Finnish Immigration Service contributes to the development of EU information systems
The Finnish Immigration Service is participating in the development of the information systems of the European Union. The purpose of the development work is to harmonise technical systems used for processing information related to the management of migration.
The Finnish Immigration Service is involved in the development of the Entry-Exit System (EES) and European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). The purpose of EES is to facilitate border checking procedures while ETIAS is an advance registration system similar to ESTA used for entry into the United States. The systems form a part of the development work carried out in the EU with the aim of harmonising the use of information related to the Member States’ internal security, border control and migration management.
The Finnish Border Guard acts as the national authority in charge of EES and ETIAS. The development work in Finland is coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior.
“Harmonised, European-wide information systems allow competent authorities, such as immigration services, to obtain information on third-country citizens in the EU faster than before. This information will also be more reliable and comprehensive,” says Laura Cupic, project manager for the EES project.
The Finnish Immigration Service will complete the necessary system upgrades in the electronic case management system UMA to allow the sharing of information between systems. The responsibilities of the Finnish Immigration Service are linked with the users’ access to view and use information entered in EES and ETIAS, to remove personal data from these systems and to enter information into EES regarding decisions.
“The functions that are the responsibility of the Finnish Immigration Service are going to be mostly automatic so that no manual steps are necessary,” says Salla Konsti, project manager for the ETIAS project.
Both systems are scheduled to be taken into use at the end of 2022. The final date of implementation is decided by the European Commission once the required tests have been completed and the feasibility of the system has been verified.
EU supports the information system upgrade
The Finnish Immigration Service has received support from the EU in projects for implementing system changes required by the roll out of EES and ETIAS.
The amount of support is EUR 2,010,649.64, of which EUR 947,160.28 will go towards the technical changes required by EES and EUR 1,063,489.36 towards those required by ETIAS. Both projects are fully funded by the ISF Borders and Visa funding instrument of the EU’s Internal Security Fund.
Further information
- The Finnish Border Guard Smart Borders project
- The national development project of the Ministry of the Interior, Interoperability of data within EU information systems for security.
