We use cookies to ensure the best user experience. By using the page, you accept the usage of cookies. Read more
Skip to Content
FI
SV
EN
x Close menu
  • Front page
  • Social welfare
  • Healthcare
    • Professional practice rights
      • Qualified in Nordic
      • Qualified in EU/EEA Member State
      • Qualified outside the EU/EEA Member State
      • Medical students
      • European Professional Card
      • Language Requirements
      • Decision Fees & Delivery
      • Terhikki Register
      • Forms
      • Useful Links
    • Telemedicine services
    • Patient rights
    • Complaints procedure
    • Health technology
  • Environmental health
  • Tobacco
  • Alcohol
  • Valvira
  • Publications
  • Current issues
Contact Information
FI
SV
EN

SearchBar

Home valvira.fi
Doctors walking in the hospital corridor
Healthcare
  •  Valvira.fi
    • Social welfare
      • Professional practice rights for social welfare professionals
        • Qualified outside Finland
          • Qualified in an EU/EEA member state
          • Qualified outside the EU/EEA
          • Decision Fees & Delivery
      • Adoption
        • Duties and organisation of the Finnish Adoption Board
        • Adoption process
          • Intercountry adoptions
          • Domestic adoption
          • Right of access to own information, and post-adoption services
        • Finnish Adoption Board guidelines
    • Healthcare
      • Professional practice rights
        • Qualified in Nordic
        • Qualified in EU/EEA Member State
        • Qualified outside the EU/EEA Member State
        • Medical students
          • Medical professionals with basic medical training obtained in an EU/EEA member state, who have not completed a period of supervised practice
          • Pursuit of activities of a healthcare professional
        • European Professional Card
        • Language Requirements
        • Decision Fees & Delivery
        • Terhikki Register
        • Forms
        • Useful Links
      • Telemedicine services
      • Patient rights
        • Minor patients and next of kin
      • Complaints procedure
        • Consequences of a complaint
      • Health technology
        • Legislation
        • Placing on the market
        • Clinical investigation
        • Registration
        • Incident reporting
        • Export
        • Language requirements
        • Brexit and the availability of medical devices
        • Monitoring the implementation of the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS)
    • Environmental health
      • Health Protection
        • Ship sanitation
    • Tobacco
      • FAQ
      • Sales
      • Display ban
      • Unit packets
      • Marketing
      • Smokefree areas
      • Product Control
        • Tobacco Products
        • Electronic cigarettes, refill containers and nicotine-containing liquids
        • Herbal Products for Smoking
        • Notifications
          • Tobacco Products
          • Electronic cigarettes, refill containers and nicotine-containing liquids
          • Herbal Products for Smoking
        • Laboratories
        • Public Product Information
      • Import
    • Alcohol
      • Serving alcohol
      • Responsible managers
      • Retail sales
      • Production of alcoholic beverages
        • Applying for a production licence for alcoholic beverages
      • Wholesale of alcohol
        • Applying for a wholesale licence for alcoholic beverages
      • Importing and exporting alcohol
        • Importing for serving or retail sale purposes
      • Industrial and kitchen alcohol
      • Denatured alcohol and alcoholic products
      • International transport
      • Licence holder's obligations and responsibilities
      • Supervision of alcoholic beverages
      • Advertising
    • Valvira
      • Contact information
        • Persons
      • Organisational Structure
      • Strategic agenda
      • Privacy policy
      • Market surveillance programmes
    • Publications
      • Brochures
      • Guidelines
      • Forms
      • Legislation
      • Reports
    • Current issues
      • News and press releases
      • Guidelines
  • Valvira.fi
  • Healthcare
  • Professional practice rights
  • Qualified in EU/EEA Member State
  • Recognition of professional qualification of paramedic

Recognition of professional qualification of paramedic

Suomeksi ⁄ På svenska

Recognition of professional qualification of paramedic Pääsisältö

Valvira assesses the competence of paramedics who have qualified in an EU/EEA Member State other than Finland on the basis of their formal qualification documents.

If the training completed by the applicant differs materially from the training of paramedics in Finland, the applicant may choose to undertake complementary action: For more about this topic, please see Adaptation period and aptitude test on Valvira’s website (Valvira.fi).

Paramedics are not subject to licensing or protected professional title in Finland and Valvira does not enter paramedics in the Central Register of Health Care Professionals (known as Terhikki).

Application

In order to have your qualification as a paramedic recognised in Finland, you must submit an application to Valvira. The application may be in free format. Your application must be in Finnish, Swedish or English, and it must be dated and signed.

Appendices to the application

  1. A copy of your valid passport or similar official document to verify your identity and citizenship
  2. A document certifying your change of name if any of your appended documents were issued under a name that is different from your current name
  3. A copy of your original qualification certificate and any appendices demonstrating the content and scope of the qualification (e.g. diploma supplement or transcript of records)
  4. Certificate of a licence to practice your profession issued by a competent foreign authority if you have been licensed to practice your profession in a country other than Finland. The certificate must indicate that the right to practice the profession is valid and not subject to any restrictions. The certificate may not be more than three months old. If you have been licensed to practice your profession in more than one country, you must submit the certificates from all those countries. either in the original or as a copy.
  5. If you have practiced the profession in a country where practitioners of the profession are not registered, the non-registration of practitioners must be established by means of a certificate to that effect issued by the competent authority of the said country or by other reliable means.
  6. Certificate issued by a competent authority verifying that your qualification complies with EU requirements either in the original or as a copy.
  7. Copies of employment certificates on practicing your profession after qualification.
  8. Translations into Finnish, Swedish or English of the aforementioned documents made by a translator certified or authorised in Finland or another EU/EEA member state. The translations may be submitted in the original or as copies.
  9. Applicants who have completed their professional training related to the application or their general education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish must submit a copy of their National Certificate of Language Proficiency or Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate.

Formal requirements for application documents

In the interests of speeding up the processing of your application, Valvira asks that you submit all documents appended to your application as authenticated copies. Valvira must verify the authenticity of any document which is appended to an application as a non-authenticated photocopy. This slows down the process considerably.

Authenticated copies may be obtained from notaries public in Finland and other EU/EEA Member States and from Finnish missions abroad. The copies submitted to Valvira must bear the original stamp and signature of the notary public or Finnish mission. Copies issued by a foreign authority are acceptable if endorsed with an Apostille.

Translations of the documents into Finnish, Swedish or English must be appended to the application. The translations must be made by a translator certified or authorised in Finland or another EU/EEA Member State.

Valvira will not return your application documents and does not make copies of documents.

Further information on notaries public

Further information on authorised translators (search available only in Finnish)

Language skills

The professional qualification of paramedic can only be recognised for applicants whose language skills have been verified. The applicant must have sufficient spoken and written language skills to be able to carry out the relevant duties. The official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish.

Applicants must submit with their application either their Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate or National Certificate of Language Proficiency. The Civil Service Language Proficiency Test must be passed with a level of Satisfactory or higher in all subject areas. For the National Certificate of Language Proficiency, an intermediate level (levels 3–4) or higher is required. Applicants may freely choose either language test.

Certificates of studies in the Finnish or Swedish language, e.g. language course certificates, will not be accepted as proof of language skills by themselves. For further information on language examinations and certificates, please see the website of the National Board of Education (www.oph.fi).

Aptitude test and adaptation period

If your training does not comply with the requirements specified in Directive 2005/36/EC, you may demonstrate your professional qualification by taking an aptitude test or undergoing an adaptation period. Valvira will determine whether applicants need to take an aptitude test or undergo an adaptation period.

Please see: Adaptation period and aptitude test

Recognition of professional qualifications

The recognition of professional qualifications is governed by the Act on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications as provided in the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC). The Act on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications governs the recognition of professional qualifications obtained by citizens of EU Member States in a Member State other than Finland. The Act also governs the recognition of professional qualifications on the basis of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

A regulated profession is a profession which may only be practiced by persons fulfilling certain criteria of professional competence laid down in law, i.e. which is subject to licensing.

Conditions for recognition of professional qualifications in the general system of recognition, i.e. when the profession is unregulated in the country of training (professions other than doctor, dentist, dispenser, nurse and midwife)

  • The recognition of professional qualifications is based on documents issued by a competent authority in another Member State.
  • The recognition of professional qualifications is subject to the condition of the applicant having the right in his or her home Member State to practice the profession for which recognition of professional qualifications is sought.
  • During the past ten years, the applicant must have practiced the profession for at least one year on a full-time basis or for the equivalent length of time on a part-time basis in another Member State where the profession is not subject to regulation. The requirement of one year’s professional experience does not apply if the applicant’s formal qualification documents verify the completion of regulated professional training. The training shall be regulated under binding statutes and the regulatory equivalence must be demonstrated by means of a document issued by the authorities. Conformity with standard or other lower-level regulation is not equivalent to binding statute.

When necessary, Valvira may commission expert opinions from universities and other educational institutions in support of its decision-making. Expert opinions are subject to a fee.

The decision on recognition of professional qualifications may impose a requirement of the completion of an aptitude test or an adaptation period of no more than three years when the content of the applicant’s training materially differs from the content of equivalent training provided in Finland. The choice of compensatory measure is up to the applicant.

Decision

Valvira decisions are subject to a fee. Currently valid fees
The decision on your licence to practice your profession will be issued in Finnish or in Swedish.

Legislation

Act on Health Care Professionals (Finlex.fi)

Directive 2005/36/EC (pdf)

Contact us

Please send the application:

National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health
P.O.Box 210
FI-00281 Helsinki

Visiting address:
Mannerheimintie 103b
00280 Helsinki

Please contact us if you have any questions about professional practice rights:

Primarily by email: terhikki(at)valvira.fi

Or you can call us on weekdays 10-11 a.m. and 14-15 p.m. Tel. : +358 295 209 550

Quick links

  • Legislation
  • Contact us
  • Valvira.fi
  • Healthcare
  • Professional practice rights
  • Qualified in EU/EEA Member State
  • Recognition of professional qualification of paramedic
Print / Back to Top
  • Front page
  • Social welfare
  • Healthcare
  • Environmental health
  • Tobacco
  • Alcohol
  • Valvira
  • Publications
  • Current issues
  • Contact information
  • About this site
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, Valvira
Valvira, PO Box 210, FI-00281 Helsinki, Finland Tel. +358 295 209 111 © Valvira 2015
Administrative sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Valvira has national oversight for ensuring that everyone in Finland has the right to wellbeing, high-quality services and safe living conditions.
stm.fi Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
ttl.fi Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
fimea.fi Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea
thl.fi National Institute for Health and Welfare
valvira.fi National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health
tyosuojelu.fi Occupational Safety and Health Administration
stuk.fi Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority