry into the Schengen area

Specify the date of the expected start of your first trip in the format DD / MM / YYYY. For example, 02/06/2018 .

The cheapest flights are usually found

47. Intended date of departure from the Schengen area

This is the most important and favorite item of the visa application form for every traveler. This is where you specify for how long you are requesting a visa. For a Finnish visa, we recommend adding 3 years to the start date of your trip, so you'll be requesting a visa for three years. That is, if in clause 46 you indicated the start date of the trip 02/06/2018 , then write the date of departure 02/06/2021 . Whether they will give it for 3 years or not is the second question, the main thing is to ask. In any case, they will not refuse a visa, they can only reduce the period at their discretion. And, if you are applying for a long visa, do not forget to select the option “ MULT” - it’s very disappointing to get a one-year visa with a single entry.

48. Type of invitation

COMPANY INVITATION- an invitation from the organization;
HOTEL OR TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION– a hotel or a rented apartment is booked;
NO INVITATION- no invitation. Relevant, for example, for those who travel to Finland for one day without spending the night;
PRIVATE INVITATION- private invitation. For those who apply for a visitor visa by invitation.

Depending on the option chosen, you will need to enter the details of the inviting organization or hotel: address, phone number, name of the inviting person. Do this by analogy with the previous paragraphs.

Convenient hotel search for all booking systems and price comparison

49. Who pays for travel and stay expenses abroad

BY A SPONSOR (HOST, COMPANY, ORGANIZATION)– expenses are paid by the sponsor (relative, employer, inviting organization);
BY THE APPLICANT HIMSELF / HERSELF– travel expenses are paid by the applicant.

Only a sponsor can pay for a child, which can be one of the parents.

50. Indicate livelihood

CASH- cash;
TRAVELER'S CHEQUES- traveler's checks;
CREDIT CARD- credit cards;
PREPAID ACCOMMODATION- accommodation is paid;
PREPAID TRANSPORT– transport is paid;
OTHER– other (specify).

We choose your option. In the electronic visa application form for Finland on the website visa.finland.eu, you can choose only one. We will add the rest at the last step in the "Additional Information" section.

51. Medical insurance policy

You need to put " YES”, confirming that you are aware that you need health insurance to travel to the Schengen area.

Travel insurance is better to do here ↓

For those who do not know how to choose insurance, we have.

52. Additional information

Here you can specify everything that did not fit into the main part of the questionnaire. For example, if in paragraph 50 you chose cash, and you also have a credit card with you, we write here: “ CREDIT CARD».

Click the "Submit" button and we will receive your completed questionnaire by e-mail:

This page remains open on the visa.finland.eu website:

If we want to fill out another questionnaire, select " YES and click "Submit". We start filling out the Finnish visa application form from point 1.

The PDF file with the questionnaire received by mail is password protected. Password: the first 4 characters of the passport number (including a space if available) as indicated on the visa application form + date of birth (ddmmyyy).

If, when filling out the questionnaire, you entered a series and number of a foreign passport with a space, then it is also taken into account as a symbol!

Examples:
71 8745612 and date of birth: 17.04.1989 , your password: 71 817041989 .
– If you have entered your passport number in the following format: 718745612 and date of birth: 17.04.1989 , your password: 718717041989 .

We enter the password, print out the questionnaire on the printer and sign it in four places if we requested a multivisa, and in three places if we asked for a single entry. You can print on both color and black and white printers. Inkjet or laser, it doesn't matter. If the questionnaire is for a child from an infant up to 14 years old inclusive, one of the parents signs the questionnaire for him. Children aged 15 and over sign on their own.

In the column " PLACE AND DATE» We set the date and place of filling out the questionnaire. Example: MOSCOW, 12/19/2017. Be careful, this must be done in two places.

Your visa application is ready!

All the same in 10 minutes (video)

How to fill out a Finnish visa application form by hand

Now about how to fill out the form by hand or using an editor program.

The paper application form for a Finnish visa contains the same items as the application form on the electronic portal visa.finland.eu. To fill it out, first you need to download:

Although there is a visa application form in Russian, we recommend downloading the English version and filling it out.

The requirements for filling out the paper form are identical to the requirements for the electronic questionnaire, therefore, in order to exclude possible errors, we recommend that you fill out the questionnaire carefully and in accordance with the sample.

A real example of filling out a Finnish visa application form

What you will now see is a real questionnaire, thanks to which I received an annual Finnish Schengen. Personal data has been changed for confidentiality purposes, but not at the expense of clarity.