We receive ready-made documents in the visa center of Finland

IN modern world it is difficult to imagine life without traveling and foreign trips, which enrich our life and make it even more intense and interesting. This is especially true for those Russian citizens who are lucky enough to live close to Europe. A typical example is the residents of the city of St. Petersburg, who are much closer to the Finnish capital than to the Russian one. It would be wise to take advantage of this opportunity. Various sites are just full of offers of Finnish travel companies.

Of course, the Consulate General of the Republic of Finland is located in St. Petersburg, which is open from Monday to Friday. The fact that such a significant diplomatic office is located in St. Petersburg makes the process of obtaining a Finnish visa for residents of the city and region even easier and more attractive. An important role is played by the well-established work of the official website of the consulate.

You are only three steps away from the visa

The good news for everyone who applies to the Finnish Visa Application Center to obtain the document you need is the fact that the whole process takes place in three simple steps, namely:

Determining the purpose of the trip;
Submission of an application;
Consideration of the application.

How to decide the purpose of the trip?

It is important to understand that in order to stay in Finland or in the territory of any of the Schengen countries, all citizens without exception Russian Federation you need to apply for a Schengen visa. If the main purpose of your trip to European Union- Finland, you will need a Finnish visa. In addition, it should be noted that the Finnish Visa Application Center in St. Petersburg is engaged in issuing only short-term Finnish visa. Therefore, the purpose of your trip should be tourism.

Applying

It should be noted right away that the second stage includes more actions than just submitting an application. Here are five simple steps to follow:

Preparation of the application and all required documents. The list of required papers is usually not too long, you can check it on the official website of the visa center: visa.finland.eu/Russia/St_Petersburg/contact_us.html In addition, on the same website you can use a special online application form for obtaining a Finnish visa, which will significantly save your time;
Appointment at the Visa Application Centre. You can perform this procedure on the official website, as well as using a special call center. In addition, visiting the visa center, which is open from Monday to Friday, is possible without an appointment, but it is better to make an appointment if you do not want to stand in a long queue;
Submission of an application to the branch on Marata street. After you have prepared everything required documents, you can apply for visa application center. If necessary, it is possible to order courier delivery of your documents, then you will not have to come here again;
Payment of the consular fee. This simple official procedure, which can be done immediately at the box office in cash or bank card. The standard cost of obtaining a visa is 70 euros, for children under 11 years old this service will cost 35 euros. Well, citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Armenia, Georgia and some others will have to pay the official consular fee, which is only 35 euros. In addition to the visa fee itself, Finnish employees charge a service fee of 26.75 euros. It should be noted that prices in national currency Russia is largely dependent on the exchange rate, and, accordingly, may change. Of course, you can confirm all your expenses with a check from the visa center;
Wait until your passport is returned to you. Thanks to the user-friendly interface of the site, you can track at what stage in this moment is your application, and come from Monday to Friday when the passport is ready. In the case when you ordered delivery by courier, you will not even need to return here again to Marata Street - your passport will be delivered directly to your home.

What's next?

If you have already taken your passport, which now flaunts a Finnish visa, you can safely go on a long-awaited trip. But remember that if you received a visa in Consulate General Finland, the first country of your trip should be this country. In addition, it is important in no case to violate the Finnish customs regime, which mainly concerns the length of stay. And finally, we recall that it is in Finland that you should spend the largest number time from your entire trip to the Schengen countries.

Schengen visa to Finland

Obtaining a Schengen visa to Finland is quite simple, requiring only correct design documents. Special attention should be given to the correct filling of the visa application and the compliance of the provided package of documents with the requirements. Statistics show that no more than 0.5% of tourists who applied for a visa to Finland are refused.

Schengen visa and visa regime in Finland

Obtaining a Finnish visa will allow you to move freely to any Schengen countries. However, you need to remember that while doing this, Finland must be the country of your main residence. This means that having received a Schengen visa to Finland, you must spend at least half of the total time spent abroad in this country. If you do not comply with the required visa regime, then it is quite obvious that next time you simply will not receive a visa.

If your intention is to stay in Finland for 3 months or more, you will need a residence permit. tourist visa in this case will not be enough.

Documents for a visa to Finland

A foreign passport with a margin of validity of at least 3 months from the date of expiration of the visa. If the passport is new, then it will be necessary to provide the old document as well.
Color photograph 36 x 47 mm on a gray background. The rules state that the image of the applicant must match his modern appearance.
Completed visa application form. It can be filled out at the Consulate, Visa Center or printed from the website and brought with you.
Policy health insurance covering at least EUR 30,000 for the entire period of validity of the requested visa.
A copy of the birth certificate must be attached to the application of a minor applicant. If the minor applicant is traveling alone or with only one parent, a notarized travel authorization from the second parent or guardian, or documents confirming the reason for the lack of permission (single parent certificate or other documents) is required.

Finland Visa Application Center in Moscow

Here is my expiration date Schengen visa(this time - visas of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and before the summer-autumn season I decided to get Finnish Schengen visa at the Finland Visa Application Center in St. Petersburg, which is located on the corner of Stremyannaya St. and Marata St.

Making an appointment at the Finland Visa Application Center

Oh, it's simple here. Electronic registration is made on the official website Finland Visa Application Center.

Choose the place of submission of documents for receipt Schengen visa

In my case - Finland Visa Application Center in St. Petersburg on Marata

Specify the number of applicants, the type of visa requested. Like many fellow citizens, individual tourist wants to get a tourist visa

As you can see, when forming the application on May 29, I was asked to come the next day - May 30.

Then you will be prompted to register: enter your email address and password

In the last step, select a date

A confirmation is sent to the email address you provided. The confirmation contains information about the appointment (date of admission, reference number, applicants' details, address Visa Application Center and additional helpful information). This letter must be printed. In general, everything is very clear and simple)))

Filling out an application for a Finnish visa

Filling out the form has become much easier. I am sure that it will not be difficult for you to fill everything. When filling out on the site, a hint appears next to each field to be filled. When filling out, for example, in the visa center on Marata, all samples are presented on the stands and all the necessary assistance is provided by consultants.

Applying for a Schengen visa at the Finland Visa Application Center

Where is Visa Application Centre of Finland and other general information you can see in my earlier post about the Visa Application Center. So, we arrived / arrived. On the way, if you didn’t have time earlier, you can issue health insurance policy, benefit and agents and companies on the way from the subway to visa center enough. At the office of any insurance company, they will fill out the questionnaire and take a picture of you. Although all this can also be done on the spot.

We go to the mall, go up the escalator. On the second floor we find ourselves right in front of the children's toy store. We don't need him. Or you need it, but then))) We rise above and get to the third floor, where it is Finland Visa Application Center(which is also indicated by a large sign located directly opposite the exit from the escalator).

Further, as in Russian fairy tales. To the left - to agents / representatives of accredited travel companies, to the right - to us, individual applicants. Directly - WC, also useful))) We turn right and find ourselves in front of the entrance directly to Visa Application Centre of Finland. In total, there are 2 entrances for receiving visitors. The first, near - for applicants submitting documents. A little further - for those who came for documents. And there and there may be small queues. But it happens that there are no queues at all.

At the entrance of each entrance there is a metal detector frame and usually two guards. The queue (if any) moves quickly. When your turn comes, tell the guard that by appointment, show the printout and prepared documents. The second guard gives you a ticket electronic queue. Or say that in a live queue, without an appointment, and again you get an electronic queue ticket.

A small digression. At first, the question arises, why sign up if you can just come and get in on a first-come, first-served basis? In fact, I asked this question to one of the guards. The essence of the answer is as follows. If you go by appointment, then the ticket that you will be given has higher priority than the usual one. That is, you will be called faster. This will be felt when there are a lot of people and you have little time. And it seems like the operator’s service is also going faster, since you have already entered some data. I don’t know if the recording had an effect in my case, but the application process really took a few minutes. My queue number popped up quickly and the paperwork went through without a hitch.

There are a couple of photo booths on the left after entering the Visa Application Center. Block of photos worth 70 rubles. In the insurance company about shopping center 2 photos (although only one photo is really needed) cost me 100 rubles. To the left of the photo booths is an ATM (I don’t remember the name of the bank, I’ll add it if I remember).

The hall is large enough, there are many chairs for those waiting for their turn to be called. To the right of the entrance there are several computers on which you can fill out visa applications, next to a couple of printers for printing. Here are sample fills. Questionnaires can be filled out manually, there are plenty of blank forms. When I was there, there were even glue sticks on the table so that to the visa application form (filled out earlier, at home or just filled out right in Visa Application Center) you could attach a photo. There are always several girls-consultants in the hall who, if necessary, will help you fill out the necessary documents (your questionnaire, the questionnaire for the child).

Windows for submission of applications - 48 pcs. Above each window is a number and a small board, which displays the number of the current electronic queue. There are 5 large screens in the hall, which also show the process of moving electronic numbers.

From window No. 49 to No. 59 - cash desks.

When submitting documents, it will be necessary to additionally fill out and sign the "Consent to the processing of personal data". Nothing complicated - fill in the passport data and sign. By signing this document, you confirm that (and I quote):

"...I decide to provide my personal data and consent to their processing freely, by my will and in my interest"

What to do, the law is the law)))

The cost of obtaining a Finnish visa at the Finland Visa Application Center

So, what did I get in terms of the financial component:

insurance policy - 500 rubles(in my case)
two photos (at the insurance agency) - 100 rubles
service fee - RUB 862.05
visa application - RUB 1436.75 (consular fee 35 euros for citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia)

Total - 2898.80 rubles.

If necessary, you can make photocopies of the necessary documents. The cost of a photocopy (A4 format) - 10 rub.

Urgent processing of a Schengen visa in Finland will cost RUB 2873.50(70 euros for citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine) + all other payments.

Service and consular fees are not paid:

disabled people of the 1st group
children under 6 years old (at the time of application)

Finnish visa processing time

As a matter of fact, if you want to wait longer, then you should (as in my case) wait for the start tourist season))) If in winter a visa was issued for several days, then when submitting documents on May 30, 2012, they were already invited for a visa on June 15, 2012.