Finnish driver licence

[mumboman]

I only wish I had been smoking too much marijuana. Anyways Dan is probably correct as I started driving school before I received my Canadian drivers license in the mail. I basically decided to continue with driving school and receive another Finnish license as the jurisdiction I lived in Canada will not recognize the Finnish license after I have returned to Canada for more than 6 mos. If I spend more than 3 years here( which I'm pretty sure will end up happening) So to make my life easier when I decide to return home I decided to continue with driving school which I'd already paid for anyways and get another license. I beleive once I received my Canadian license here I could drive for 6 mos and hand it in for a Finnish one. The problem being I can't go home and drive for 6 mos and get one from the province I lived in without going back to driving school. So sooner or later I was taking driving lessons again here or in Canada and since I'm always turning right on red lights here I might as well take the school here.

[Celine_Du]

Probably you already know this, but it is anyway worth the comment.
I heard from someone that if you already had your home country driver licence, and you were planning to stay in finland for a longer period of time, then it is possile to change your own driver licence to a finnish one at the local police station.
All it takes is 40 euros, a paper issued by a doctor from terveyskeskus, 2 photos, need to complete some forms and prove you have been driving for 6 months at least in finland ( by the signature of two witnesses)and you also have to hand in your driver licence.
If by any reasson, you go back to your country, then you can ask for your card back and hand in the finnish one. (only if you are planning not to live in finland anymore)
I have just done it and it is actually that quick. Once you did everything it takes only one month to get the finnish licence.

I hope this information as usefull for someone as it was for me.

Thank you very much for the information. I am just wondering (1) how can I make an appointment with 'terveyskeskus' for health check in Helsinki - website or phone number? How long I have to wait? and (2) ' need to complete some forms and prove you have been driving for 6 months at least in finland ( by the signature of two witnesses) '. Where can I download this form? or it there any template?

Looking forward to hearing some reply! Thanks a lot!