Employed by Åbo Akademi University

Arrange a meeting with your contact person at the unit where you will be working and make an appointment with your contact person at Personnel Services. During that appointment, you will get an introduction to working at Åbo Akademi University and instructions on how to get access to your IT user accounts et al.

Visiting researchers / Grant researchers

Contact your host professor for more information.

Doctoral researchers

You should first enroll at Åbo Akademi University. Then arrange a meeting with your supervisor. If you will be receiving salary from Åbo Akademi University, make an appointment with your contact person at Personnel Services (see the information for employees above).

Nordic citizens

Remember your scheduled visit with the Digital and population data services agency and also remember to bring a valid proof of identity and other documents if needed.

EU citizens, Lichtenstein and Switzerland

Remember to take care of your EU registration and bring the necessary documents for doing so.

Non Nordic/Non EU citizens

If you have not yet sent a copy of your residence permit to your employer, please remember to do so.

Non-resident taxpayer (staying in Finland for a maximum of six months)

Remember to provide your employer with the tax card/tax at source card if you have received it yourself. If you gave Åbo Akademi University’s address as the delivery address in your application to the tax office in Finland, you do not need to send anything regarding taxes to Åbo Akademi University.

Resident taxpayer (staying in Finland for more than six months)

Remember your scheduled visit to the tax office. Also remember to bring the documents needed for the tax card and the personal identity code application and send a copy of your tax card to your employer.

Taxation of grants

A grant or scholarship received for academic research or artistic activity may qualify as tax-exempt income. If a private party (for example, Åbo Akademi University) provides the grant, it is exempt from taxation as long as the total grant income you receive throughout the year does not exceed the amount of the state’s artist grant (26,269.46€ in 2024). You can find information on the maximum tax-exempt thresholds and learn more about the taxation of grants here.

Remember your scheduled visit to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. If you haven’t received a personal identity code yet you can ask for one at the Digital and population data services agency. Additionally, remember to bring the necessary documents for registration.

Salaries from Åbo Akademi University are paid directly to your bank account. If you have a bank account in a European country that is part of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), that bank account can be used for payments, but if not, you will need to open a Finnish bank account.

Even if you already have a bank account within the SEPA, it may be useful to open a bank account in Finland as this will enable you to get online banking codes/an identification application that can be used for official identification in Finland.

Identification

Depending on your bank of choice, banks may, for example, require documents for identification. Individual banks can tell you what documents you need to submit. Usually, they request an identity card for foreigners. These are issued by Finnish police stations. You can find the address and contact details of Finland’s police stations here. You can also read more about what is needed for the identity card application here.

If you are not able to obtain an identity card in Finland, you can also apply for identification at the police station. Find out more about applying for identification here. Remember to also check with your bank of choice to learn whether they accept the document.