Travellers in Ireland planning trips to Finland face a procedural change from today, 26 January 2026: the Embassy of Denmark in Dublin has taken over responsibility for accepting Schengen visa applications on Finland’s behalf. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed the temporary outsourcing arrangement on its FinlandAbroad service portal this morning.
According to the notice, all short-stay (type C) visa requests, including tourism, business and family visits, must now be lodged at the Danish mission or through its partner visa-application centre, VFS Global. The Embassy of Finland in Dublin will continue to handle passports, residence-permit biometrics and consular emergencies but will no longer issue visa appointments.
The ministry has not specified the length of the “temporary” mandate, but officials cite staffing constraints and a surge in seasonal travel to Lapland as immediate drivers. Denmark already represents Finland in several other third-country locations, so the switch leverages existing workflows and should keep processing times within the standard 15-day Schengen window. Applicants are advised to pay particular attention to service-fee tables and bank-transfer instructions published on the FinlandAbroad website, as the Danish embassy does not accept in-person payments.
![Dublin applicants must file Finland Schengen visas at Danish Embassy from 26 January 2026]()
VisaHQ’s online platform can streamline this new process for Ireland-based travellers, allowing users to complete the Danish-embassy application forms, upload supporting documents and schedule their VFS appointments in one place; the service’s dedicated Finland page (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) also tracks any further embassy updates, so HR coordinators and individual tourists alike can adapt quickly.
For mobility managers the key takeaway is that Irish-based employees and assignees travelling to Finland will need to book slots with a different mission, potentially adjusting project timelines. Employers should update their global travel policies, ensure invitation letters reflect the new submission point, and brief travellers on collecting passports from the correct embassy. The change does not affect visa-exempt EU citizens or long-stay residence-permit holders, but it may influence corporate group-travel planning around spring conferences and the summer tourist peak.
The embassy hand-over illustrates a wider Nordic trend toward pooled consular services designed to cut costs and cope with fluctuating demand. Similar representation agreements already exist between Finland and Norway in parts of Asia and between Denmark and Sweden in Africa. Companies with geographically-dispersed workforces should monitor such shifts, which can materially alter application lead-times and documentation requirements at very short notice.
According to the notice, all short-stay (type C) visa requests, including tourism, business and family visits, must now be lodged at the Danish mission or through its partner visa-application centre, VFS Global. The Embassy of Finland in Dublin will continue to handle passports, residence-permit biometrics and consular emergencies but will no longer issue visa appointments.
The ministry has not specified the length of the “temporary” mandate, but officials cite staffing constraints and a surge in seasonal travel to Lapland as immediate drivers. Denmark already represents Finland in several other third-country locations, so the switch leverages existing workflows and should keep processing times within the standard 15-day Schengen window. Applicants are advised to pay particular attention to service-fee tables and bank-transfer instructions published on the FinlandAbroad website, as the Danish embassy does not accept in-person payments.
VisaHQ’s online platform can streamline this new process for Ireland-based travellers, allowing users to complete the Danish-embassy application forms, upload supporting documents and schedule their VFS appointments in one place; the service’s dedicated Finland page (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) also tracks any further embassy updates, so HR coordinators and individual tourists alike can adapt quickly.
For mobility managers the key takeaway is that Irish-based employees and assignees travelling to Finland will need to book slots with a different mission, potentially adjusting project timelines. Employers should update their global travel policies, ensure invitation letters reflect the new submission point, and brief travellers on collecting passports from the correct embassy. The change does not affect visa-exempt EU citizens or long-stay residence-permit holders, but it may influence corporate group-travel planning around spring conferences and the summer tourist peak.
The embassy hand-over illustrates a wider Nordic trend toward pooled consular services designed to cut costs and cope with fluctuating demand. Similar representation agreements already exist between Finland and Norway in parts of Asia and between Denmark and Sweden in Africa. Companies with geographically-dispersed workforces should monitor such shifts, which can materially alter application lead-times and documentation requirements at very short notice.
