AbstractThe paper studies a higher order unfitted finite element method for the Stokes system posed on a surface in ℝ3. The method employs parametric Pk-Pk−1 finite element pairs on tetrahedral bulk mesh to discretize the Stokes system on embedded surface. Stability and optimal order convergence results are proved. The proofs include a complete quantification of geometric errors stemming from approximate parametric representation of the surface. Numerical experiments include formal convergence studies and an example of the Kelvin--Helmholtz instability problem on the unit sphere.