Kela Card for newborn - how long?

Donpeblo · Post by **Donpeblo** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:39 am

Hi All,

My wife & I (2 brits) have been in Finland for about two years now and have done everything to make sure we are in the system, register with everyone, pay our taxes, do the returns etc etc - essentially we have been good! We are both covered under Kela and have recently had our first baby. She was registered with the Maistraati almost as soon as the forms arrived and I have a toditus from the population register so I know she is in there!

However to my question: It is now some 6-7 weeks later and we have not received a Kela card for her. Never having been through this before I would like to know if this is normal? I was expecting the Kela card to come through the post automatically as she was born here and we're both in the system. Have I missed something?

Thanks
Donpeblo

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Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:54 am

Ummm... maybe call KELA and ask?
020 692 203
8-18 weekdays KELA-card issues.

Donpeblo · Post by **Donpeblo** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:16 am

I spoke to Kela just now and got a Swedish speaking lady who told me that as we were both foreign the card would not come automatically but that we had to apply for coverage under the Finnish residence based social security scheme using form Y77.

I've looked the form and will go along to the Kela office and see if they accept it....

Thanks for the reply.
Donpeblo

panda_123 · Post by **panda_123** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:18 pm

Donpeblo -

I am in a similar position to you. My husband and I are Canadian (I'm still waiting for the Kela card - been here for 2 months) and we're expecting fairly soon.
Did the Mastraatti question your marriage legalisation?
We were advised because we were married outside of country - that it's not legal and it would make things difficult for our child's residence application (hubby's here for a phD program - 3-4 years).

Thanks.

ajl · Post by **ajl** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:36 am

why would they question the marriage from outside the country? Didn't you get your marriage certificate stamped by
the proper officials (here or Sweden or where ever the nearest consulate/embassy is)?

panda_123 · Post by **panda_123** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:44 am

No we did not.
We left our marriage certificate back home - because we had already provided the original to the Finnish Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. They had made a copy of it - so that way I was able to go to Finland (un-employed but with my husband who has the phD position here with the University).
So we didn't think we would need it.
Now the Mastraati wants us to get it stamped by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs AND the Finnish Embassy back home and then back here to the Mastraati. We are considered legally married only then.
Kela doesn't care - however Mastraati does.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs back in Canada has stated we need a lawyer to make copies of our passport and get that stamped and signed and send that back to Canada (all very time consuming with the way post goes)- but I have heard the Mastraati has a lawyer/notary public that is able to do this for a small fee.

Donpeblo · Post by **Donpeblo** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:14 am

Hi,

To answer your question - when we first presented our marriage certificate to the Maistraati they refused to accept it. They wanted an apostile on it so we had to send it back to the UK to get it from the foreign office and then go back to the maistraati. They didn't ask for a stamp from the Finnish embassy in the UK. Then they accepted it no question and changed everything in the system right away and our marriage was recognised. It wans't hard to do just took a little longer to get everything sorted in the system.

As for your baby my question is: Do you have the right to reside in Finland permanently? If so your baby will get the same right through you.

As for the Kela card part: I'd go in and ask them what the state of play is because 2 months sounds like a long time to be waiting. In Finland the bureacracy can be crushing but if you've jumped through the hoops things do happen and Kela cards come in the post. Ours did not take that long.

As for the baby, when I went to the Kela office this week (with all the paperwork anyone could ever wish to see) all they wanted to know was: does the baby have a personal number and did it's parents have Kela cards (they didn't ask to see them). Once I could answer that I was told the card would come in the post in about 3 weeks.
No one asked me to fill out a form as I stated in an earlier post.

Does that help?
Donpeblo

panda_123 · Post by **panda_123** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:07 pm

Hey Donpeblo:

We have permanent status here for at least two years (husband's contract is for 4) - so I imagine everything should be a fairly smooth process for the baby. However the lady at the Mastratti was going on and on about how it would be difficult for the baby to claim permanent status without us "being legally married in Finland".
The sheet she sent us with our individual Personal ID#s was highlighted that we are to send my birth certificate (maiden name) and our marriage certificate back home to Canada as previously mentioned.

It's all quite frustrating is all.

Donpeblo · Post by **Donpeblo** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:38 am

Yes it sounds it.

Well I can only talk about our experience and when our wedding certificate was refused by the Maistraatti on our first attempt we had to send it back and get an apostile. Then it was all fine - frustrating but fixable. If you do this and then your experience runs like ours - i.e. the maistraatti accepted the apostilled wedding certificate without a murmur and gave us a piece of paper saying we were married it will seem like a great big anticlimax ;0)

Here's hoping it goes that simply
Donpeblo

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