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Backlog of applications for residence permits by specialists cleared

Publication date 12.12.2019 13.21
Press release

The backlog of applications for residence permits by specialists has been cleared. In October-November, 851 decisions were issued for specialists. Decisions are expected for fewer than 90 first applications for residence permits by specialists and fewer than 60 permit extension applications by specialists.

“The backlog has now been cleared by moving employees temporarily to the processing of permits for specialists. At present, applications initiated in November–December and a few occasional older applications are waiting for processing,” says Anna Hyppönen, Head of Section.

The processing applications for residence permits by specialists was congested this year, due to the shortfall of personnel. The processing of permits has also been slowed down by the fact that clients do not always provide the necessary details for the purpose of making the decision. The Finnish Immigration Service is also developing its guidelines for clients.

So far this year, the average processing time for a specialist’s residence permit application has been 52 days, whereas last year a decision was received on an average of 25 days. In November, however, clients have received a decision in 31 days on average.

This information is based on advance statistics for November. All statistics for November will be published in the statistics service tilastot.migri.fi on Monday, 16 December 2019.

Automation helps shorten processing times

The Finnish Immigration Service has a change project in progress that is aimed at significantly reducing the processing times. The key method will be adding partial automation to permit processes next year.

During this change project, the Service also analyses the various residence permit processes and implements the necessary organisational changes, by which the operation is organised into an efficient whole in terms of automation.

“In permit extension applications by specialists, we will achieve faster processing by means of partial automation,” says Hyppönen.

The Finnish Immigration Service has already piloted automation as part of the processing of citizenship applications and certificates for seasonal work, for instance. However, adding automation to the decision-making process would require amendments to the legislation.

Further information for the media

  • Immigration Unit, Head of Section Anna Hyppönen, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi, tel. +358 294 433 037