Registered nurse, pharmacist or midwife trained in an EU or EEA Member State
Only persons duly legalised by the Finnish Supervisory Agency are allowed to perform the duties of legalised health care professionals. The Finnish Supervisory Agency grants the right to practise the profession of registered nurse, midwife or pharmacist on application to persons trained in Finland and abroad.
Applying for the right to practise
Fill in the application form (pdf). Send the application and the documents listed below to the Finnish Supervisory Agency as e-mail attachments or by mail. The processing period is calculated from when the Finnish Supervisory Agency receives all the required documents.
Send your completed application and appendices by e-mail to: kirjaamo(at)lvv.fi.
Please note that e-mail is not recommended for sending confidential information. You can send a secure e-mail via the Finnish Supervisory Agency secure message service. See our website for further information on how to deliver material to the Finnish Supervisory Agency by e-mail (link).
The processing of an application in the Finnish Supervisory Agency is subject to a fee. By submitting an application, you agree to the fees. Please check the prices at the bottom of the page under Fees.
Or send your completed application with attachments by post to:
Finnish Supervisory Agency
P.O. BOX 20
13035 LVV
Courier mail (e.g. DHL or Fedex) is to be sent to:
Finnish Supervisory Agency
Wähäjärvenkatu 6
FI-13100 Hämeenlinna, Finland
Append copies of the following documents to your application
1. Document verifying your identity and nationality
- passport or
- ID card issued in an EU/EEA Member State or
- alien's passport or
- refugee travel document
If you do not have a Finnish personal identity number, please check the additional instructions on the website of the Finnish Supervisory Agency (link).
2. Degree certificate
3. Certificate of sufficient language proficiency
- A list of approved certificates of sufficient Finnish or Swedish language proficiency is available on our website (link). These include the Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate and the National Certificate of Language Proficiency. Further information on language proficiency certificates is available on the Finnish National Agency for Education website.
If you do not submit a certificate of language proficiency, the Finnish Supervisory Agency can only recognise your professional qualifications. In order to be eligible for this, you must be a citizen of an EU or EEA Member State or a person of comparable status, and you must have completed your training in an EU or EEA Member State. Recognition of professional qualifications does not automatically entitle you to practise your profession or to use a protected occupational title in Finland. Read more about the recognition of professional qualifications on our website (link).
The appendices listed below in points 4–6 may be necessary for resolving your application. The Finnish Supervisory Agency may also be able to verify the information directly with the competent authority in the relevant EU or EEA Member State, and you do not need to submit these documents. The review may delay the processing of the application. If the Finnish Supervisory Agency is unable to verify the information with the competent authority, then you must submit the relevant certificates yourself.
4. Certificate of the right to practise the profession
- A certificate verifying that your right to practise the profession in question has not been restricted or revoked (e.g. Certificate of Current Professional Status).
- This certificate must be no more than three months old when received.
- You must submit such a certificate from every country where you have been legalised to practise your profession.
- If you have practised the profession in a country that does not register these professionals, please provide a certificate from the competent authority of the above-mentioned country stating that the country does not register these professionals or another reliable account of the matter.
5. Certificate of conformity
- A certificate issued by a competent authority stating how your professional qualifications fulfil the requirements of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.
6. Translations of the documents listed in points 4-5
- If the original documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, please also provide official translations.
- The translations must have been produced by an official or authorised translator in Finland or in another EU/EEA Member State. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the Finnish National Agency for Education.
- The translations must be accompanied by the document in the original language certified by the translator.
- An official translator outside the EU/EEA may be acceptable if the translator’s status is confirmed in the translation with an Apostille or Grand Legalisation (link).
The Finnish Supervisory Agency may request additional clarifications if necessary. Please do not attach any original documents that you may need later to your application. The application documents will remain in the Finnish Supervisory Agency and it is not possible to get them back after a decision has been made. If you request for documents to be returned to you before a decision is made, we can return them. In this case, you must provide corresponding copies of the documents. However, this will slow down the processing of your application.
Within 30 days of receiving the application, the Finnish Supervisory Agency will ask the applicant to submit any missing documents. The processing period is calculated from when the Finnish Supervisory Agency receives all the required documents. If no further information is required, it is possible that your application will be processed within 30 days. The processing period for applications is three months, as specified in the Act on Health Care Professionals. The processing period is laid down in the relevant EU Directive and is the same in all Member States.
A fee is charged for every decision concerning licences to practise a profession, including when an application is denied. Half the processing fee is payable if you withdraw your application.
Types of fees include:
- Legalisation and protected title registration of a professional arriving from an EU/EEA Member State 710 euros.
- Recognition of professional qualifications 470 euros.
- Legalisation once proof of language proficiency is received after recognition of professional qualification 240 euros.
- Fee for expert opinion 100-400 euros.
- Decision on conditional recognition 710 euros.
The decision on the right to practise a profession will be issued in Finnish or Swedish. The invoice will be sent after the decision. If the Finnish Supervisory Agency has requested an expert opinion, the invoice for the fee for the expert opinion will be sent to you after the Finnish Supervisory Agency receives that opinion.
If there are significant differences between the social welfare education that the applicant has received abroad or healthcare education received in an EU or EEA Member State and the education in Finland, the Finnish Supervisory Agency will issue a certificate of conditional recognition of professional qualification. The certificate of conditional recognition will specify the additional measures required to compensate for the differences. Additional measures include an aptitude test and an adaptation period. The applicant cannot be licensed to practise their profession until the additional measure specified has been acceptably completed. The applicant will need to reapply for a licence once they have completed the additional measure.
If you have completed the adaptation period or the aptitude test approved and wish to apply for a licence from the Finnish Supervisory Agency, please read the application instructions on our website (link).
You will need to let the Finnish Supervisory Agency know if you wish to provide services on a temporary or occasional basis in Finland. You must be a citizen of an EU/EEA Member State and legally established as a health care professional in another EU/EEA Member State. You must also have a licence to practise your profession independently or to use a protected title in another EU/EEA Member State.
According to the Finnish Supervisory Agency's policy, the pursuit of a profession is considered temporary and occasional if it takes up no more than three (3) days a month. However, whether an activity is or is not to be considered temporary and occasional in nature is always evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please note that an activity is not considered temporary or occasional if you engage in it on a permanent or continuous basis. An activity can be deemed to be ‘established’ especially if your objective appears to be circumventing the requirements relating to establishment.
Each notification is valid for 12 months. You will need to submit a new notification if you intend to continue to pursue your profession on a temporary or occasional basis or if the nature of your activity changes significantly. In such cases, you must submit the relevant documents and evidence to the Finnish Supervisory Agency without delay.
If you are a nurse, a physiotherapist or a pharmacist, you can apply for a European Professional Card (EPC) (link). If you hold a European Professional Card (EPC), you do not need to submit an advance notification as stated here, and you will therefore not need to separately submit the documents and details specified below.
The notification must contain the following information: the nature of the services, the time and place where the services will be provided, information on the service provider’s insurance coverage, or similar individual or collective professional liability cover, and a statement of language proficiency (Finnish or Swedish). See our website for further instructions for temporary or occasional employment (link).
Rights to practise granted may be viewed in the public information services for social welfare and health care professionals (JulkiSuosikki and JulkiTerhikki, respectively) after the decision is issued or the registration is made. The register data is updated once a day.
A right to practise granted for a fixed term will be visible in the public information service only while it is valid. An example of such a right is the registration for an adaptation period.
More information on the official registers of professionals underlying the public information service is available on our website (link).
The Finnish Supervisory Agency may send you any requests for further information, certificates, decisions and invoices electronically as a Suomi.fi message if you have registered in that service. Suomi.fi messages may only be used for matters that are currently pending. You may register for Suomi.fi messages at the suomi.fi website or by downloading the Suomi.fi mobile app.
In application matters, we will only deal with the applicants themselves. However, an applicant may authorise an agent or attorney to act on their behalf in the matter of their application. In this case, the agent or attorney must present a power of attorney authorising them to act for the applicant. The power of attorney may be an e-mail or physical document sent by the applicant, stating that the applicant authorises the person in question to act for them in the matter of the application. Attorneys-at-law and public legal aid attorneys do not need to present a power of attorney unless specifically requested.
Contact information
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +358 295 256 932 (Monday–Friday 9:00–15:00)
Application documents to the address: [email protected]