There will be a few exceptions to the upcoming rule, according to the foreign ministry.
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File photo of a passport issued by the Russian Federation. Image: Kalle Purhonen / Yle
The Finnish foreign affairs ministry announced on Monday that, apart from a few exceptions, Finland will no longer accept non-biometric passports issued by the Russian Federation.
Biometric passports feature machine-readable computer chips containing biometric identifiers of the documents’ holders. Non-biometric passports do not contain that data.
The new rules are scheduled to go into effect on 1 June.
The first exception to the upcoming rule is that Finland will continue to accept Russian non-biometric passports belonging to passport holders under the age of 18.
Second, Finland will still accept a non-biometric passport belonging to someone granted a residence permit to the passport holder before 1 June 2026. “Therefore, it will still be possible to apply for an extension of a residence permit issued by Finland with a non-biometric passport,” the ministry said in a press release.
The ministry said the third exception to the upcoming rule is in regard to “special reasons”.
“Where there is a special reason, a non-biometric passport of a person who applies for an entry permit to Finland or who resides in Finland, may be accepted based on individual consideration,” the ministry said.
Transition period
There will be a transition period, according to the ministry — from 1 June to 31 December of this year.
“During the transition period, Finland will accept non-biometric passports issued by Russia when they contain a valid visa that was issued by Finland before 1 June 2026. During the transition period, Finland will also accept non-biometric passports that contain a valid visa or a residence permit that was issued by another EU Member State or Schengen country before 1 June 2026,” the ministry said.
Finland started exclusive use of biometric passports in 2006, while Russia started using the chipped travel documents in the same year, but continues to also issue non-biometric ones, according to the ministry.
“Finland has restricted the entry of Russian citizens by issuing two government resolutions, the first in 2022 and the second in 2023 — non-essential travel by Russian citizens to Finland and through Finland to the rest of the Schengen area is banned for the time being,” the ministry’s press release read.