Settling in Kokkola

You must apply for a residence permit extension before the expiry of your previous residence permit. Apply for the extension at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service. You can only apply for the residence permit extension in Finland.

If you cannot or do not know how to apply for a residence permit extension online, you can make an appointment at a service point in Vaasa or Oulu, for example.

Read more about the residence permit extension and how to apply for it on the InfoFinland website: Residence permit extension

The Welcome Office is a service of the City of Kokkola, where you can get free advice and guidance in matters related to immigration and integration.

You can ask the Welcome Office about topics such as the following:

• Working life and recruitment
• Language courses
• Government services and society
• Documents and filling in forms
• Housing
• Education
• Leisure

The service is accessible and free for everyone, regardless of their background or reason for entry. You can get advice without an appointment or make an appointment with a personal advisor. Interpreter services are also available. You can visit the drop-in service point or contact Welcome Office by phone or email.

You can also visit the Welcome Office service desk during its opening hours. You can find the service desk on the second floor of the Kokkola City Library. Check the opening hours on the Welcome Office website.

Welcome Office Kokkola
Isokatu 3
67100 Kokkola, FINLAND

Tel. +358504095620
Email: welcome.office(@)kokkola.fi

If you arrive in Kokkola as a refugee, Soite’s integration services will support you at the start of your integration, for about three years.

Kotoutumispalvelut
Vaasantie 6 C
FI-67100 Kokkola

When you move to Finland, you can apply for services provided by the Employment and Economic Development Office (TE Office) to help you integrate and find work. The following services are specifically designed for immigrants:

• guidance and advice on immigration
• initial assessment
• integration plan
• integration training

Ostrobothnia TE Office
Pitkänsillankatu 15
67100 Kokkola
Switchboard: 0295 025 500

The immigrant advisors of TE services, Welcome Office and Soite’s integration services or the experts of employment services can give you more information about the initial assessment and how it is organised in Kokkola. Sometimes the best option for you may be some other employment service or some form of education or training. 

If you already have a job, you can also ask your employer about language studies and other integration support services.

Many organisations, such as the Kokkola branch of the Finnish Red Cross, Kosti ry’s Yhteisöklubi Silta and Ehjä ry, also organise activities that are easy to get involved in. 

Immigration work carried out by the Kokkola Evangelical Lutheran Parish Union also supports the integration of immigrants into Finnish society.

Further information: Integration into Finland.

To find out more about services that can help you find work, go to Work and enterprise in Kokkola

If you need to deal with Finnish authorities and you do not speak Finnish or Swedish and have no other common language with the authority, you are sometimes entitled to interpreting services. The authorities will book you an interpreter if you have notified them of the need for one in advance. In such a case, interpreting services are free of charge.

If you book and pay for an interpreter yourself, you can use an interpreter whenever you want.

Further information: Do you need an interpreter?