Official mail from Finnish authorities now primarily digital – OmaKela remains main channel for mail from Kela

Public authorities have started sending official mail primarily in digital form as of 14 April 2026 as part of the government’s Digital First project. When you log in to the e-service maintained by a public authority, such as OmaKela or MyKanta, you will be prompted to activate Suomi.fi Messages.

The Suomi.fi Messages service is a digital mailbox offered by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV). Many public authorities will now use it to deliver official mail, such as letters, decisions and invoices. This means that the digital copy will be the only copy you will get. The same official mail will no longer be sent to you separately by post as paper mail. However, Kela will only send a notification of a new decision notice or letter to your Suomi.fi inbox. The notification will direct you to OmaKela where you can view the actual decision notice or letter.

The procedure that Kela follows for its official mail is based on the Act on the Social Insurance Institution. This procedure changed in January 2026. Customers who use OmaKela will primarily receive decision notices and letters from Kela in the e-service. Customers who do not use OmaKela or who have selected the option to get paper mail from Kela get decision notices and letters in paper form in the post.

“Over 1.9 million Kela customers get official mail from Kela only in digital form in OmaKela, and over half get a notification via Suomi.fi Messages when they have a new decision notice or letter available in OmaKela. This means that many of our customers are already familiar with the use of Suomi.fi Messages,” says Anu Lantonen, Head of Section at Kela’s Benefit Document Production.

How Kela delivers decision notices and letters to customers

If you use OmaKela and you have provided your email address or phone number to Kela, you will get decision notices and letters issued by Kela digitally via OmaKela. Kela will not send you paper copies of the same official mail that you have already received in the e-service.

You will get a notification via Suomi.fi Messages when you have a new decision notice or letter available in OmaKela. If you have not activated Suomi.fi Messages, you will get the notification by email or text message.

Customers who do not use OmaKela will continue to get Kela’s decision notices and letters as paper mail. Customers who use OmaKela can also choose to get their decision notices and letters as paper mail. You can set your preference in OmaKela or contact Kela’s customer service to ask us to set it for you. Your choice will apply for the time being.

Activating Suomi.fi Messages when accessing an e-service

Suomi.fi Messages will be activated when you log in to an e-service offered by a public authority. This change does not apply to minors under the age of 18, persons under guardianship or persons with a valid continuing power of attorney. The change also does not apply to those who have already activated Suomi.fi Messages.

You can still get official mail as paper mail if you want to. You can set your preference in the settings of the Suomi.fi Messages service by selecting that you want to stop using the service or by calling the customer service of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) (tel. 0295 000). Even if you stop using Suomi.fi Messages, it will not affect how you get official mail from Kela. You must set your preferences for Kela-issued decision notices and letters separately in OmaKela.

You can set your preference for official mail from other public authorities than Kela to paper mail for one year at a time. After one year has passed, you will be prompted to activate Suomi.fi Messages again the next time you log in to an e-service offered by a public authority. The preference you set in OmaKela for official mail from Kela applies until further notice.

You can access your Suomi.fi Messages inbox either in the Suomi.fi application or at www.suomi.fi/messages.

More information

Kela to phase out paper mail – letters will be delivered only via OmaKela

Applications and decisions in OmaKela
DVV’s instruction video:How to activate Suomi.fi Messages during identification

Official mail becomes digital – Suomi.fi Messages replaces paper mail from several authorities (suomi.fi)