If you are a foreign national requiring a visa, you must always have one when entering the Schengen area.
Schengen member states are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Schengen member states have jointly agreed about the rules concerning the movement of third-country nationals in their territories and decided which countries' citizens are required to present a visa.
If you are a foreign national requiring a visa, you must always have one when entering the Schengen area. If you would ordinarily need a visa but have a residence permit valid in one of Schengen countries, you do not need a visa to enter another Schengen country if the intended duration of your stay is less than three months.
A Schengen visa is applied for from the embassy or consulate of the destination country.
If the country from where you are applying for a visa does not have a Finnish embassy or consulate, you must apply for it from a Finnish mission in the nearest country to your own.
For example, if the country of destination is Finland, you must apply for a visa from a Finnish mission. In certain cases Finland may be represented by another Schengen country, from which a Finnish visa may be applied.
The processing charge must be paid in cash when you leave your application, except in the case of bank transfers at Finland's missions abroad. More information from the Finnish missions abroad.
A visa is issued by a diplomat or consul representative of a Schengen country. It is advisable to apply for a visa well in advance of the planned date of travel. A minimum of 14 days should be reserved for processing.
If the visa application for Finland is delivered in your country to a representation of a mission of another Schengen country, the process will usually take much longer. Applications should be delivered well in advance so that there will be proper time to process them.
If the conditions for granting a visa are not fulfilled, your application will be refused. Should this happen you will receive a written notification of refusal. A refusal cannot be appealed.
A negative decision may be due to your not fulfilling the prerequisites mentioned in point 4 above. A visa may be refused if an applicant does not possess a valid travel document, does not have documents to prove the purpose and the conditions of his or her stay, does not have sufficient funds to cover his or her stay, or does not have the right of return to the country of departure or to continue to a third country. An applicant might also be prohibited from entering Finland or another Schengen country or might be considered a threat to the public order, national security or international relations of the country of destination.
Although a visa may be granted, the conditions of entry to Finland are re-evaluated on arriving in the country. If you require a visa you may also be expected to show, in addition to your visa, a valid travel document, insurance document for the duration of your stay and other documents related to your visa application. You must prove that you have sufficient funds (EUR 30 per day) for your stay and for your return journey or further travel. If you have a valid return ticket the amount of funds you are required to have with you will be less. You must not be under prohibition from entry to the country.
Other obstacles to entry would be if you were to constitute a threat to public order and security, public health, or Finland's relations with other countries. You can be refused entry if there is good reason to suspect that you intend to earn money dishonestly or to sell sexual services. These are the same conditions that apply concerning the approval or denial of a visa.
Local police authorities can extend the residence time defined in a visa. The extended period of the residence permit must not exceed its final date and the total duration may not exceed three months within half year. In addition an applicant's travel insurance must be sufficient to cover the extended time.
A visa is an entry permit for a short, temporary stay of less than three months. Using this entry permit as a foreign national requiring a visa you are allowed to enter and stay in the Schengen area once certain other preconditions have been met.
Despite possessing a visa these requirements for entry into the country are checked at the border. If the entry requirements are not fulfilled, the passport inspector of the Border Guard Service may refuse you entry.
A single-entry visa
is issued for one journey during which you can stay in the Schengen area for 90 days within a six (6) month period.
A double-entry visa
allows a person to enter the Schengen area twice for 90 days within a six (6) month period.
Multiple-entry visa
is granted for several visits to the Schengen area. The total duration of the stay is the number of days stated on the visa, at most 90 days within a six (6) month period. The period of six months starts on the day of entry into Schengen area. The visa is valid for a maximum of one year.
A transit visa
is only granted when a citizen of a country requiring visas travels through the Schengen area to a country that is not party to the Schengen agreement. To receive a transit visa you should have a visa to the country of final destination or should otherwise be able to enter that country. A transit visa allows you the right to transit entry on one or more occasions through the Schengen area. The duration of transit duration is no more than five days on one occasion.
Airport transit visas
are needed by citizens of the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire). If you require an airport transit visa, you are permitted to use the international part of the airport during intermediate landing or during a change between two journeys, and without entering the country in question.
