Finland ETIAS
Situated in Northern Europe right where Europe shares its land and sea borders with the Russian Federation, Finland is the only country in the Scandinavian Area no longer to have monarchic institutions.
Famous on a touristic level for its countless lakes and breathtaking sceneries Finland is also a highly developed country with a thriving economy that helped it creating connections and bonds to many non-European realities.
ETIAS to Finland: summary of main facts
An ETIAS will be necessary to access Finland for short term visitors from 60 Visa Waiver Countries
ETIAS allows for a stay in the EU/Schengen Area never to pass 90 days in 6 months and only for a purpose of either tourism, business, transit or medical treatment
ETIAS traveler’s passport must have 3 months of remaining validity throughout the entire stay in the Schengen Area
ETIAS Area and Finland
As confirmed in 2016 and 2018 by EU Counsil resolution about the new Visa Waiver System to the European Union/Schengen Area, Finland will too from 2025, enforce the obligation to obtain an ETIAS for short term travels of passenger national of 60 Visa Waiver Countries.
Applying for ETIAS Visa Waiver to Finland is a simple electronic process that requires each person just a few minutes of their time. The main core of the application protocol consists of a series of basic questions to assess the identity of the candidate like full name, birth date, birthplace, passport number, passport expiry date. Subsequently each passenger will also be asked to input their contact details that must include a valid e-mail address. Also, the ETIAS form will ask the voyagers details about their first trip towards Europe and verify their eligibility through a brief set of personal history questions.ETIAS to Finland issuance
Once the electronic Visa Waiver application has been completed and paid for, all the data will be automatically cross checked by Europol Data, Interpol and several of other security international database that will, usually in a matter of a few hours, establish if the applicant poses any kind of security or migration threat to the EU/Schengen Area.
According to the ETIAS System design plans set by the European Union, once the ETIAS to Finland application has been sent through the result will in most case be available in no longer than 72 hours.
Whether the feedback is positive, like it will in most cases base, or negative the petitioner will receive an e-mail notification with the result of the process. This is why declaring a valid e-mail address while filling out the contact details section of the form will be of great importance.
Since the ETIAS Visa Waiver is automatically linked to the passport of the applicant there is no formal obligation to print out the received ETIAS document. Although it is advised to print the Visa Waiver to show in case of need at any point during the journey through the 34 ETIAS Member Countries.Travelling towards Finland on a valid ETIAS
ETIAS to the Republic of Finland is valid for 3 years starting from the application date although in some cases such expiry date might occur sooner as the passport used for the application has less than 3 years of remaining validity. A visitor’s Passport must always have enough validity left to cover for the whole planned stay in the ETIAS Countries as a whole (+ 3 additional months) and it must always be clear that in order to prove the duration or scope of the travel incoming Visa Waiver passengers to Finland could be asked to provide a return ticket or other supporting documents.
- Tourism/leisure/family visit
- commerce and trade
- transit
- medical care
these are in fact the only travel purposes suitable for ETIAS visitors and even in such cases the combined stay in the ETIAS Area will not be unlimited. A maximum stay of just 90 days every 6 months is allowed.
Individuals going to the Republic of Finland or to any other ETIAS Nation willing to work or to attend a long-term study curriculum, will hence not be able to use their Visa Waiver rights since they will have the legal obligation to obtain a Consular Visa prior to the start of their trip.
Short study programs in the can anyway be attended to, by ETIAS visitors, if the combined stay in ETIAS Area will not surpass the limit of ninety days within 6 months. More details on ETIAS general rules and limitations can be found here.