Visa to Finland for Russians - 2021. How to get it yourself

Step-by-step instructions on how Russians can independently obtain a visa to Finland in 2021. What documents will be required, prices and design details. Find out why some tourists are denied visas.

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Attention: at the moment, during the pandemic, tourist visas are issued in exceptional cases. Read more about the conditions on the website of the Finnish Consulate.

What kind of visa does a tourist need

To travel to Finland, you need to apply for a Schengen visa. The Finnish Schengen is single, double and multiple - for 180 days, a year and two years. Most often, a multiple-entry visa is issued for a month, less often - a Schengen visa for 2 years.

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Step 1: Book your tickets

Until September 1, 2019, residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, the Leningrad and Murmansk regions used a simplified procedure for issuing visas to Finland. Now the laws have changed. To obtain a visa, you need to provide travel documents there and back. These can be flight reservations, train, bus or ferry tickets. Find out how to get to Finland by car.

The easiest way is to buy a return ticket and, if necessary, cancel it. If your trip has to be canceled, you will lose less money. Look for tickets to Finland on Skyscanner and Aviasales.

Step 2: Book your accommodation

Book accommodation for all days of travel through aggregator sites like Booking. If you are planning to stay in a private home or rent an apartment, make your reservation through Airbnb.

In the hotel reservation, you are asked to indicate the names and surnames of all participants in the trip in Latin - as in a foreign passport. Hotel reservations are not required when applying for a visa for day trips and shopping tours.

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Step 3: make copies of passports

Take copies of the pages with photos and personal data of a valid passport. Make copies of old foreign passports, as well as copies of pages with personal data, registration, marital status and information about minor children from your regular passport. When copying documents, place two spreads per page.

Step 4: buy insurance

To visit Finland, you need a medical policy with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros. To obtain a visa to Finland in 2021, the policy must be valid from the date of submission of documents throughout the territory of the Schengen countries. Handwritten paper will not be accepted! It is convenient to take out insurance online on the Cherehapa website.

Step 5: Get help from work

Ask for a certificate on letterhead signed by the director and chief accountant. It should include your title and monthly salary. It will be a little more difficult for private entrepreneurs and freelancers. Get a certificate from the tax office, which will show your income minus all taxes.

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Step 6: Get a bank statement

Prepare a certificate that will indicate the movement of money in the account for the last 6 months. The balance must be at least 1200 euros per person. References are mainly made with a "wet" print, although some tourists write that they accept without any problems with a regular printout.

Students of schools, universities, housewives and retirees will need a sponsorship letter with a copy of the sponsor's Russian passport pages and a statement from his bank account. Copies of documents on ownership of real estate are accepted as proof of financial solvency.

dennymart1n: "I made a statement from the card through the application" Sberbank.Online ". There you can immediately make it in English. The consulate accepted without any problems a printout of such a piece of paper with a" non-living "bank seal and an employee's signature."

Step 7: Take a photo

Requirements for a photo for a visa to Finland are standard. The main thing is that the photo should be taken recently. A 45 mm x 35 mm color photograph with a solid light background without a corner and traces of retouch is suitable. Your photograph should be free of headwear and glasses.

Step 8: fill out the form

To obtain a visa to Finland, the application form is filled out electronically. Write in large letters in English or in Latin transliteration from Russian. The document will begin to be processed only after a personal appeal. Fill out and send the application form, come to the visa center, and then the employee will print it.

Step 9: make an appointment

Recordings are made by email and telephone. You can come to the appointment without an appointment. Detailed instructions for recording are here.

The Finnish Embassy in Moscow operates at 15-17 Kropotkinsky Lane. The consulate in Petrozavodsk is at Pushkinskaya Street, 15. The Visa Center in St. Petersburg is at Stremyannaya Street, 25/5, and the Visa Center in Moscow is at Kalanchevskaya Street, 13.

Step 10: Submit documents and biometrics

After submitting the application, you must apply to the Visa Application Center within 90 days. Fingerprinting and digital photography is a mandatory procedure for everyone who travels to Schengen. Children under 12 years old and tourists, data on which is in the database, are exempted from biometrics.

When submitting the documents, the employee of the visa center will give you a receipt for payment. The visa costs 35 euros, the express visa is 70 euros, and the service fee of the visa center is almost 27 euros. No money is taken from children under 6 years old. They pay for receipts at ATMs or payment centers that belong to Nordea Bank.

When contacting the Visa Application Center, you can order the "mobile biometrics" service. They will come to your home, take your fingerprints, take a photo and accept a package of documents.