Extending the validity of passports to 10 years

You may apply for the 10-year passport after the entry into force of the legislative amendment. The current estimate is early 2028. Before that, passports and identity cards will be issued as at present.

No. Current passports and identity cards remain valid in accordance with the decision to issue them.

Retaining the simplified procedure would mean that an applicant might not have to visit a police station in person for up to 20 years. This cannot be justified on security grounds.

Yes, you can – once for each document – provided that the preconditions laid down in the current act are met. No more than six years must have passed since fingerprints were taken and a signature sample was provided. Despite the legislative amendment, a document issued under the simplified procedure remains valid for five years. 

The prices of the documents are based on the actual costs of their preparation and delivery. The prices will be confirmed separately by decree of the Ministry of the Interior on fees for services. 

The facial features of children and young people change rapidly, which makes identification more difficult. Age and how recent the facial image is are key factors in successful or unsuccessful facial recognition.

After the entry into force of the amendment, applicants may no longer submit a facial image to the police themselves. A passport photo may be submitted to the police by a party with a business ID or an equivalent EU/EEA identifier. In practice, this means photographers, photo shops and other businesses. Photographers do not need to operate in a specific sector. 

Yes. You may submit an application and obtain a passport or an identity card, for example, by visiting a Finnish embassy. However, when applying for a passport or an identity card abroad, it is important to note that if you live permanently in Finland, the validity period of the passport or identity card is limited to a maximum of 12 months. 

The provisions on facial images for passports and identity cards do not apply to documents applied for and issued abroad. In other words, facial images attached to applications submitted to Finnish embassies or missions can still be delivered in the most appropriate way locally. 

Yes, but only if you live abroad and do not have a municipality of residence in Finland. If you are registered in Finland, you can obtain a passport or an identity card abroad with a maximum validity of 12 months. 

Yes. However, extending the validity period involves challenges. The greatest security risk is the development of quantum computing, which affects travel documents globally. As quantum computing advances, the encryption models used in documents will become insecure. 

As the validity period increases, the average age of encryption used in passports and identity cards will rise, and a growing number of documents will at the same time be exposed to the risk of a single encryption algorithm being broken. 

The encryption of documents already issued cannot be updated without replacing the document. Ultimately, the solution is to introduce quantum-secure encryption algorithms, which requires international coordination and standards. 

In Finland, preparedness for quantum security is implemented by supporting and influencing international standards and EU-level development, rather than limiting the validity of documents.