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The Finnish Immigration Service in the midst of changes: After a tumultuous year, becoming a ‘super agency’ for immigration

Migri
Publication date 8.12.2016 8.39
News item

The Finnish Immigration Service in the midst of changes:

The Finnish Immigration Service starts 2017 with a brand-new strategy. The year 2016 has been unprecedented when it comes to the workload at the agency, in particular for asylum and reception matters. At the same time, the Finnish Immigration Service has made preparations for a sizeable organisational change: at the beginning of 2017, the agency takes over the administration of the reception centres owned by the Finnish state as well as the handling of permit matters for foreign nationals that have previously been handled by the police.

“From now on, we will be a kind of ‘super agency’ for all immigration matters, apart from visa-related matters that will still be handled by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and integration-related matters, that are handled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment,” says Director General Jaana Vuorio.

The Finnish Immigration Service’s overall vision for 2021 fits perfectly with this vision of a ‘super agency’: from immigration to citizenship; building a strong and secure Finland. Our values are adaptability, responsibility and effectiveness.

The size of the agency has also grown permanently to more than 800 employees. When the employment ends for 250 employees who were hired with fixed-term contracts to make asylum decisions, 170 employees from the state-owned reception centres and the police will transfer to the agency.

Emphasis on security brought on by autumn 2015

The emphasis on security is more visible than previously, both in the vision and in the strategy as a whole. This is a consequence of the recent rapid and partly unexpected changes in the operational environment.

As an agency working under the Ministry of the Interior, the Finnish Immigration Service has always been one of the government authorities working to uphold the internal security of the country. It is possible to refuse to grant, for example, a residence permit or Finnish citizenship because of previously committed crimes. Since the number of asylum seekers increased in the autumn of 2015, the situation has changed and the role of the Finnish Immigration Service in security matters has been emphasised, especially when it comes to readiness.

“Two years ago, we already knew that two of the major challenges coming up ahead were the fusion with the state-owned reception centres and the transfer of permit matters to the agency. We did not, however, expect the sudden and extremely rapid increase in the number of asylum seekers, which constituted a challenge for our readiness structures. We have been working and continue to work towards being able to predict the effects of the increasingly unstable operational environment,” says Vuorio.

State-owned reception centres to become part of the Finnish Immigration Service

The state-owned reception centres in Oulu and Joutseno will be integrated into the Finnish Immigration Service from the beginning of 2017. The aim of the fusion is to decrease unnecessary administrative work and create savings in the long run.

At the same time, the administration of the detention unit for foreign nationals at the Joutseno reception centre will be transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service. The other detention unit in Finland is placed, for now, in the Metsälä reception centre run by the City of Helsinki, but the plan is to also integrate this unit into the Finnish Immigration Service by the end of 2017.

The Finnish Immigration Service is already responsible for the steering, planning and monitoring of the reception centres, so the integration will hardly affect the practical operations of the centres at all. The biggest difference is that the employees of the reception centres will from now on be employed directly by the Finnish Immigration Service.

The Finnish Immigration Service is already in charge of the steering, planning and monitoring of the assistance system for victims of human trafficking at the Joutseno reception centre, as stipulated by law. The integration of the Joutseno reception centre into the Finnish Immigration Service will not affect the everyday work that is carried out at the centre. Decisions about who is accepted as a client in the assistance system will continue to be made separately from decisions on applications for international protection and residence permits.

The change will only affect the state-owned reception centres. At the moment, in addition to the state-owned reception centres, there are 77 reception centres for adults and families and 58 reception centres for unaccompanied minors. These reception centres are maintained by municipalities, associations and companies.

For the individual asylum seeker, it makes no difference whether he or she lives in a reception centre that is maintained by the Finnish Immigration Service or a reception centre that is maintained by a private service provider. All asylum seekers will continue to be offered the same services according to the same criteria based on the Finnish act on reception.

The Finnish Immigration Service to handle all permit matters for foreign nationals

All permit matters for foreign nationals will be handled by the Finnish Immigration Service starting from 1 January 2017. This means that approximately 55,000 matters will be transferred yearly to the Finnish Immigration Service from the police. At the same time, 75 employees from the police will transfer to the Finnish Immigration Service and the agency will hire new employees with fixed-term contracts.

Until now, the police has been in charge of

  • decisions about continuation of residence permits and permanent residence permits and residence permit applications made in Finland by family members of Finnish citizens
  • registration of EU citizens and decisions on their family members’ applications for residence cards
  • reception of residence permit applications made in Finland as well as citizenship applications and declarations
  • reception of applications for alien's passports and refugee travel documents and decisions on some of these applications.

Applications are handed in to the police until the end of 2016 and to the Finnish Immigration Service starting from 1 January 2017 at service points in nine localities.

The rapid growth in the size of the operational environment and in the number of employees combined with the heavy demands on efficiency within public administration has resulted in major challenges when it comes to organising the work. The Finnish Immigration Service will tackle these challenges by improving our e-service and increasing the degree of automatization of the decision-making process. There will also be an increased focus on the well-being of the agency’s employees.

Further information for the media:

strategy: Jaana Vuorio, Director General, tel. +358 295 430 431, firstname.lastname@migri.fi

state-owned reception centres: Pekka Nuutinen, Director of Reception Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, firstname.lastname@migri.fi

transfer of permit matters for foreign nationals: Tiina Suominen, Director of Immigration Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, firstname.lastname@migri.fi

Press release