As of 25 November 2019, the Finnish Centre for Pensions (Eläketurvakeskus) offers a new online application service platform for A1 certificates.

The A1 certificate states which country’s social security legislation applies to the employee and to which country the employee’s social insurance contributions are to be paid while working temporarily in another EU/EEA country or in Switzerland.

The implementation of the new online service is expected to shorten the A1 certificate application process. Some of the online-submitted applications will be handled automatically and can thus even be processed in a single day. In addition, the applicant can follow the application process or report changes regarding his or her working period in the online service.

As a result of the change, the granted A1 certificate can now be downloaded in the online application service or to a mobile device. The online application service is available in Finnish, Swedish and English.

The use of the electronic application service requires the employer, employee and self-employed applicant to have an ID with the Suomi.fi e-Authorization. The ‘Katso’ identification, which was previously used to identify corporate users, is no longer in use.