From Filipino Nurse to Finnish Sairaanhoitaja: My Journey to Becoming a Registered Nurse in Finland

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Our Journey to Finland — Part 7

Becoming a sairaanhoitaja, or registered nurse, in Finland was not something that happened the moment I arrived in the country.

In fact, the journey started many years before Finland was even part of our plans.

It began when I chose nursing as my degree in the Philippines, continued when I moved to Dubai and spent almost ten years building a life abroad, and eventually brought me to Finland, where I had to learn a new language, understand a different healthcare system, return to school, complete clinical internships, pass the YKI Finnish language test, and go through the professional recognition process.

Looking back, there were so many different steps that sometimes it feels strange to summarize everything in just one article.

But this post is exactly that – an overview of how I went from being a Filipino nursing graduate to finally receiving the right to practise as a sairaanhoitaja in Finland.

And just like the other parts of our Finland journey, it definitely did not happen overnight.

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My Nursing Degree in the Philippines

My nursing journey officially began in 2009.

From 2009 to 2013, I studied for my Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City, Philippines.

I belonged to Batch Asperion, as our batch was called at the time.

I took my studies seriously, and through a lot of perseverance, I was fortunate to become one of the Dean’s Listers.

Another huge blessing during my university years was becoming part of a nursing scholarship program supported by St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The scholarship covered 100% of my tuition fees.

That was a huge help for me and my family. We still had to pay for books, uniforms, transportation, and the other expenses that came with nursing school, but having my tuition covered made an enormous difference.

Actually, that scholarship opportunity was also one of the reasons I chose nursing back in 2009.

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Life After Nursing School – Moving to Dubai

After graduating, I decided to pursue opportunities abroad.

I moved to Dubai with my husband, who was still my boyfriend at the time.

We didn’t really know exactly where life would take us.

We simply decided to try and see where the tides would bring us.

And somehow, Dubai became our home for almost 10 years.

My career there did not follow the typical hospital nursing path. I worked for several pharmaceutical companies and built a completely different professional life.

Then, in 2023, I came across a Facebook post from Silkkitie about an opportunity for healthcare professionals in Finland.

That small Facebook post eventually changed the direction of our lives.

Check out our stories in these blogs:

From Dubai to Finland: Our Adventure in Migration

Moving to Finland: Why It Wasn’t Part of Our Original Plan

and

How We Actually Got to Finland: Our Recruitment and Residence Permit Journey

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Moving to Finland

Finland was never part of our original plan.

Before Finland came along, we had considered and attempted different migration pathways to other countries. None of them worked out.

Then the Silkkitie opportunity appeared.

I applied, was accepted into the recruitment process, started learning Finnish, completed the requirements, and eventually received an employment opportunity in Finland.

One of the biggest reasons the opportunity worked for us was that our family could move together.

In April 2024, we finally arrived in Finland and started an entirely new chapter of our lives.

At the beginning, however, I was not yet a Finnish registered nurse.

That would require another journey of its own.

Moving to Finland: Why It Wasn’t Part of Our Original Plan

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Learning Finnish Before Becoming a Nurse

One thing became clear very early:

I needed Finnish.

I actually started learning the language while I was still working full-time in Dubai.

Through Silkkitie, I studied Finnish online with NLRC, completing lessons, benchmark tasks, speaking exercises, vocabulary, and grammar while continuing my regular job.

There were plenty of times when I wondered whether I could actually learn the language.

Finnish grammar seemed endless.

Words changed depending on their endings.

Spoken Finnish sounded very different from what I had learned from textbooks.

And sometimes I would study a word many times only to completely forget it the moment someone actually spoke to me. 😅

But little by little, I continued.

After moving to Finland, learning the language became even more important because I was finally hearing and using Finnish every day.

I’ve shared this part of my story in my full Finnish Language Journey series, starting here:

Learning Finnish: The Beginning of My Language Journey

Learning Finnish eventually became closely connected with my next goal:

becoming a sairaanhoitaja.

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Choosing the Top-Up Nursing Pathway

After arriving in Finland, our employer asked us which professional pathway we wanted to pursue.

We could work toward becoming a lähihoitaja, or practical nurse, or continue toward becoming a sairaanhoitaja, or registered nurse.

Some of my batchmates and friends chose the practical nursing pathway.

I chose registered nursing.

Both professions are important parts of Finnish healthcare, although their education, responsibilities, and scope of practice are different.

For me personally, becoming a registered nurse was what my heart was telling me to pursue.

I had already completed my Bachelor of Science in Nursing in the Philippines, and I wanted to find my way back to the profession I originally studied.

To do that, I entered a Top-Up Nursing pathway.

Our program started around August 2024 and continued until December 2025, so the whole process took around a year and a half.

At the time, we usually needed to attend school in person around one or two times per month.

The school was about a 1.5-hour drive from where I lived.

During the warmer months, that was manageable.

Winter was another story. 😅

There were days when I had to drive alone while it was still dark in the morning, spend the day at school, and then drive back again in darkness.

Those long winter drives became another part of the experience.

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Studying Nursing Again – This Time in Finnish

The Top-Up Nursing program wasn’t simply about repeating the nursing subjects I had already studied in the Philippines.

We also needed to understand how nursing works inside the Finnish healthcare system.

That meant learning about Finnish healthcare services, legislation, patient safety, documentation practices, medication care, clinical nursing, and healthcare communication.

And there was another challenge:

Everything was taught in Finnish.

Some of the subjects we studied included:

• Orientoituminen pätevöitymispolun opintoihin – Orientation to the qualification pathway
• Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon palvelujärjestelmä – The social welfare and healthcare service system
• Sairaanhoitajana Suomessa – Working as a registered nurse in Finland
• Potilasturvallisuus – Patient safety
• Hoitoalan suomi – Finnish language for healthcare
• Lääkehoito ja farmakologia – Medication management and pharmacology
• Hoitotyön dokumentointi – Nursing documentation
• Kliinisen hoitotyön toteutus – Clinical nursing care
• Yleissairaanhoitajan osaamisen arviointi – Assessment of general nursing competence
• Asiakaslähtöinen terveyden edistäminen ja ohjaaminen – Client-centered health promotion and guidance
• Mielenterveys- ja päihdehoitotyö – Mental health and substance use nursing care

The subjects were useful because they helped connect my previous nursing education with the way healthcare is practised in Finland.

But studying them in Finnish was definitely challenging.

There were times when we needed translation tools just to fully understand what was being discussed, especially when we encountered unfamiliar healthcare terminology.

Hoitoalan suomi was particularly helpful because it focused on improving our Finnish specifically for healthcare and learning the medical and nursing vocabulary we needed at work.

I won’t discuss every subject here because the Top-Up Nursing studies deserve their own post in this series.

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Clinical Internship – Harjoittelu I

Our program also included clinical practice, or harjoittelu.

We completed Harjoittelu I and Harjoittelu II.

For my first internship, I completed my placement during the summer, from May to June, in kotihoito, or home care.

This gave me the opportunity to observe and practise how registered nurses work within Finnish home-care services.

One thing I learned was how much coordination is involved.

Registered nurses follow patients’ conditions and needs, communicate changes or concerns with doctors, and help make sure that the appropriate follow-up is arranged.

Home care also gave me another opportunity to use Finnish in real situations instead of only studying healthcare Finnish from books or classroom lessons.

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Clinical Internship – Harjoittelu II

For Harjoittelu II, I completed my placement in the unit where I was already working – an Arviointi- ja kuntoutusyksikkö, or Assessment and Rehabilitation Unit.

This experience allowed me to look at the unit from the perspective of a registered nurse.

I learned more about communication with doctors, receiving and relaying medical instructions through the systems used at work, following up laboratory needs, coordinating with physiotherapists, and making sure important information was communicated to the rest of the care team.

That included working together with lähihoitajat, care assistants, physiotherapists, doctors, and other professionals.

It helped me understand that nursing is not only about performing individual tasks.

Communication and teamwork are a huge part of safe patient care.

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Graduation – December 15, 2025

Then finally came graduation.

On December 15, 2025, we had a simple celebration to commemorate the completion of our studies.

Each student gave a presentation about how the studies had gone and what we had learned throughout the program.

After the presentations, we had a potluck where the groups brought food to share.

Nothing extravagant.

Just food, conversations, presentations, and time together.

But after around a year and a half of studying, driving to school, completing assignments, practising Finnish, working, and going through internships, it felt special.

It was our last school day.

And another major step was finally complete.

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The YKI Requirement

Finishing the Top-Up Nursing program was not the only thing I needed for my own pathway.

I also needed to meet the Finnish-language requirement.

For us, that meant passing the YKI Finnish language test at the required level before completing the professional recognition process.

I took YKI twice in 2025.

And thankfully, I passed.

That journey became a whole series of its own because there was simply too much to fit into one section here. 😅

If you’re interested in the preparation, speaking, writing, reading, listening, my results, and everything I learned from the experience, you can start here:

My YKI Test Journey: Taking the Finnish Language Test in Finland

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My Valvira Application

While I was completing the Top-Up Nursing program, another process was already happening in the background.

The recognition of my nursing qualification had actually started in 2024.

Documents from my university in the Philippines had to be verified as part of the process.

From what I remember, I paid around €500 in document verification-related fees during this earlier stage.

After completing the Top-Up Nursing program and passing YKI, I needed to submit additional documents.

For my application, these included my Top-Up Nursing transcript or proof that I had completed the required studies, my YKI certificate, and an authenticated Certificate of Good Standing obtained from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in the Philippines.

I submitted my final documents around December 22, 2025.

At that time, the authority handling these professional-right applications was still Valvira.

Then the system changed.

Valvira ceased operating at the end of 2025, and from January 1, 2026, its functions transferred to the new Lupa- ja valvontavirasto (LVV), or Finnish Supervisory Agency. Applications that were already pending transferred to the new authority automatically.

Source: Valtioneuvosto

Today, the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) is the authority responsible for granting healthcare professional rights in Finland, including professional rights for registered nurses trained abroad.

Source: Suomi

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January 15, 2026 – Becoming a Sairaanhoitaja

On January 15, 2026, I received the decision I had been waiting for.

My documents had been accepted.

Everything was okay.

And I had finally received the professional right that allowed me to become a sairaanhoitaja in Finland.

There was also a decision/evaluation fee. In my case, it was around €800.

Fees and application requirements can change, so anyone going through the same process today should always check the current requirements and fees directly with the Finnish Supervisory Agency rather than using my costs as a current price guide.

Registered nursing is a licensed profession in Finland, and the current authority grants the professional right to practise and records the professional right in the healthcare professional register.

Source: Suomi

After receiving my professional right, I could also proceed with obtaining my healthcare professional card, or ammattikortti.

It had taken years to get there.

A nursing degree in the Philippines.

Almost ten years in Dubai.

Learning Finnish.

Moving to Finland.

Top-Up Nursing.

Clinical internships.

YKI.

Graduation.

Professional recognition.

And finally:

Sairaanhoitaja. 💚

The funny part is that after finally reaching that milestone, I didn’t immediately start a new chapter working as a registered nurse.

Another important chapter of my life was already beginning too – maternity leave. 😅

But it was totally OK – I had reached the goal.

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What’s Next in My Sairaanhoitaja Journey?

This post is only the overview.

There are so many parts of this journey that deserve more space, including my nursing degree and scholarship in the Philippines, starting the Top-Up Nursing pathway, the subjects we studied, nursing and medical terminology, medication calculations, balancing work, family and school, my two clinical internships, graduation, the professional recognition process, and what happens after becoming a sairaanhoitaja.

Those will become the next mini-series under Our Journey to Finland — Part 7.

Because becoming a nurse in Finland wasn’t one single moment.

It was a collection of many small steps that eventually brought me back to the profession I chose years ago.

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“Sometimes the path back to your purpose takes you somewhere you never expected to go.”

“Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.”

• Proverbs 16:3 (KJV)

There were many times when this journey felt long – especially while learning Finnish, studying nursing again, working, completing internships, and waiting for approvals. But looking back, every stage had a purpose. I didn’t return to nursing in the way I originally imagined, but somehow the journey brought me back to it in Finland. 💚

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Important Note: This article shares my personal pathway and experience as a nurse educated in the Philippines. Professional recognition requirements, language requirements, required documents, processing procedures, and fees can vary depending on the applicant’s education, country of qualification, individual decision, and current regulations. For current information, always check directly with the Finnish Supervisory Agency before applying.

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Sources

• For current professional-right information, the Finnish Supervisory Agency / Lupa- ja valvontavirasto (LVV) now handles social welfare and healthcare professional-right applications. Suomi
• The Finnish Government confirms that the new Lupa- ja valvontavirasto began operating on January 1, 2026, when Valvira’s operations ended and its functions transferred to the new agency. Valtioneuvosto
• The public JulkiTerhikki service can be used to check registration information concerning healthcare professionals. JulkiTerhikki
• Current healthcare professional-right application information
• JulkiTerhikki healthcare professional register