MFA: Ministry for Foreign Affairs supports investigation of illegal entries

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Embassy give their full support to the work of the criminal investigation authorities, the Finnish Border Guard and the National Bureau of Investigation. The criminal investigation authorities and the Foreign Ministry have been following activities in the Embassy for a few months already. A person has been remanded for trial.

In criminal cases, heads of investigation in the Finnish Border Guard and the National Bureau of Investigation are responsible for communications.

Processing visa applications is based on training and liability for acts in office

Visa officials are recruited by the embassy and recruits undergo a security clearance in Finland. A training course is provided by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry grants visa officials the rights involved in the issuance of visas. Processing visa applications is a system that is based on liability for acts in office.

In the case under investigation, it is suspected that the system has been misused. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs monitors issuance of visas and irregularities in the Embassy in Ankara have been detected. The Foreign Ministry refrained from any internal measures in order to ensure that the criminal investigation be not compromised. The suspected visa officials are no longer employed by the Embassy.

In 2017, Finland's Embassy in Ankara received 4,212 visa applications, of which 11.2 per cent were rejected. In 2018, of the 4,014 applications submitted, 23.1 per cent were rejected.

Inquiries: Pasi Tuominen, Director General, Consular Services, tel. + 358 40 578 8185

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.