Look inside
The plan for Finland, from the inside
These are all 32 steps of the Finland journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 32
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 61
- Only for your situation
- 9
Phase 1
5 steps
Orientation
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.
- 1.1
Understand the system: three registrations, one order
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
The car: do the sum before you decide
- Lead time
- an evening with Vero's calculator
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
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.
- 2.1
Arrange your healthcare: the basic insurance stops on the moving day
- Lead time
- start 2-3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
- Costs
- workers none; pensioners the CAK contribution
3 official sources
- 2.2
AOW and pension: the treaty with the double hand
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research, and one tax-adviser conversation
- Costs
- the tax-adviser conversation
2 official sources
- 2.3
The tax wind-up: M return and the protective assessment
- Lead time
- the return comes after the emigration year; preparing is possible now
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.4
Stopping allowances and child benefit
- Lead time
- an hour, online
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.5
Deregister with the municipality
- Lead time
- possible from 5 days before departure, up to and including the departure day
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlands
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.7
Documents: multilingual extracts, no apostille needed
- Lead time
- 1-2 weeks for requesting extracts
- Costs
- fees per extract
2 official sources
- 2.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.11
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
3 steps
The move
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.
- 3.1
Plan the crossing: the ferry or the detour via Sweden
- Lead time
- book quotes and ferry 2-4 weeks ahead
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
3 official sources
- 3.2
The car: register for export, or sell
- Lead time
- RDW export and applying for the refund, 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
The pet: the dog has a Finnish clock
- Lead time
- vet visit 1-5 days before arrival
- Costs
- vet check; dog register € 10
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
6 steps
Registration in Finland
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.
- 4.1
Find your home: free market, statutory deposit
- Lead time
- count on weeks, faster than in Sweden
- Costs
- deposit and first month, see the cost estimate
2 official sources
- 4.2
Register your right of residence with Migri
- Lead time
- application online; usually handled around the service-point visit
- Costs
- € 53 per person
2 official sources
- 4.3
The kotikunta with DVV: the registration that opens everything
- Lead time
- 2-4 weeks after the DVV visit
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.4
Report to Kela — and apply for what doesn't come by itself
- Lead time
- reporting an evening; processing 1-4 months, runs in parallel
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.5
Bank account: break the catch-22 in the right order
- Lead time
- account within 10 banking days; bank codes after your registrations
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.6
The verokortti: prevent the 60% withholding
- Lead time
- via MyTax immediately; via the office 1-3 working days
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
Phase 5
7 steps
Arrival
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.
- 5.1
Registering the car in Finland: five days, three months, thirteen weeks
- Lead time
- inspection and registration, a few weeks
- Costs
- inspection ± € 180, plus the autovero
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.2
Work: join a työttömyyskassa within one month
- Lead time
- an evening; the clock is one month
- Costs
- fund contribution per month
2 official sources
- 5.3
Get to know the healthcare system: three ceilings
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- see the text
2 official sources
- 5.4
School, childcare and what Kela doesn't pay by itself
- Lead time
- apply for childcare as soon as you have an address
- Costs
- childcare income-dependent with a maximum; school free
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.5
Tax: know your rate, choose your municipality deliberately
- Lead time
- reading step; the return comes pre-filled
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.6
Learn Finnish: free, but start now
- Lead time
- register via the municipal employment service
- Costs
- free via the integration plan
2 official sources
- 5.7
Driving licence and winter tyres: nothing is required, one window is
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- exchanging optional
2 official sources
9 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Finland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.5 of your plan
Bank account: break the catch-22 in the right order
- Lead time
- account within 10 banking days; bank codes after your registrations
- Costs
- none
The notorious Finnish catch-22: the online government wants Finnish bank codes, the bank first wants to see your registrations. Know your rights: as a legal EEA resident you're legally entitled to a basic payment account — decision within ten banking days, and the supervisor says explicitly that a henkilötunnus may not be a condition for it. Only the bank codes themselves may the bank defer until you're in the population register. The structural way out: as soon as your kotikunta is done, apply for the Finnish ID card at the police (€ 59, electronically € 53) — the chip carries a citizen certificate with which you log in to the government, even without a bank. Your Dutch DigiD works via the European link but only with a handful of services; don't count on it.
This is step 4.5 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Finland?
All 32 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Finland: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Finland really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.