The Finnish Aliens Act will be amended on 1 June 2015 to include the option that a residence permit application outside Finland can be submitted not only to a Finnish embassy or consulate, but also to a Schengen country embassy or external service provider.
Please note, however, that the law has not yet been put into practice:
- For the time being, if you are abroad, the only place you can submit your residence permit application is a Finnish embassy.
Discretionary and decision-making powers remain with the Finnish authorities
The duties which Finland may assign to another Schengen country's embassy or external service provider are technical and assistive in nature, not entitling the parties in question to any discretionary and decision-making powers.
Neither does it signify any change in the grounds upon which residence permits are granted. The Finnish Immigration Service will still decide on any residence permit application submitted outside Finland.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland to decide on implementation
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will decide when and how the legal amendment will be implemented in practice. Finnish embassies are service centres of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs already has experience in outsourcing its services: visa applications can already be submitted outside Finland in places other than a Finnish embassy.
For more information, see the Ministry of the Interior's press release (in Finnish).
