Health Care and Insurance

Foreign students get the same care as Finns and are served in English. If a patient speaks some other language than English he should tell it when making an appointment. Then we can try to get an interpreter to the clinic.

Service manager Kaarina Pajulampi from students’
health care.

Health Care in Oulu

In cases of acute illness, international students at Oulu University of Applied Sciences residing in Oulu and whose stay lasts at least four months are entitled to use the services of the City of Oulu Student Health Care Clinic in the Kontinkangas residential area in Oulu. Appointments with public health nurses and doctors are possible.

Health Care Fees

A health care centre fee of 13.70 euro will be charged for each of the first three visits to the doctor within a calendar year. The student health care services cover the expenses of a visit to a general practitioner, but not special health care for foreign students.

For further information please see the following websites:

www.kela.fi (Moving to or from Finland)
www.oamk.fi (Health Care, Insurance and Vaccination)

Health Insurance for EU/EEA Citizens

In order to come to Finland students are recommended to have a valid health and accident insurance that also covers them also during travel to and from Finland. Institutions of higher education do not cover accidents during a students stay in Finland, and without valid insurance the medical payments may be high. Though citizens of EU and EEA countries are entitled to the same health care services in Finland as Finnish citizens, if they are covered by health insurance in their own country, they must also have insurance. Students from EU/EEA countries can normally prove with a European health card that they are covered by the health care system of their own country. Please see more information on European health card and ask the social security authorities in your country for the document needed for social security in Finland and bring it with you.

Health Insurance Required From Third-Country Nationals

Please note that citizens of non-EU and non-EEA countries are not covered by the Finnish national health insurance. It is therefore extremely important for them to have sufficient insurance coverage of their own before they arrive in Finland.

The third-country nationals coming to Finland for studies are required to have an insurance that will cover the costs of health care. Third-country nationals are persons who are not citizens of the European Union or citizens of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. (Aliens Act 301/2004 § 46, Student directive of the EU (2004/114/EC). For those whose studies will last at least two years, insurance covering medicine costs is enough. The insurance has to be valid upon arrival in Finland and should be issued by a reliable and solvent company or institution.

Health Insurance as a Requirement for Issuing a Temporary Residence Permit

A foreign national who has been accepted into an educational institution in Finland as a student may be issued a temporary residence permit for the purposes of studies leading to a degree. Issuing a temporary residence permit requires that the foreign national has valid insurance with a solvent and reliable company or institution covering medical treatment. A student must have insurance cover when applying for a residence permit, as without it a residence permit cannot be granted.

Students who have already been studying in Finland for a year must take out insurance for the extension period in Finland before they apply for the extension of the residence permit for the second year.

Where the duration of the studies is two years or more, a student will usually be given a home municipality in Finland and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. The student must, however, have a private insurance to primarily cover the cost of medicines (in practice the cover extends to doctor’s fees and costs of treatment and examination), up to 30,000 euro (cost level in 2007).

For studies of less than two years in duration, a student must have private insurance which primarily covers the costs of medical treatment up to 100,000 euro (cost level in 2007).

Taking Out Insurance Abroad

A foreign student applying for a residence permit must have insurance. The authorities cannot issue a permit unless the person filling in an application produces evidence that he or she has taken out insurance.

Foreign countries offer a range of insurance, varying in price and content and covering costs of medical treatment in Finland. Prices for insurances that are valid for a year vary from a few hundred euros to over one thousand euros. The insurances available are usually travel insurances.

Some countries cannot necessarily provide insurances covering costs up to 100,000 euro. Insurance such as that described above is not available at all in some countries. However, international insurance companies offer insurances providing relatively good coverage for a year at a time. At present, a foreign student cannot personally acquire private insurance from a Finnish insurance company covering the treatment and costs that in Finland are part of municipal health care services and regarded as costs for medical treatment covered by public health insurance. Further information on available insurance will be available from Finnish Embassies and also on our website at www.oamk.fi/english.

Period of Validity of the Insurance

The insurance must be valid for the period the foreign student studies at an educational institution in Finland. The period of validity of the residence permit is bound by that of the insurance. A residence permit cannot be issued for a period exceeding the period of the insurance cover.

Examples of health insurance

Finnish insurance companies do not usually grant insurance to foreigners who are not permanent residents of Finland. The following international services and companies offer insurances for international students intending to study in Finland:

Note! This is not a comprehensive list of available insurance. Oulu UAS does not act as a solicitor on the behalf of the listed companies and accepts no liability for their services or lack of them. Please also check the offers of your current insurance provider.

Please see the leaflet fileicon [.pdf] for further information on health insurance required from third-country nationals.