Finnish passport

Finnish passport
The front cover of a first Finnish biometric passport
Date first issued	21 August 2006 (first biometric version) 21 August 2012 (current version)
Issued by	Finland
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	Finnish citizenship
Expiration	5 years after issuance
Cost	€48^[1]

Finnish passports are issued to nationals of Finland for the purpose of international travel. Aside from serving as proof of Finnish nationality, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Finnish consular officials abroad (or other EU consulates in case a Finnish consular official is absent). Finnish passports share the standardised layout and burgundy-red cover with other EU countries.

Passports are issued by the local police or by an athorised Finnish diplomatic mission abroad.

Men who are less than 30 years of age and consequently eligible for military service, but have not completed it, may only be issued a passport with an expiration date up to the last legal start date for completion of the obligation, which is at the age of 28. Men older than 30 can receive a passport with normal expiry dates regardless of the status of completion of the military duty.

Every Finnish citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union and European Economic Area.

Physical appearance

From 1996, Finnish passports have had burgundy-coloured covers and use the standard European Union passport layout, with the Finnish Coat of arms emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The words "Euroopan unioni" (Finnish) and "Europeiska unionen" (Swedish) meaning "European Union" are inscribed above the coat of arms, and the words "Suomi – Finland", the country's name in Finnish and Swedish, and "Passi – Pass", meaning "Passport" in Finnish and Swedish, below. In older EU passports, the words were entirely in capital letters, but current versions use mixed case. Biometric passports, first issued on 21 August 2006, also have the standard biometric symbol at the top. In 2012, the coat of arms was enlarged and the European Union title was shifted below it and separated by a double line from the country's name which is now in all capitals. The biometric symbol has been moved to the bottom. The inside pages contain drawings of an elk that when flipped rapidly show the elk in motion. The cover is embossed with a snowflake motif.

Visa requirements

Main article: Visa requirements for Finnish citizens

Visa requirements for Finnish citizens

In 2015, Finnish citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 172 countries and territories, ranking the Finnish passport 2nd in the world (tied with Sweden and the US) according to the Visa Restrictions Index.^[2]

Different spellings of the same name

Names containing special letters (ä, ö) are spelled the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone, but are mapped in the machine-readable zone, ä becoming AE, and ö becoming OE.
For example, Hämäläinen → HAEMAELAEINEN.
The letter å appears only in Finland-Swedish and foreign names. It is mapped as AA.
For example, Ståhlberg → STAAHLBERG.

History

Passports issued before the adoption of the EU design 1996 were dark blue and did not contain the "European Union" texts, but were otherwise broadly similar in appearance. Previously, children could be included in the parents' passport, but this is no longer allowed and children must be issued their own passport, regardless of age.

Front cover of a biometric diplomatic passport
Front cover of a biometric service passport
Current-type passport with no RFID chip (only issued at Finnish embassies abroad)
A collection of old Finnish passports displayed by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Åland Islands

The Åland Islands, being an autonomous region with its own Government, has a separate passport. The Åland Islands passport does not however indicate a different nationality, with all holders being Finnish nationals. Unlike the Danish autonomous countries or British Crown dependencies (none of which belongs to the European Union) the Åland Islands autonomous region is a full part of the Finnish state, and an Åland Islands passport therefore brings all the rights and benefits of European Union membership for the holder. The passport follows the standard European Union format, and is marked on the front cover with both Finland and Åland.^[3]

References

↑ Service prices 2014
↑ "Global Ranking - Visa Restriction Index 2014" (PDF). Henley & Partners. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
↑ The example of Åland autonomy as a minority protector, accessed 10 October 2016.

Central & North	Afghanistan Kazakhstan⁶ Kyrgyzstan Russia³ Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

East	People's Republic of China Hong Kong¹¹ Macao¹¹ Japan Korea, North Korea, South Mongolia Republic of China (Taiwan)⁹

South	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

Southeast	Brunei Burma Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam

West	Abkhazia⁵ ⁹ Armenia⁷ Azerbaijan⁵ Bahrain Cyprus⁷ Egypt⁸ Georgia⁵ Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Nagorno-Karabakh⁷ ⁹ Northern Cyprus⁷ ⁹ Oman Palestinian Authority Qatar Saudi Arabia South Ossetia⁵ ⁹ Syria Turkey⁴ United Arab Emirates Yemen

Europe

Other Europe

European Union

Oceania

Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia, Federated States of Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Pitcairn Islands¹ Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

International organizations
Defunct passports
Passport types

International organizations	European Union laissez-passer International Committee of the Red Cross Interpol United Nations laissez-passer

Defunct	British Indian Empire¹ Czechoslovakia East Germany Korean Empire League of Nations refugee (Nansen) Mandatory Palestine Rhodesia Soviet Union¹² UNMIK Travel Document Yugoslavia

Types	Biometric Camouflage Diplomatic Fake Hajj Horse Internal International Machine-readable Pet Travel document alien refugee stateless person World

¹ A) Includes Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, and former British plantations, crown colonies, colonies, protectorates, protected states, mandates, trust territories and other British possessions.
B) The Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the European Union, but Manxmen and Channel Islanders are citizens of the European Union; the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, and Manxmen and Channel Islanders themselves (unless they qualify and apply for recognition of a change in status), are however excluded from the benefits of the Four Freedoms of the European Union.
C) The Government of the United Kingdom also issue passports to British nationals who are not British citizens with the right of abode in the United Kingdom and who are also not otherwise citizens of the European Union.

² Open border with Schengen Area.

³ Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here.

⁴ Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Turkey has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace.

⁵ Azerbaijan and Georgia (Abkhazia; South Ossetia) are transcontinental countries. Both have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus.

⁶ Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country. Kazakhstan has a small part of its territories located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.

⁷ Armenia (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Cyprus (Northern Cyprus) are entirely in Southwest Asia but having socio-political connections with Europe.

⁸ Egypt is a transcontinental country in North Africa and Western Asia. Egypt has a small part of its territory in Western Asia called Sinai peninsula.

⁹ Partially recognized.

¹⁰ Not recognized by any other state.

¹¹ Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China

¹² The Soviet Union was a transcontinental country located in Eurasia

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