Additional hours of interpreter service

Kela can provide interpreter services for persons with disabilities for a minimum number of hours per calendar year.

As a client of the interpreter services you are entitled, within a calendar year, to:

• 180 hours of interpretation if you have a hearing or speech impairment
• 360 hours if you have vision and hearing impairment.

You will be informed about the remaining number of hours always when an interpreter is assigned to you.

When you have used nearly all of your hours, you can apply for additional hours if you have a legitimate need for them.

How to apply for additional hours of interpreter service

1. Use the form Vammaisen henkilön tulkkauspalvelu TU 1 (PDF, in Finnish).
2. In the application, describe the situations in which you need additional hours of interpretation and state how many additional hours you need.
3. Send the application online: Save the application on your computer as a PDF file. Log in to Kela’s e-service at www.kela.fi/omakela (in Finnish) or www.fpa.fi/mittfpa (in Swedish). Select Vammaisten tulkkauspalvelu (Interpreting services for the disabled) as the subject of your message, and attach the application to the message.
4. You can also mail the application to Kela, PL 10, 00056 Kela.

Apply for additional hours as soon as you find out that your allotted hours will not be enough to cover your interpretation needs for the rest of the year. You can file the application well before you run out of hours.

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