Other citizens trained outside the EU - with EU license

Valvira may give you a license to work as a registered nurse if another EU/EEA country has already approved your education and given you the right to work as a nurse in the EU/EEA. In addition, you need a minimum of three years of professional work experience in the EU/EEA country that approved your degree. Even so, Valvira may evaluate your education and may ask you to study extra. The extra studies make sure you have the same skills as Finnish nurses have.

 

If you have not worked for three years as a nurse in the EU/EEA country that licensed you, you are under the same rules as nurses who have completed their nursing education outside the EU/EEA. In that case, go to and follow instructions under Nurses without EU citizenship trained in a non-EU country.

Language skills

All nurses in Finland must have good skills in one (1) of Finland’s two (2) official languages. Most Finns speak Finnish as their mother tongue and about 5% speak Swedish.

Citizens of countries other than EU/EEA states must have an official language certificate of their knowledge of Finnish or Swedish. You need to show a language certificate to Valvira before you can work as a nurse. We accept only the Civil Service Language Proficiency Test certificate (satisfactory level) or the National Proficiency in Finnish certificate (medium level 3-4).

How to apply
 

  • Please use a freely worded application or use the application form below
  • The application must be written in Finnish, Swedish or English
  • Remember to date and sign the application

The form can be filled in electronically or manually. Either way, print it out and mail it to the enclosed address.

Professional Practice Rights application form (pdf)

Please send all the documents below. Note: if you do not send the documents below, then processing your application will take more time.

  • Officially certified copy of your passport or another officially certified document that states your citizenship;
  • Officially certified copy of your original nursing diploma and study records;
  • Translations of the nursing diploma and the study records. The documents need to be translated into Finnish, Swedish or English by an authorised translator.
  • Officially certified copy of a license to work as a nurse issued by another EU/EEA country which first approved your education.
  • Officially certified copies of certificates of employment showing that you have worked as a nurse for three years;
  • Translations of the certificates of employment. The certificates need to be translated into Finnish, Swedish or English by an authorised translator
  • Officially certified copy of your Finnish language certificate.

For certifiying your documents, see Finnish Register Office and Notary Public

For authorised translators, see Database search for authorised translators (search available only in Finnish)