[alibarber]

Neither of the two countries I’ve opened bank accounts in, the UK and Finland, have a free form of ID available for their citizens (and absolutely not for immigrants!), and yet the banks have certainly wanted to be sure of my citizenship and status.

[estebank]

Surprising to see that the cost of a passport is lower than the identity card.

https://poliisi.fi/en/identity-card

[alibarber]

Yes for the most part Finnish bureaucracy works fairly well but some parts don't make sense. To get a bank account as a non-EU foreigner just follow these simple steps:

- Receive the residence permit card. This is good enough for the men with guns at the airport to let you in to the country, welcome!

- Get municipality of residence. To do this you need an address, to get an address you need a bank account. To get a bank account you need the following ID card. To get the following ID card you need municipality of residence.

- When you find some way to break the above loop, go to the police station and apply and pay for an ID card. Take the first residence card with you.

- Now take this ID card to a bank along with your passport and residence permit.

The data printed on the ID card is effectively less than that printed on the residence card. But as the residence card is not considered an official form of ID, banks won't let you use it. Heck, the corner shop won't let you use it as ID to buy booze and smokes.

The border police in ~20ish other Schengen countries should be fine with it though. Not the ID card of course, that has 'NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL' printed on it in big letters unless you're an actual Finnish citizen.

Having an EU passport means you get to replace the first step with 'register your right of residence at an office at an appointment 3 months in the future' and also means you get to skip the ID card bit, but you can't jump straight to bank account.

Of course - Finland being a solid member of SEPA, why do you even need a local account? Just use Wise or whatever. In that case, I hope you like filing everything on paper and in person because the only practical way to identify online here is with a local service provider (bank, mobile phone certificate, or smart ID card). I hear you say eIDAS, but that's not widely adopted by private companies so things like setting up internet or electricity connections are not going to be possible with that.