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The step-by-step plan for Finland

From "we want this" to being settled, in 35 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

35 steps5 phases78 official sources9 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 199 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Finland: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

  1. Orientation

    5 steps

    Open · You are here

  2. Closing the Netherlands

    14 steps

    In your plan

  3. The move

    3 steps

    In your plan

  4. Registration in Finland

    6 steps

    In your plan

  5. Arrival

    7 steps

    In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

Finland asks for no permit but for three registrations in a row — with Migri, DVV and Kela — and between those counters sits a digital catch-22 that you simply break with the right order. The real sum is somewhere else: the car tax no longer has a relocation exemption.

By the end of phase 1 you understand the Finnish registration chain, you've done the car sum, and the family stands behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: three registrations, one order

Lead time:
reading step
Costs:
none

For EU citizens Finland has no permit and no card, but a chain of three registrations. First you register your right of residence with Migri (compulsory for more than three months' uninterrupted stay, € 53, only to be applied for once you're already there). With that, since 2019, you as a rule automatically get your henkilötunnus, the personal identity code — but that code gives you nothing. The real gate is the kotikunta: the municipality-of-residence registration with DVV, which opens access to public healthcare, school and municipal services. And after that you report to Kela for social security. Three counters, one order — the step-by-step plan holds it for you.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.2

The car: do the sum before you decide

Lead time:
an evening with Vero's calculator
Costs:
none

This is the sum that makes this corridor different from the rest of Scandinavia, so it comes before everything. Finland levies autovero at the first registration, and the relocation exemption was already abolished as of 1 January 2015 — which many sites still miss. A petrol or diesel car easily pays 9.5 to 20 percent of the Finnish market value depending on CO2 emissions, and that value is higher than the Dutch one. A fully electric car (first use from October 2021) pays 0% — you almost always bring that one. Work out your car with Vero's calculator and decide: bring it, or sell it in the Netherlands. The BPM refund on export softens the blow, but rarely covers it.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:
1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:
none

The paperwork here costs almost nothing: € 53 per person for the Migri registration, and the rest of the chain is free. The money is in the crossing — Finland lies beyond the Baltic Sea, and the ferry or the detour via Sweden makes the move more expensive than to the neighbouring countries — and in the car sum of the previous step. Work it out with your own choices.

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:
no fixed one; take your time
Costs:
none

Finland has scored as the happiest country in the world for years — and three things deserve an honest conversation. The language: Finnish is not a Germanic language and it grows on you slowly; outside the ICT and tech sector in the Helsinki region Finnish (or on the coast Swedish) is the working language almost everywhere. The light: the winter is long, dark and colder than the Swedish one, with January days of -20 °C even in Helsinki. And the distance: a quick trip back to the Netherlands is a flight or well over a day on the ferry, not a car ride. Also discuss who carries the income in the first months.

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:
five minutes, below
Costs:
none

Choose below the date on which you want to be in Finland. The step-by-step plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — and says so honestly if it's getting tight. A target date is yours: you can always move it, and moving it is a perfectly good outcome.

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Finland. The full plan has another 30 steps ready for you: Closing the Netherlands, The move, Registration in Finland and Arrival.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Finland

€ 199

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 199

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

The familiar list, with one surprise that appears nowhere else on the site: the treaty from 1995 lets the Netherlands keep up to 20 percent withholding tax on your company pension, alongside the Finnish tax as country of residence. Whoever leaves on a pension wants this worked out before departure.

  1. 2.1Arrange your healthcare: the basic insurance stops on the moving daystart 2-3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
  2. 2.2AOW and pension: the treaty with the double handan afternoon of research, and one tax-adviser conversation
  3. 2.3The tax wind-up: M return and the protective assessmentthe return comes after the emigration year; preparing is possible now
  4. 2.4Stopping allowances and child benefitan hour, online
  5. 2.5Deregister with the municipalitypossible from 5 days before departure, up to and including the departure day
  6. 2.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlandsan afternoon
  7. 2.7Documents: multilingual extracts, no apostille needed1-2 weeks for requesting extracts
  8. 2.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
  9. 2.9Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
  10. 2.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keeponly if this applies to you
  11. 2.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
  12. 2.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
  13. 2.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
  14. 2.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years
Open all steps · € 199
Phase 3 · The move0 of 3 steps open

Within the EU moving is administratively nothing — but there's a sea in between. The ferry is the fixed item, the dog has a clock of one to five days before arrival, and the car deserves the sum from phase 1 once more, now with the calendar alongside.

  1. 3.1Plan the crossing: the ferry or the detour via Swedenbook quotes and ferry 2-4 weeks ahead
  2. 3.2The car: register for export, or sellonly if this applies to you
  3. 3.3The pet: the dog has a Finnish clockonly if this applies to you
Phase 4 · Registration in Finland0 of 6 steps open

The chain is strict in order: home → Migri → kotikunta with DVV → Kela — and the digital catch-22 (the bank wants registrations, the government wants bank codes) you break with the police ID card. Count on one to two months before you're a full digital participant.

  1. 4.1Find your home: free market, statutory depositcount on weeks, faster than in Sweden
  2. 4.2Register your right of residence with Migriapplication online; usually handled around the service-point visit
  3. 4.3The kotikunta with DVV: the registration that opens everything2-4 weeks after the DVV visit
  4. 4.4Report to Kela — and apply for what doesn't come by itselfreporting an evening; processing 1-4 months, runs in parallel
  5. 4.5Bank account: break the catch-22 in the right orderaccount within 10 banking days; bank codes after your registrations
  6. 4.6The verokortti: prevent the 60% withholdingvia MyTax immediately; via the office 1-3 working days
Phase 5 · Arrival0 of 7 steps open

You exist — now the systems turn, and two clocks tick hard: the car declaration within five days of your first drive, and the fund membership within one month if you want to keep your Dutch unemployment-benefit years. The rest is system knowledge: three healthcare ceilings, free school, and winter tyres with a statutory window.

  1. 5.1Registering the car in Finland: five days, three months, thirteen weeksonly if this applies to you
  2. 5.2Work: join a työttömyyskassa within one monthan evening; the clock is one month
  3. 5.3Get to know the healthcare system: three ceilingsreading step
  4. 5.4School, childcare and what Kela doesn't pay by itselfonly if this applies to you
  5. 5.5Tax: know your rate, choose your municipality deliberatelyreading step; the return comes pre-filled
  6. 5.6Learn Finnish: free, but start nowregister via the municipal employment service
  7. 5.7Driving licence and winter tyres: nothing is required, one window isreading step

8 of these 30 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 30 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Finland: 35 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 199Read more about Finland first