Migration to Finland increasingly seamless and controlled

The processing of work-based residence permits has been streamlined. Applicants who apply for a first work-based residence permit will now receive their positive decisions within an average of 23 days. The processing times of applications leading to negative decisions have shortened, too: on average, negative decisions are issued within 87 days. In September last year, the waiting time for a positive decision on a work-based residence permit was 55 days. For negative decisions, the waiting time was 125 days. 

Applicants who will be working in Finland in expert duties that require special expertise can now obtain a permit within 9 days on average (September 2023: 12 days). In the context of residence permits, specialists are persons who hold a higher education degree or have acquired special expertise through work experience and who earn at least 3,600 euros per month.

Extending a permit issued on the basis of work is now a shorter process than a year ago. On average, it takes 20 days to process an application for an extended permit (September 2023: 63 days). A first residence permit for studies can now be obtained within 8 days on average, whereas last year the average processing time was 36 days. 

“The accelerating pace of processing does not mean that matters pertaining to national security would be overlooked. On the contrary, we have paid particular attention to security by intensifying cooperation with other authorities, for instance. Development must be done with due care so that potential risk factors are always identified during processing,” says Ilkka Haahtela, Director General of the Finnish Immigration Service.

The Finnish Immigration Service will continue to further improve its permit processing next year. One aim is to have a seamless permit process that will simplify recruitment of foreign labour. Another objective for next year is to shorten the processing times of asylum applications. Cost-effectiveness will be a central part of enhancing the processes: shorter waiting times for asylum examination will directly translate to savings in reception activities. 

Significant progress in permit control

Each residence permit has specific requirements that are laid down in the Aliens Act. Holders of a permit must meet the permit requirements during the entire time their permit is valid. The Finnish Immigration Service conducts post-decision monitoring to verify whether permit holders continue to meet the requirements during the entire permit period. 

This year, the Finnish Immigration Service has withdrawn 1,200 permits, partly as a result of automated post-decision monitoring. Automated post-decision monitoring has led to the withdrawal of 399 permits this year. Automated post-decision monitoring was introduced in September 2023. Since then, it has helped process 9,398 residence permits, and 2,359 of them were selected for closer inspection.

“In automated post-decision monitoring, our system makes register checks at regular intervals to verify whether permit holders still meet the permit requirements. Automated post-decision monitoring has been developed at a fast pace over the past year. We have achieved good results and have identified and intervened in infringements efficiently,” says Haahtela.

The Finnish Immigration Service has also performed spot checks and conducted risk-based post-decision monitoring of residence permits over the course of several years. This type of monitoring is directed in particular at permit types or lines of work in which there is a higher risk for exploitation of foreign labour or residence permit fraud. This type of post-decision monitoring continues alongside the automated post-decision monitoring. Automation has enabled a considerably more extensive and more efficient post-decision monitoring.

“Automation has allowed us to monitor infringements while we have made the processing of work-based permits more efficient. Improving post-decision monitoring is part of the Government’s action plan against labour exploitation. Post-decision monitoring helps us gather information which can be used to fix potential issues and to improve the permit processing further. A close cooperation with security authorities enables intervening in infringements even more efficiently than before,” says Haahtela.

Automated post-decision monitoring was introduced in the autumn of 2023 to help monitor students’ residence permits. In 2024, the monitoring was expanded to cover the residence permits for startup entrepreneurs and specialists. Next year, the Finnish Immigration Service intends to expand the scope of automated post-decision monitoring to cover the residence permit for employed persons. 

Automated monitoring focuses on the key requirements for each permit. The Finnish Immigration Service verifies, for instance, whether a specialist has been paid a salary that meets the income requirement and whether students are advancing in their studies.

Withdrawal of permit may be considered if the permit holder does not meet the permit requirements. In such cases, an official of the Finnish Immigration Service will contact the customer to enquire about the situation and will ask the customer to state his or her opinion on the possible withdrawal of the permit. A careful investigation of such matters is very important because there may be an acceptable reason for why a permit requirement is temporarily not met. Students may be missing credits, for example, if the completion of a large study module has not yet been recorded in data systems or if a large study module is still in progress. 

All permit withdrawals do not lead to removal from the country because, in some cases, it may be possible for the customer to obtain a permit on some other grounds. 

When a decision to withdraw a permit is made, the Finnish Immigration Service will issue a decision on deportation if necessary. The police are responsible for returns.

“Applicants who have received a negative decision are meant to return or be returned to their country of departure as soon as possible. There has been a marked increase in the numbers of assisted voluntary return, and compared to last year, the number of decisions on removal from the country has increased this year. We are continuously enhancing the return procedures together with the police and other security authorities," says Haahtela.