Refused S-Etukortti

[justaguy]

Been living here for years, and have been told the same thing for years. Get an ID card or drivers license and you won't have a problem.

Funny thing is (when opening an account) Nordea does not accept the finnish driver's license as an ID if you are a foreigner but they do accept your foreign passport. When it happened to me I was puzzled, but I had my passport with me anyway.

Not really consistent.

As Persuivant said, it's actually not a proper form of ID but they do ask to see it in some cases and it works to get into bars. But yes if anything I have found that IDs in Finland are very... very inconsistent.

Finnish ID card 'Henkilökortti' works for absolutely everything.
Kela card (WITH PHOTO) and Passport works for generally everything, except bank and 'time specific contract' related settlements.
Drivers license allows entry to bars/clubs and to drive but it seems absolutely nothing more.
Residency permit is not an ID for anything in any situation and is merely to be given when asked to a police officer or an employer.

In most cases, in terms of importance I would be more worried about losing my ID card than my passport. Though a passport is significantly harder to re-obtain.

[gfunho]

A driver's licence is not an official form of ID.

I know, but they accept it in S-Pankki

That was the point.

[Pursuivant]

You could have also rented one for example for every second or third weekend, starting from about 100€/rental, or about 1000€ + gas for the six month period. Charge includes insurance, service and seasonally suitable tires.

Naah, you don't need to do that even. You need an affidavit of someone witnessing you driving a car. Preferrably someone with a car so all you require them stating, "yeah they drove mine".

[ritan7471]

Agreed with Pursuivant. They wanted 2 witnesses willing to sign a statement that they have seen me drive a car. So my husband and my friend who I drove by myself to visit.

[winsum]

Driver's license is still acceptable at many places. Couple years back when I applied for a loan from Osuuspankki, they took copy of my passport but still needed Finnish identification which they said either Finnish ID card or can accept driving license.

And then later they saw my Finnish driving license and refused it saying this is not originally obtained in Finland but converted from a foreign driving license. WTF?
When you convert foreign driving license, they sometimes write reference no. to that on your new Finnish license at number 12 box. So OP said if I could somehow convince police to remove that number from box 12 and get a new card, that would work as ID for the bank (Some new sh*t rules for the bank). This is ridiculous and bank agreed with that. I had to pay to obtain Finnish ID card then.

[Flossy1978]

I use my driving license all the time for identification.

At the bank when where it's always needed for any transaction.

At the Postoffice if I need to sign for mail.

At Matkahuolto when I am picking up packages.

Everywhere I use my Finnish driving license as identification and it's ALWAYS been accepted.

[kharnynb]

Driving license can be used as id, but it is not an official governement sanctioned id.

So it will usually be accepted if you have to prove id, but it will not work for opening bank accounts(normally)or gov. stuff.

[onkko]

Been living here for years, and have been told the same thing for years. Get an ID card or drivers license and you won't have a problem.

Funny thing is (when opening an account) Nordea does not accept the finnish driver's license as an ID if you are a foreigner but they do accept your foreign passport. When it happened to me I was puzzled, but I had my passport with me anyway.

Not really consistent.

My finnish driving licence is valid till 2047. Do you really think that it could be valid way to prove my identity? Onkko 18y old doesnt look onkko 36y old but licence is same. Real ways are passport and official ID.

And banks are cautious about ID because it can be used in multiple goverment places. It has to be right.

Btw i also have military passport, goddammit im thin in that Onkko 65kg(17y) vs current onkko 85kg(36y) And no thats not official ID, it may be ID when/if !"#¤% hits a fan but not currently.

[sy]

Just found out one decision from National Discrimination Tribunal (Syrjintälautakunta):

The petitioner requested the National Discrimination Tribunal to prohibit discrimination in the provision of banking services and to impose a conditional fine on Nordea Bank Finland Plc, because the Bank had not accepted his French identity card as proof of identity.

The Tribunal considered that the petitioner had given a detailed and plausible account of the Bank’s conduct that he had perceived as being discriminatory when trying to obtain banking services and that had given rise to a presumption of discrimination.

The Tribunal deemed the Bank's conduct to be direct discrimination. It also considered that the refusal to serve the petitioner and his removal from the Bank's premises constituted an infringement of his dignity and integrity. In this respect, the Bank's conduct was harassment prohibited under the Non-Discrimination Act.

Full text:
National Discrimination Tribunal prohibited ethnic discrimination in the provision of banking services

I also just heard from one of my friends a similar story with Danske Bank that the bank refused to accept her non-EU passport as a proof of identity.

[sy]

According to Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanssivalvonta) Standard 2.4, the following ID documents should be acceptable for banks in Finland:

(60) Suomessa yleisesti käytettyjä henkilöllisyyden todentamisasiakirjoja ovat
voimassaolevat, suomalaisen viranomaisen myöntämät:
• ajokortti
• henkilökortti
• passi
• diplomaattipassi
• muukalaispassi ja pakolaisen matkustusasiakirja ja
• kuvallinen Kela-kortti

Valvottava voi todentaa luonnollisen henkilön henkilöllisyyden myös voimassaolevilla, ulkomaisen viranomaisen myöntämillä asiakirjoilla, joita ovat:

• kansallinen passi ja
• matkustusasiakirjana hyväksyttävä henkilökortti.

So foreign passports and EU ID cards should be acceptable.

[interleukin]

the bank refused to accept her non-EU passport as a proof of identity.

I find it very understandable that the bank would not accept a non-EU passport as a form of ID. How on earth would you expect someone working in a bank to be able to decide on the validity of a totally foreign passport? It's easier if it's an EU passport, the bank person kind of knows how they should look. The only people really qualified to judge your non-EU passport are the people at Migri/the foreigner's police. If you don't use this to get a form of ID that a normal Finnish person can evaluate, it's really your own problem. And all these "but they always accept it at the store...." stories just show how the Finnish store staff risk their jobs by accepting potentially fake ID just to get you out of their faces & sell you stuff.

[cors187]

According to Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanssivalvonta) Standard 2.4, the following ID documents should be acceptable for banks in Finland:

(60) Suomessa yleisesti käytettyjä henkilöllisyyden todentamisasiakirjoja ovat
voimassaolevat, suomalaisen viranomaisen myöntämät:
• ajokortti
• henkilökortti
• passi
• diplomaattipassi
• muukalaispassi ja pakolaisen matkustusasiakirja ja
• kuvallinen Kela-kortti

Valvottava voi todentaa luonnollisen henkilön henkilöllisyyden myös voimassaolevilla, ulkomaisen viranomaisen myöntämillä asiakirjoilla, joita ovat:

• kansallinen passi ja
• matkustusasiakirjana hyväksyttävä henkilökortti.

So foreign passports and EU ID cards should be acceptable.

As was explained to me by a nice lady at one office.
My Non EU passport was acceptable as proof of identity but only holds a certain classification(points).
For the account type i wanted they also require another ID in another classification category.

[Pursuivant]

Its a transitional period issue - they require the newfangled "biometric" passport with the chip as ID (while they still can't read it) but the "old" non-biodegradable passports aren't as secure apparently.

[larryk78]

In my experience these ID-required scenarios boil down to two real questions:

1. Who are you?
2. What's your social security number?

To answer #1, you need to show photo ID, e.g. driver's license, passport, residence permit, etc. Foreign documents will normally be accepted and a passport is globally accepted.
To answer #2, you need an official Finnish document with your social security number on it, e.g. Finnish ID card (if you have bothered to get one), Finnish driver's license, Kela card.

Your non-Finnish passport doesn't have your Finnish social security number (obviously), so that can only be used to answer #1.
Same with the residence permit - that also doesn't include your social security number (strangely - I have no idea why this is omitted).

Sometimes both questions are (implicitly) asked together and in that case you may be able to present multiple IDs. One time I showed UK driver's license + Kela card and that was enough. However, if you're non-EU ymmv and they might just refuse and expect that you get yourself a Finnish ID card which clearly answers both questions at once.

[Honest]

I have never carried my passport with me (except when leaving the country), have my driving license with me all the time, don't have any ID card from police, have never had any problem anywhere.