The Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg is considered the largest foreign mission in the whole world. This is due to the love of Petersburgers for trips to the neighboring northern country on weekends and weekdays, for the purpose of leisure or shopping. Residents of the northern capital also use Finland as a transit zone, buying tickets to Europe with departure from Helsinki, since the difference in price with flights from Pulkovo Airport is much lower.
Foundation History
The Finns turned to the Soviet authorities in 1922 with a request to open a consulate in Petrograd. A year later, the government gave official permission to establish a representative office at 39 Yekaterinhof prospect. It was closed during the war, but then continued to operate as a diplomatic mission in 1954 and only at the beginning of 1967 did the embassy open the doors.
The Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg was assigned a building on Tchaikovsky St., but over time the building was not large enough to accommodate all the employees and guests of the embassy. More premises were leased for the visa department, but this caused a lot of inconvenience due to the location at different addresses.
As a result, the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg, at Preobrazhenskaya Square, house 4, bought a huge old building in 2004, in which it is located to this day.
Expansion
During its work, the overseas mission was faced with a serious problem: there are a huge number of people who want to get a Finnish visa, and there are not enough employees and places in the building to serve everyone. The consulate was surrounded by kilometer queues. To apply for a visa, applicants had to stand there for many hours.
In 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland approved the establishment of a Visa Center, which ultimately took over most of the work on receiving visa applications and issuing documents.
How to get to the consulate?
Registration at the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg is possible online or by phone. The representative office is open from 8:30 to 16:15, at Preobrazhenskaya square, house 4. The consular service is open daily from 9 to 12, by appointment from 13 to 15:30. Issues of permission to stay can be clarified from 9 to 12, and the visa department provides services from 9 to 15, closing for lunch from 12 to 13. Saturday and Sunday are days off.
Unfortunately, enrolling in the visa department at the Finnish Civil Code is difficult. One often doesn’t get through the phone, and through the Internet free coupons appear rarely and at different times, and while filling out the application form, someone more nimble can already book time. If you do not want to monitor available places for several days, then it is better to contact the visa center on Stremyannaya Street.
Visa Center
The service center handles the reception and issuance of documents for a Finnish visa. To apply for a regular tourist visa, you need to bring valid and properly executed insurance (if it is issued by the bank, then you need a certificate confirming that the card is not attached), 3x4 photos on a light gray background (taken no more than 6 months ago), Russian and foreign passports profile. In the center for an additional fee you can take the necessary photos and purchase the service of filling out the questionnaire by a specialist. After checking and accepting documents, you need to go through a biometric procedure, which will be fingerprinted and photographed again.
The Visa Application Center accepts applicants from 8am to 4pm. You can arrive by appointment through the website or by phone, but even without it, the time in the queue should not take more than 20 minutes. On average, submitting documents will take about 15 minutes, including waiting and biometrics.