Finland

Discovering Helsinki: my personal guide for first-time explorers

Hang Le (HM)

Nov 18, 2023 • 6 min read

Me in Helsinki

Hi! I've called Helsinki home for the last 4 years. Sometimes when a friend plans to visit Helsinki, they often ask where are the must-visit places. In this blog post, I'll share the list of places I took my parents to during their first visit to Helsinki this summer. If you want to bring your loved ones to visit Finland too, I wrote about how my parents got their tourist visas.

If you prefer watching a video instead, here's a Youtube video I made: 2 weeks in Helsinki with my Vietnamese parents || Helsinki vlog. It's on my new Youtube channel where I plan to make videos about traveling and Finland in general, so basically my blog but visualized :D

Below you'll find the list of places that I think are worth checking out in Helsinki, most of them are free to visit! All the photos in this post were taken by my phone.

Helsinki City Center

If you have only a day to see Helsinki, I'd recommend the city center area. There are a few popular places that are located within walking distances to each other.

Helsinki Cathedral

This is one of the symbols of the city. Standing tall in gradient white, this architectural marvel was crafted between 1830 and 1852. Next to it is the Senate Square where in the winter there's a lovely Christmas market. It's free to visit the inside of the church. If you want a Helsinki check-in photo, I think this cathedral is a great spot :D

Uspenski Cathedral

Close by Helsinki Cathedral is the Uspenski Cathedral. I call it the Red Church because of its color. This Orthodox church was inaugurated in 1868. It's located on a small hill, so you'll need a bit of exercise to get there. I love the view from this hill, especially for the sunset.

Helsinki Market Square (Kauppatori)

The market square is right next to the water and a short walk from the churches above. In the summer, it's a busy place where various vendors are selling fresh berries and local produce. In the winter, it's a treat to get a pulla and a hot cup of tea there. I searched my library but couldn't find a photo of the square for the summer, so here's a photo I took 2 winters ago.

Helsinki City Museum

Right across from the iconic Helsinki Cathedral, the Helsinki City Museum is a hidden gem with free entry, welcoming visitors every day! Helsinki City Museum is a great place to learn more about the capital's history and the city's development over time. The theme for the exhibition changes every few months. Below is a photo I took from a wall in the museum (If you speak Vietnamese then hopefully you'll spot the funny Vietnamese note like I did :D)

Kamppi

Kamppi is a busy area with lots of shopping options as well as restaurant. In this area, I recommend visiting the Kamppi Chapel. It is known as the Chapel of Silence where people can come and have a moment of quiet reflection even in one of the busiest parts of the city. There is also a popular art museum here called Amos Rex with dynamic exhibitions throughout the year.

Oodi library

Close to the central railway station, this architecture-award-winning library has become one of the hotspots for locals and tourists alike. As a Helsinki resident, it's one of my frequently-visited places. Even though it's "just" a library, this place has way more to offer beyond book shelves: music studios (where I regularly come to sing karaoke for free with my friends), 3D printers, video game rooms, sewing machines, lots of study rooms, a movie theater on the 1st floor...Definitely worth a visit!

Suomenlinna

If you have a bit more time in Helsinki, then a day trip to Suomenlinna should be at the top of the list. Suomenlinna is a world heritage site, a sea fortress with stories to tell. It's an inhabited island so there are actual people living there. A stroll around the island on a sunny summer day would make a delightful memory. It's easy to go to Suomenlinna with your HSL ticket as the ticket includes the ferry ride to the island. Once there, treat yourself at the island's cafes and restaurants, and explore some fascinating museums. My dad loved the canons there and my mom enjoyed the sea and ferries passing by a lot.

Nuuksio National Park

If you stay in Helsinki area for even longer time, consider visiting the famous Nuuksio national park. It's located in Espoo, about 35km away from Helsinki city center. For me, this national park has the most typical Finnish nature scenery: serene lakes, enchanting forests, and rugged crags...There are many marked trails for both beginner and experienced hikers. My parents and I followed a simple trail and got rewarded with a stunning lake view at our destination! This national park would be great for a day trip where you can have a picnic and immerse yourself in Finnish nature.

Seurasaari Open-Air Museum

Looking for a blend of outdoor fun and a dash of history? Seurasaari would be the perfect place! The Seurasaari Open-Air Museum is like stepping into a time machine, with authentic historic Finnish buildings scattered across the island. From charming farmsteads to cozy cottages and elegant manors, each one tells a tale from Finland's past. My parents and I had a fun time there learning about Finland through these buildings.

Lammassaari Nature Boardwalk

Last on the list is a place that I'd have loved to take my parents to, if I hadn't been sick for 3 days when they were here: Lammassaari nature trail. I visit this place every summer and autumn. For me it looks like something straight out of those nature documentaries on National Geographic. Picture a raised wooden pathway, letting you wander through the landscape of Lammassaari Island. Along the way, there are cool signs teaching you about the local plants and little animals. The bird-watching platforms provide a wonderful view. Occasionally you might catch a glimpse of a squirrel or even a deer. It's a mini adventure every time!

If you make it this far, here's a bonus list that I made before my parents came to visit. We didn't have time to visit every item on the list. Nevertheless, my parents still had a great time exploring Helsinki, from trying out all the public transportation options to visiting all the Finnish supermarkets...

My personal list of recommendations for things to do in Finland

Again, if you wanna see a video of my parents' trip in Helsinki, check out 2 weeks in Helsinki with my Vietnamese parents || Helsinki vlog.

Final words

Living in Hesinki for almost 4 years has taught me that while it may not be the most popular tourist spot, there's something special about the city. I've grown to appreciate the uniquely charming beauty of Finnish nature and culture. Seeing my parents enjoy these simple yet wonderful things about Finland during their visit made me really happy.

I hope this post gives you some ideas about where to visit next time you are in Helsinki :) Comment and share with me your favorite spots to visit in Helsinki! Cheers!

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How I got my Finnish citizenship: journey to getting a Finnish passport

Hi, in today’s blog post, I'm sharing about a topic that means a lot to me: How I got my Finnish citizenship. I will write about the whole journey, from the date I arrived in Finland for the first time, until the date I held the Finnish passport in my hand.

Disclaimer: I am not an immigration expert, everything in this post is written based on my own experience.

By the way, I updated my blog a bit: It now has a much shorter URL and it wears a new theme. I now use Ghost instead of Wordpress because Ghost has some very cool built-in functions, subscribing is one example. Consider subscribing to my blog to get the latest updates! At the beginning of this year, I had "Invest more in the blog" as one of the new-year resolutions, so I'm making a conscious effort to write more often :) If you are reading this, subscribe and let's stay in touch!

Alright, back to the Finnish citizenship. According to the official website from Migri, one needs to fulfill the below requirements to be able to apply for Finnish citizenship. Let’s go through the list of requirements together.

Requirements for becoming a Finnish citizen

You are at least 18 years old and your identity has been reliably established

I arrived in Finland on 03/02/2017. I was 19 years old at the time, and 25 when I received the Finnish citizenship. I am a Vietnamese citizen and have a valid Vietnamese passport. Fortunately, Vietnam allows dual citizenship, and Finland as well!

You know Finnish or Swedish on a satisfactory level

From what I have seen, the easiest and most common way to prove this is to take the YKI test. One needs to pass at least 2 out of the 4 skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) and the combination has to be correct (at least one active and one passive skill). According to Migri, the accepted combination is seen in the image below:

Migri's requirement on the accepted language combination

I think this is the most difficult requirement for the citizenship application because learning a language takes a lot of time and practice. I already wrote about my Finnish language learning journey and how I passed the YKI test at the first try, the post also includes all the resources I used to study Finnish.

You live in Finland and you have lived here long enough

The requirement is that you have to live in Finland for 5 years without interruption.

Migri explains the rules to calculate period of residence on their site. My understanding is that in order to make your residence uninterrupted, your traveling outside of Finland should follow these rules:

Short trips like weekend trips or a few days' trips are fine, there’s no limit.
One-month-long trips are fine and also unlimited.
1-2 month absences: maximum 6 times.
2-6 month absences: maximum 2 times.

Knowing this information, I tried to keep my abroad travels within the limit: I did an exchange in Japan for 3 months, went home to Vietnam every year before Covid for about 1-2 months each time (total 4 times), and had a lot of short Europe trips over the years.

In the application, you are asked to list all abroad travelings over the years (destinations and dates). I only listed the big ones, which were longer than 10 days.

About calculating the residence period: I arrived in Finland with a visa type B, which is a student visa. It means that every 2 years on a visa type B equals 1 year that could be calculated towards this 5-year requirement.

Visa type B residence calculation from Migri

I had a student visa from 2017 until I graduated in 2020, so 4-year student visa equals 2 years for citizenship application.
Then I was on my work visa from 12/2020 until I applied for citizenship in 01/2023, so 2 more years accumulated.

By the time I applied, I had about 4 years of continuous residence in total. And it still works. Because according to this Migri FAQ, you could already apply after 4 years if you passed the language test. Another explanation that I heard often is that the processing time for a citizenship application is usually quite long (6-28 months), so by the time your application gets processed, it’ll already be 5 years or more.

You are not guilty of any crime or no restraining order has been issued against you

I guess this is self-explanatory, as a clean record is preferred everywhere. The Migri website says petty fines are not a deal-breaker. So I believe if someone forgot to pay for a metro ticket and had to pay a fine, it’s not gonna stop them from getting the citizenship.

You have met your payment obligations

I think this is about having good credit, that you pay your debt, your taxes and any fines. Fun fact: I had my final back taxes decision of this year on 21/06/2023 and paid it immediately that day. The next day 22/06/2023 my application got to the processing phase and I had my decision within a few hours on the same day. I don’t know if the two have anything to do with each other, but it’s still an interesting coincidence.

You have informed us about your means of support

You can find official info about means of support here. In my case, I listed in my application all the paid jobs that I did in Finland:

Cleaning jobs in N-clean and Sol in Turku. I worked on the ships for a few months over the summer when I was a student. I don’t have the contracts anymore, so I provided the names of the companies I worked for, the work period, and some contact info of my supervisors at that time.
Student Assistant job in Turku UAS. I still have a copy of the contract so I submitted it.
Software Developer job in my previous workplace. I submitted the contract and the last 3 pay slips from the company.
Software Engineer job in my current workplace. I submitted my contract and pay slips from the latest 3 months.

Citizenship application process

Fill in the application in EnterFinland and pay for it

See my general checklist for an EnterFinland citizenship application below:

Checklist for EnterFinland application - Finnish citizenship

This might be irrelevant, but I also submitted a scanned version of my Bachelor's Degree, as I graduated from a Finnish University of Applied Sciences. I don't think it's required anywhere, but I still had it included in my application.

The citizenship application costs 460 euros when applying online (at least in January 2023). See the fees details from Migri here.

Finnish citizenship application fees

Book an appointment to visit the service point

You can book an appointment from Migri's reservation website. Remember to bring all the original documents that you submitted in your EnterFinland application. The non-negotiable ones are your passport, residence permit, and the YKI certificate. On the day of the appointment, try to come 5-10 minutes early and listen attentively in the waiting room, because they will call out your name and the room number you should go to, at the exact time of your appointment.

This appointment is said to be a mini language evaluation, as you are expected to communicate in the language that you took the exam in (Finnish or Swedish). Some of my friends say that in case you took the Swedish exam and your interviewer doesn't speak any Swedish, you may get away with speaking in English (?), but I am not sure how true this is.

Because I took the Finnish language test, I spoke in Finnish at the appointment with the Migri officer. He didn’t ask me so much, just a few basic questions about my address, my work, if I own my own company or if I work as an employee…The longest part of the conversation was when I tried to explain to him why there were 2 stamps from the Berlin Wall (?) in my passport 😩. With both verbal and body language efforts I told him about how I was 19 and thought that a 2-euro stamp in my passport would be so cool because it was proof that I visited Berlin (tip: DON’T have any unofficial stamps in your passport!!). Anyway, the whole meeting was about 20 minutes long and not as difficult as I imagined.

Wait for the decision

So after all that hard work with the application and the verification appointment, all I had to do was...waiting. There's a way to track your application with the Kamu chatbot from Migri. I actually tried to check my application status over time, see below an authentic record of my application's queue number:

My Finnish citizenship application's queue number

I submitted my EnterFinland application on 08/01/2023. I had my in-person appointment with the Migri officer on 16/01/2023. My application got to the processing phase on 22/06/2023 in the morning around 9 a.m. After 2 hours, I logged in to EnterFinland to find out that a decision was ready and that I became a Finnish citizen! No further documentation was required in my case, yay :D They didn’t send a separate email about the ready decision, so logging in EnterFinland was the only way to find out. The total waiting time for my case was 5 months and 4 days. It’s a lot better than the expected processing time on Migri website (6-28 months), and for that I am thankful!

Order passport and ID

After getting the citizenship decision, everything is automatically updated on the system, so you could immediately order your Finnish passport and ID from Poliisi. There was a deal when I ordered mine, that if you order both passport and ID at the same time you’ll pay 100€ for both and save like 8 euros. Check out the fee details here.

Passport fee and other fees from Poliisi

If you don’t have a photo that has been taken in the last 6 months, then you’ll have to get a passport photo first. I recommend getting the photo’s electronic code option for more convenience.

You also need to book an appointment to the police station so they could take your fingerprints. I received my ID and passport exactly 1 week after the appointment at the police station.

Me holding the Finnish passport

Final words

It was a long road to get the Finnish passport, but the benefits of a Finnish passport are clear to me. Finnish passport ranks third in the world in 2023, meaning traveling around is a lot easier. Finland has been the happiest country in the world for the last 6 years. For me, it translates to a safe and clean environment, easy access to nature, free education, good social safety nets, accessible health care, and a highly educated population. Holding a European passport also opens many doors, because in case I ever want to move to another EU country, the amount of paperwork would (hopefully) be significantly less overwhelming. If you have lived in Finland for more than 3 years, I'd highly recommend taking the time to learn the language and apply for Finnish citizenship.

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How my parents got to visit Finland: guide for visiting-friends-and-family visa application

Hi, it's been a while. This year, I finally checked one of the biggest boxes out of my bucket list: I brought my parents to Finland for a visit! I got to show them ways of life in Finland and a few other countries in Europe :)

In this blog post, I will share the process of applying for and getting a visiting-friends-and-family visa to Finland. As my parents know practically zero English, I was the one behind most of the paperwork.

As I am Vietnamese, I will write only about the experience of getting a visa from Vietnam. Hopefully it is similar in other places as well.

The process of getting a visa to Finland is stated quite clearly from this site: FinlandVisa. The visa type we chose to apply for was "Visiting family or friends" because I have been living in Finland for the past 6 years, so we thought this would be the most fitting type of visa.

I will go through each bullet point from the above website because they are the official requirements from Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Visa application form with a photograph

To fill in the application, you could go to https://finlandvisa.fi/, create an account, fill in the application there and print it out later.

The application is quite straightforward, remember to fill in all the information accurately. At least the below info will be required:

Name, Date of birth, Nationality, Marital status etc...
Passport number and passport info
Home address and phone number
Occupation and employer's info
Purpose of the journey
If fingerprints were previously collected for Schengen visa
Info of the inviting person (aka host/sponsor, in my case it's me)
How the cost of living and traveling will be covered

After you are done filling in the info for the application online, remember to print it out and bring it with you later to the point of contact.

About the photograph: the VFS office in Vietnam offers the photographing service for a small price (about 2.5 euros per photo, see https://visa.vfsglobal.com/vnm/en/bel/additional-services). I advised my parents to use this service instead of taking photos beforehand, to make sure that the photo's size and quality are up to standard.

Travel document

This may be an obvious one, but for anyone who wants to travel outside of the country, a passport is mandatory. My parents have had their passports for a few years now, so this wasn't an issue. Make sure that the passport is valid for at least another 3 months after the planned departure date of your trip.

Travel medical insurance

I bought travel insurance from Swisscare because I used their service before and it was good. The cost for a travel insurance was pretty reasonable too, check it out here: Swisscare. Remember to choose Schengen Visa Insurance instead of International Travel Insurance because there's quite a gap in the prices. If your visa application gets rejected, you will receive a refund from Swisscare according to their policy (at least at the time of my purchase which was February 2023):

Documents confirming the purpose of the journey

Note: Any documents mentioned below will have to be translated to English and notarized, unless they have English on them already. Reserve a week for this translating process to make sure you have all of the documents in English versions.

Transport reservations

You need to submit flight reservations for the journey. If you don't want to pay the whole flight costs upfront and risk losing the money in case of visa rejection, there are sites out there that allow you to make flight reservation without immediate payment. That's what we did too. I submitted a flight reservation for the visa application and only paid for real flight tickets after my parents' visas arrived. In fact, this is the recommended way from FinlandVisa's site as well.

For Vietnamese speakers, I used this guideline to get flight reservations from VietnamAirlines. Print out the reservations after they arrived in your mail box.

Proof of accommodation

Because I am the inviter for my parents, their main accommodation is my apartment in Finland as they would be staying with me throughout the trip. This was stated in my invitation letter. If you want to visit other countries in Europe during your visit, then you need to provide the hotel reservations under this category.

To make things less complicated for the visa application, at the time of applying I stated in my application that my parents will be staying in Finland only, so there was no need to submit accommodation reservations and flight/train tickets.

Invitation letter

I wrote a simple invitation letter using the template provided by the Embassy of Finland in Hanoi (template here), signed it and sent the pdf version via email to my parents so they could print it out.

About the content of the letter, I tried to keep it simple. The followings were in my letter:

Why I am inviting my parents to Finland.
What we plan to do in Finland, which cities and from when to when.
A little background info about my parents (their jobs, their day-to-day lives, their strong attachments to Vietnam, etc..).
How the trip is financed (my parents could pay for it with their savings, and I as the main sponsor could make sure that all costs are covered, proven by my work contract and my most recent 3 months bank statements...).
Where my parents will be staying at (my rented apartment).
Promise to make sure my parents will leave Finland before the authorized visa's expiration dates. Example from my letter: "I will take full responsibility to make sure they leave Finland and return to Vietnam before the authorized visa's expiration dates. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me via the above-mentioned phone number or email. I would be happy to answer any questions related to my parents' visa applications from my side."

Proof of family tie

I had my birth certificate translated and notarized. The same went for my parents' marriage certificate.

Documents confirming applicant’s circumstances

A little background: my mom is a retired teacher and my dad works as a freelancer, in his case it means that he doesn't have any work contract or retirement plan.

Proof of employment

As my dad is still working as a freelance construction worker and sometimes as a taxi driver, he has only 1 paper translated and submitted:

Certificate of car ownership

Because he doesn't have any official construction contracts, or at least he doesn't keep any of them anymore, he gave an explanation in his application justifying the lack of work contracts.

Proof of financial means

For both of my parents, the papers we submitted were:

Bank balances of saving accounts, my parents had 2 separate saving accounts, at the time of applying they each had about 8000 euros in each account.

Note: There is a requirement for the money you need at minimum, which is 30 euros per day to get a visa to visit Finland (source here). In my parents' case, they intended to visit Finland for 25 days, which means they needed at least 750 euros each, but just to make sure I asked them to put a little more in their saving accounts.

Certificates of land ownership

Proof of pension

My mom is the one that needs to satisfy this category, she submitted:

Pension statement
Bank statements of the most recent 3 months, which has the transaction of her pension reaching her bank account

Documents for third country citizens

Not applicable to my parents, they are both Vietnamese citizens with Vietnam passports.

That was the end of the document's requirements. Find below a checklist I made for my parents (translated to English today, for the audience of this blog post):

The visa handling process

So after all the documents are collected, translated and notarized, I booked appointments for my parents so they could go to the point of contact and provide their fingerprints (at VFS in Ho Chi Minh city). Appointment bookings for Vietnamese are done on VFS website. I booked 2 slots, one right after another for my parents.

After they had came to VFS service point in person to hand in their documents (including their passports) and provided fingerprints, about 2 weeks later their applications got to processing phase.

My mom got a phone call from the Finland Embassy in Vietnam. There was a Vietnamese woman acting as a translator. The Finnish person from the Embassy asked my mom a few questions such as:

Who are you visiting in Finland?
Where are you staying in Finland?
Where do you get the funds to support yourself during the trip?
How did you purchase your current assets? (house, car, etc...)
Do you have any intentions of staying in Finland long-term?

My mom kind of answered the questions for my dad too so they didn't call my dad separately :D A tip: make sure you communicate with your parents clearly beforehand about what you wrote in the application, so that their answers match the info provided in the application. My impression is that even though I am the sponsor for the trip, the Embassy doesn't care about me or my financial situation at all. They only care about my parents' and tried to dive deep into their financial details and their ties with Vietnam.

About 3 days later, the Embassy called again to confirm the address and phone number of my parents, as they said they were about to send the passports back to my parents.

1 week later my parents received the passports with the Schengen visas stamping inside, yay!

Final words

I think the whole process was quite straightforward. The requirements were clearly written on all the official websites. The only hassle for my parents is translating and notarizing the necessary documents, as well as getting to VFS in person. The rest of the work could be done by me, remotely, from Finland.

Of course one could choose to use travel agency services for more convenience. But I hope by writing this guide, more people find it easier to invite their loved ones to visit Finland, it's a beautiful country <3

By the way, I made a video about my parents' trip in Helsinki, check it out: How my parents spent 2 weeks in Helsinki.

Cheers :)

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