Finland is located in the north-east of Europe, has common borders with Norway, Sweden and Russia. The nature of this northern country has hardly been affected by human activity, even fashionable hotels are quite harmoniously inscribed in the natural landscape. Thousands of tourists visit this country every year. There are excellent conditions for fishing, rafting, dog sledding or skiing. Therefore, the question of whether a visa to Finland is needed worries many fans of holidays in this country.
Since Finland is part of the Schengen area, a Schengen visa is required to enter the country. To this end, the applicant must apply to the Finnish representation in Russia. You can also apply for a visa at the Consulate General of the country in St. Petersburg, in Moscow, at the Visa Application Center of Finland, at the Consulate in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk.
Thus, to the question: "Do I need a visa to Finland, and which one?" - you can answer that a visa is required for citizens of the Russian Federation to enter Finland. The Finnish consulate can issueboth Schengen and national visas. A national Finnish visa is issued if, for some parameters, for example, the length of stay in the country, the conditions for its validity do not coincide with the Schengen Agreement. In any other cases, a Schengen visa is issued. A national visa is issued by the Consulate of Finland quite rarely.
Single entry visa to Finland is issued by the Consulate for a single trip to the country. It gives you the right to cross the border into Finland only once and for the period specified in the visa, and, of course, return back. Today, a single entry visa for a three-day ferry trip to Finland and Sweden is popular.
Do I need a visa to Finland, and can I get one myself? You can get a Finnish visa on your own by contacting the Finnish representation in Russia. The consular visa fee is 35 euros. An urgent Finnish visa costs about 70 euros. The consular fee in case of refusal to issue a visa to the applicant is not refundable.
Multiple entry visa to Finland, also called a multivisa, is issued for a certain number of days that a tourist can stay in the country for a certain period of time. At the Moscow Consulate, tourists are usually issued a single-entry visa for as many days as it will last
intended trip. Of course, you can get a multivisa in Moscow, but it will be easier to do if you have previously traveled to Finland several times on single entry visas.
In the Northwest region, the situation is different. Here, at the first appeal, they issue a six-month visa for 30 days of stay in the Schengen countries. With a second application, the applicant can already receive an annual visa for up to 180 days, although, as practice shows, consulates have recently preferred to issue annual visas for an average of 90 days.
In order to decide whether you need a visa to Finland, which one, how it is more convenient for you to get it, it is advisable to first collect as much information as possible about the various types of visas and the conditions for obtaining them.
