Arriving with Family?

Immigration

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Residence permit or visa

In order for your family members (including your spouses and children) to move to Finland to live with you, your family members need to have a valid residence permit.

Find out the type of applications and residence permits (or visa) your family members need before planning your trip to Finland. Please notice: You need to follow the immigration process strictly.

DVV registration

After your family members arrive in Finland, they need to visit Finnish officials by appointment in order to complete the immigration process. The registration process is the same as HAMK students.

Info Finland: Moving to Finland

Accommodation

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We highly recommend that students come to Finland and settle in first before bringing your family with you, as there are multiple things you will need to arrange in order for your family to have a smooth settlement.

Most importantly, please note that HAMK does NOT provide family accommodation, nor help with that. If you arrive with your family, you need to find the accommodation by yourself from private market. And there are some issues to take into consideration:

• Price level of rental houses in Finland (as everything else) is high. You can check the available private apartments and prices at https://www.vuokraovi.com/?locale=en.
• It is very difficult to get an accommodation offer when you are not in Finland.
• Private apartments do not come with electricity, so you need to make an electricity contract yourself with electricity providers. In some cases, you need to have a Finnish ID card to make such contract, and approximate time for getting a Finnish ID card is 6 weeks.
• Private apartments do not include furniture, so you need time to furnish your apartment before you can start living there.

Accommodation for HAMK students

Education for minors

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The Finnish education system consists of

• early childhood education and care
• pre-primary education
• basic education
• general upper secondary education
• vocational education
• higher education
• adult education

Compulsory education applies to all 6–18-year-olds. It includes pre-primary, basic and upper secondary education. Compulsory education is for free for all age-appropriate minors in public schools. Private schools are subject to fees. Early childhood education and care is NOT for free. In other words, you need to pay for the minor´s day care.

As HAMK´s students, if you have underage children who needs a school place, you can find instructions by campus below.

Evo campus

If you want to apply for a place at day care, kindergarten, or basic education, you can find information and instructions on how to apply here. The application for day care must be submitted four months before the need for the care starts. If you need more support and guidance on applying for a school place at Evo, you can contact [email protected]. Day care is NOT for free, you need to pay for it.

Forssa campus

You need to inform the town of Forssa in advance if there is a need for day care or school. The application for day care must be submitted four months before the need for the care starts. You can contact the service coordinator at +358 (0)3 4141 6210 for more information. For information on education and leisure administration at Forssa, you can contact [email protected] or +358 (0)3 41 411. Day care is NOT for free, you need to pay for it.

Hämeenlinna campus

If you want to apply for a place at day care, kindergarten, or basic education, you can find information and instructions on how to apply here. The application for day care must be submitted four months before the need for the care starts. If you need more support and guidance on applying for a school place at Hämeenlinna, you can contact [email protected]. Day care is NOT for free, you need to pay for it.

Mustiala campus

You need to inform the municipality of Tammela in advance if there is a need for day care or school. The application for day care must be submitted four months before the need for the care starts. You can contact the service coordinator Paula Laakso at [email protected] for the day care.

Riihimäki campus

You need to inform the town of Riihimäki in advance if there is a need for day care or school. The application for day care must be submitted four months before the need for the care starts. You can contact the service coordinator Marjut Helenius at [email protected] or + 358 (0) 50 538 7701 for the day care. Day care is NOT for free, you need to pay for it.

Valkeakoski campus

You need to inform the Municipality of Valkeakoski in advance if there is a need for day care or school. The time is 4 months before the need. For example, if you need a day care starting from 1 August, you should inform on the last day of March. If you apply for a place at day care in June, you may get a place in October. Day care is NOT for free, you need to pay for it. You can contact [email protected] for more information.

Health care services

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The services of Finnish Student Health Service (YTHS) are available ONLY for HAMK degree students. Family members of foreign degree students can use the local health care services.

For Evo, Forssa, Hämeenlinna, Mustiala, and Riihimäki campuses, you can find local health care services information here.

For Valkeakoski campus, you can find local health centre services information here.

Job seeking in Finland – Family member

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Become a customer of TE Services

If your family member lives in Finland with you and does not have a job, the family member can register as a job seeker at the local TE Office. This way, your family member becomes TE Office´s customer and is entitled to the services offered by TE Office. For information on how your family member can become a customer of TE Services´, you can visit here.

Please note, as a student at HAMK, you can also register to be a customer at TE Services. However, TE Services do not have services for full-time students.

Career guidance for spouse from HAMK

SIMHE at HAMK provides career guidance and services for immigrants with a higher education (both from abroad or from Finland). If your spouse has a higher education degree from abroad, or is interested in pursuing one in Finland, your spouse can contact [email protected] for more information.

Good to know

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Living and leisure time

Depending on the campus area you are going to live in with your family, living and leisure activities vary. For more information, you can visit HAMK´s webpages about living and leisure time activities here.

Finnish language learning

If your family is interested in learning Finnish during their leisure time, there are Finnish language courses available at https://finnishcourses.fi/.

Other information

For other information regarding bank account, foreigner’s identity card, insurance, telephone, internet, cost of living in Finland, buying and consumer rights, public transport, driving license, climate and clothing, Media and Finnish culture, you can visit the Everyday Life in Finland webpage in InfoFinland.

Integration – Kotoutuminen

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Here you can find information about immigration services in Hämeenlinna (Hämeenlinna, Evo and Lepaa campuses), Riihimäki, Forssa (Forssa and Mustiala campuses) and Valkeakoski.  

Hämeenlinna: 

 

Riihimäki 

Information point for immigrants – Kotola

Kotola (in Matkakeskus, address Eteläinen Asemakatu 2) offers guidance without an appointment to all immigrants in Riihimäki. Come and ask about integration, municipal and state services, Finnish society, residence permits or just about anything. If necessary, we will guide you forward to the right place.

Kotola is open every weekday.

Opening times:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays 12-16,
• Tuesdays and Fridays 8-12. “

Valkeakoski