Finnish Immigration Service boosted residence permit processing with EU funding
The Finnish Immigration Service has boosted the processing of residence permit applications based on work, study and family ties through its Efficient residence permit processes project. The project took place between 1 March 2023 and 28 February 2026 and was funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union (AMIF).
AMIF granted the Finnish Immigration Service approximately EUR 4.2 million for its personnel costs for 2023–2026. Of this sum, EUR 1,706,205.60 was allocated to the Permit and Citizenship Department of the Finnish Immigration Service as operational support for the project.
The purpose of the operational support was to ensure and maintain seamless processing of work-based and study-based residence permit applications as well as residence permit applications of family members. The aim of the operation was to ensure that the permit processes are at all times staffed by a sufficient number of persons with up-to-date and diverse expertise for assessing the application grounds of customers with different backgrounds.
The support sum covered the salary expenses of 11 Senior Administrative Officers for three years. During the first 18 months, funding was allocated to the salary expenses of Senior Administrative Officers processing residence permit applications based on family ties. After this, the funding was transferred to the salary expenses of Senior Administrative Officers processing work-based and study-based applications.
During the three-year period, the Senior Administrative Officers who worked on the project made a total of 8,781 decisions, of which 4,507 were work-based residence permit decisions and 3,748 were decisions on applications based on family ties. Other decisions related to, among others, removals from the country, residence permits of victims of human trafficking and residence permits based on other grounds.
“The operational support provided by AMIF has contributed to managing the processing of work- and family-based applications in the challenging situations of change in recent years. The operational appropriations reserved for the Finnish Immigration Service are being reduced, meaning that project funding will play an increasingly important role not only in developing operations, but also in ensuring the seamless running of operations,” says Head of Branch Kaj Swanljung.
The operational funding granted by AMIF to the Finnish Immigration Service has been continued until the end of 2027. A total of EUR 1,090,095.80 of operational funding has been granted for the period from 1 March 2026 to 31 December 2027.
