You will meet the question on your first week in Finland, and it will probably be on a screen at Kela or the Tax Administration: "Identify yourself." Not with a password. With something the state recognises. Digital ID in Finland is the key to nearly everything online, from your tax card to your school place, and newcomers get it in stages, not on day one.
This guide explains the options, in the order you can realistically collect them.
What is digital ID in Finland, and why does it matter?
Finnish public services use a common identification layer called Suomi.fi. When you log into OmaVero (the Tax Administration's online service), OmaKela or your municipality's e-services, you choose a strong identification method. The usual methods are:
- Bank codes (pankkitunnukset): the codes your Finnish bank gives you under a contract. They must be personal and enabled for electronic identification; business codes do not count.
- Mobile certificate (mobiilivarmenne): a certificate on the SIM card of a DNA, Elisa or Telia subscription, activated with your bank codes. It does not work on a prepaid card; for an eSIM, ask the operator.
- Police identity card: foreign residents who live in Finland permanently, are in the population register, have a registered right of residence and a municipality of residence can apply for a police-issued identity card. You activate its certificate and use it with a card reader or the hightrust.id app.
- hightrust.id: a free wallet app that can be activated with a police identity card issued after 31 August 2021, including the residence card for foreigners.
Because these methods build on each other, the order matters: personal identity code, bank account, bank codes, mobile certificate, police card.
What can you use when you first arrive with your digital ID in Finland?
Not much, and that is the awkward part. Before you have a personal identity code, you cannot get bank codes. Before you have bank codes, you cannot get the mobile certificate. See the Finnish personal identity code and opening a bank account in Finland for the first two steps.
For the gap, there is Finnish Authenticator, a free app for foreigners who have no Finnish identification. You create a foreigner identifier with your email, then prove your identity in the app by photographing your passport, or your national identity card if you are a citizen of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, and taking a selfie. A driving licence is not accepted.
Two cautions. Each service decides whether it accepts Finnish Authenticator. Vero says that OmaVero accepts personal bank codes, the mobile certificate, certificate cards and hightrust.id, and that Finnish Authenticator is there for foreign company representatives with a Suomi.fi authorisation. Private persons from another EU country can use their own eIDAS identity for a limited set of functions. And the account is blocked if unused for four years.
Stuck between the identity code, the bank and the first login? Moovy can set out the order that works for your case and draft the Finnish or Swedish message to your bank or to the DVV.
Can you use your own country's eID?
Sometimes. Finland accepts European electronic identities under the eIDAS rules, but only in services open to foreigners. A Suomi.fi listing dated 10 February 2025 included Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. France was not on it. The list evolves, so check Suomi.fi rather than relying on a date from a blog.
Why are bank codes harder than a bank account?
Because the conditions are stricter. A foreigner can sometimes hold an account yet not receive codes. Under Finnish law a bank may refuse codes only where you do not have a personal identity code or are not registered in the population register, and it must then offer you a limited identification method for use of the account. Ask the bank in writing if you are refused.
Your bank codes also work as an electronic signature. Never lend them, not even to a partner. A joint account's codes serve only the holder to whom they were issued.
What does the new digital identity law change?
This is a moving target, so be careful with dates. Finland has passed legislation to support the European digital identity wallet, including a new act on the digital identity document (digitaalinen henkilöllisyystodistus). A Government communication of 30 September 2026 says that the legislation enabling the wallet enters into force in October. The wallet is meant to be free and voluntary, and a phone app. DVV is building it, with Traficom supervising wallet providers.
What it does not do yet is exist as an app. In October 2025, the DVV announced that the app would be released at the end of 2026, with its features expanded gradually. Dates for new public apps can move, so follow the DVV's announcements before you plan around it.
For foreigners, the detail matters. According to the Parliament's administration committee, the digital identity document is the first electronic attestation that works with the wallet in Finland. It is issued by the police or another passport and identity card authority, and the right to it arises when a passport or identity card is issued. That points to a document issued in Finland, not to your home-country passport. Whether the police identity card for foreigners qualifies is for the police and the DVV to confirm, so ask them before you count on it. The practical lesson is to apply for the police card once you qualify, since it also gives you a strong identification method.
How do you get your digital ID in Finland in practice?
- Get your identity code and a municipality of residence.
- Open a bank account and ask explicitly for online banking codes.
- Activate a mobile certificate on a subscription, not a prepaid card.
- Once you qualify, apply for the police identity card for foreigners and activate its certificate.
- Keep two different methods. Losing your phone or changing your bank can lock you out of OmaVero and OmaKela.
If you want to understand the paperwork around it, moving to Finland puts all the steps in sequence.
What can you do once you have a strong identity?
A lot, and that is the point. You log in to OmaVero to change your tax card, to OmaKela to apply for benefits, and to your municipality's e-services to enrol a child. You view your prescriptions and test results on MyKanta once you have a personal identity code, and you can sign a lease or a contract electronically. Bank codes also work as a legally binding signature, so a request to "confirm" something with your codes deserves the same care as signing on paper.
How do you avoid scams around digital ID?
The Tax Administration warns on its own website that scam messages have been sent in its name, and similar messages circulate in the name of Kela and banks. The rule is the same as anywhere: do not click a link in a message, open the service by typing the address or using the official app, and never read out an authorisation code to a caller. If you lose your phone, call your bank's helpline at once to block your codes.
Which mistakes do newcomers make?
Counting on a French or other national eID without checking the list. Buying a prepaid SIM and expecting a mobile certificate. Believing every service accepts Finnish Authenticator. Letting the app account sleep. And lending codes, which is both unwise and against the bank's terms.
Once you have the codes, Finland becomes pleasantly boring online: forms are pre-filled, decisions arrive in your inbox, and you will find yourself doing in ten minutes what took a morning elsewhere.