Applications for rights to practise in social welfare and health care to be redirected to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency

8.10.2025 9.13

News item

The granting of rights to practise in social welfare and health care is being transferred to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency, which will begin operations on 1 January 2026. At the same time, Valvira will cease to operate.

From 1.1.2026, all applications for rights to practise in social welfare and health care must be submitted to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency. This will apply to all applicants, regardless of whether they completed their training in Finland or abroad. If your application is already pending, you do not need to do anything. Your application will be automatically transferred to the Finnish Supervisory Agency on 1 January 2026.

A fee is charged for decisions and expert opinions on the right to practise. The current Decree on fees is in force until the end of 2025. The fees will change as of 1 January 2026. Information on the new fees will be sent out after New Year, once they have been finalised. The fee to be charged will depend on when the application was submitted.

As of 1 January 2026, application guidelines will be available on the website of the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

Apply for the right to practise online

Persons who have completed their studies in Finland may apply online for the right to practise in social welfare or health care, as before. The Valvira online service will be converted to the Finnish Supervisory Agency online service at New Year 2026. The web address of the online service will change, and its appearance will be amended to conform with the visual identity of the Finnish Supervisory Agency. There will also be minor updates to the content of the service. All changes will be put into effect at New Year 2026. The old website address will redirect to the new address. The new website address will be announced later.

The change will cause outages around the New Year. The exact dates of the outages will be announced later. If you cannot access the online service, please wait. You should not submit an application on paper because of an outage in the online service, because the processing of applications on paper is slower.

Rights to practise granted by Valvira to remain valid

Rights to practise that have already been granted by Valvira will remain valid even after Valvira ceases operations. The granting of rights to practise will continue as before, at the new Finnish Supervisory Agency, as of 1 January 2026. If you already have a valid right to practise in social welfare or health care, you do not need to do anything.

Changes to JulkiTerhikki and JulkiSuosikki at New Year

Upkeep of the JulkiTerhikki and JulkiSuosikki registers will also be transferred to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency on 1 January 2026. The address of the services will change at New Year 2026. The old website address will redirect to the new address. The new address is julkiterhikki.lvv.fi. The change will cause outages around the New Year. The exact dates of the outages will be announced later.

Further information

Vocational qualifications and degrees at universities of applied sciences

Head of Unit Kaisa Saukko (tel. 0295 209 337 until the end of December)

University degrees

Head of Unit Maarit Mikkonen (tel. 0295 209 561 until the end of December)

Healthcare and social welfare Rights to practise in social welfare and health care