Well, According the Helsinki Police (and acutally asking a police officer first hand), yes, if you are from the USA, and have a VALID DL you can drive here legeally without getting into trouble, IF YOU ARE VISITING ONLY!!!). IF you live here, taking the date you set foot into Finland, you have a total of 18month to get your DL transfered to a Finnish EU drivers license, following the steps that Wombat has layed foward.turbodank23 wrote:To answer your questions yes I can drive manual car, Yes I can drive on packed snow and ice I actually sometimes enjoy it. I also can ride a motorcycle, snowmobile, atv pretty much anything. I grew up in a very small town where you could get away with driving illegaly so i've drove stick since I was like 14-15. I mean I didnt drive all the time but I could go a couple blocks with out getting caught just some joy riding!!!! thanks everyone for input
You just go to either the Helsinki Police station or your local police station and ask the night watchman where to get the drivers license paper works.Wombat wrote:The current cost is 40 € plus whatever it is for the medical certificate and two passport sized photos. If you're from the EU or the EEA, you don't need the medical certifcate but it is 1,30 € more expensive!
I did it within 8 month of coming here back in 2001. Had my fiance sign the paper work (she is Finnish) that I drove for 6 month and I got it.
the only thing is you have to surrender your Valid US Drivers License in order to get the finnish version. (you can get it back if you travel back to the US or do what I did and get a duplicate made stating in the US that you lost it and have to get a new one. just give the police the secondary "lost" one and you dont have to worry about picking up anything ifyou travel back and forth. =)