It is available as an electronic ID card (Finnish: sähköinen henkilökortti; Swedish: elektroniskt identitetskort), which enables logging into certain services on the Internet, local computers or adding digital signatures into LibreOffice ODF documents or creating DigiDoc formatted containers that also allows encryption during content transfer.

Some places, such as the postal service,[3] accept social security cards with the photograph of the bearer but they are not widely used and have not been issued in a long time.

In some cases, an emergency ID card, valid between 15 days to 3 months, is issued.

The Finnish identity card for citizens may be used as a travel document all over Europe (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom) as well as French overseas territories, Georgia, Greenland, Tunisia (on organized tours)[4][5] and Montserrat (for max.

However, due to Finnish regulations, direct outbound travel from Finland to non-EU/EFTA countries requires a passport.

As of 2015, the card costs €55 compared to €48 for a passport (for both documents, if applied for online there will be a €4 discount).

The Finnish eID card experience, which is based on voluntary adoption and users paying the full cost, has proven to be very different when compared to the neighbouring countries' (cf.