Kela for childbirth

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Kappadona
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:48 am

Kela for childbirth

Post by Kappadona » Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:57 am

Hello everyone!

My family and I have to move to Finland in 2-3 months for work reasons. All the documents as residence permits, dvv and kela my wife and I have been promised to get.

My wife is 3 months pregnant now, when we arrive - she will be 5-6 months. The process of getting a KELA, if I understand correctly, takes about a month. So my wife will get KELA even before she gives birth.

The question here is - can we claim for the birth insurance in that case?
I was given unconfirmed information that you have to get up with KELA 180 days before birth. Is this true?

I have looked through a lot of information on the KELA website, but have not found an answer to this particular question.

Does anyone know how it works?



Kela for childbirth

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actualbunnyvolunteer
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 2:03 pm

Re: Kela for childbirth

Post by actualbunnyvolunteer » Mon Feb 20, 2023 10:17 pm

If you meant to ask whether the medical care for the pregnancy and childbirth will be covered… your municipality of residence is responsible for this, not KELA. You have to register your municipality of residence with DVV as soon as you land in Finland. I think in most cases you have to come to the office in person, with the whole family. It takes a long time to process (my registration took like 9 weeks) but ask them if they could speed up the process for your family because your wife is giving birth soon.

After you are registered with DVV, then you also need to register with KELA, separately, but you can do this online or by phone call. It takes about a week for KELA to send your KELA card. In the meantime, call the healthcare center or neuvola (mother and child clinic) in your municipality of residence and tell them that your wife is pregnant and make an appointment. They will tell you what to do from there. Good luck :)

Edit: If I remember correctly, the “must register 180 days before due date” is just the rule of getting the KELA maternity box (it’s basically a box of baby clothes and blankets)… So worst case scenario is just that you have to buy your own baby clothes… Although I have heard stories of people still getting the baby box even after registering less than 180 days before their due dates. I guess it all depends on the person handling your case.


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