Skip to Content

Immigration to Finland remains high – the Finnish Immigration Service is establishing permanent posts and recruiting new personnel

Publication date 22.11.2018 9.40
Press release

In the upcoming months, the Finnish Immigration Service is hiring a significant number of immigration experts. Approximately 240 fixed-term posts, amounting to half of the agency’s fixed-term positions, will become permanent posts. The agency is recruiting new employees to several roles, for instance to the Immigration Unit to process residence permits and to the Asylum Unit.

"In recent years, immigration to Finland has been high. By making fixed-term posts permanent and recruiting new employees, we will secure our competence and our ability to enhance the processing of applications in the long term," says Raimo Pyysalo, Deputy Director-General of the Finnish Immigration Service.

As the Finnish Immigration Service has grown in size, it has become a 'super agency' for immigration matters. Also its role in preparedness-related security matters has become more pronounced in recent years. At the moment, the Finnish Immigration Service has more than 1,000 employees all over Finland.

The agency aims to cut its processing times

An increasing number of foreign nationals are moving to Finland for work or studies or because of family ties. For example this year, the Finnish Immigration Service has received more than 56,000 residence permit applications. Among these applications, the most common reason for applying for a permit is either family ties or work in Finland.

"There has been a backlog of applications, which in some cases has caused longer processing times. We are planning to launch a supplementary recruitment round soon. We are striving for shorter processing times and responding to next year's predicted increase in immigration," says Deputy Director-General Pyysalo.

At the moment, the Asylum Unit is recruiting Senior Advisers. A new law that entered into force earlier this year established that the maximum processing time for an asylum application shall be six months.

Versatile roles in the immigration sector

The Finnish Immigration Service employs, among other professionals, a large number of lawyers, experts in administrative or social sciences and customer service professionals. Our new employees will enhance their expertise in immigration issues by completing introductory and on-the-job training. For some Assistant Adviser positions, also a vocational education can be a suitable background. Assistant Advisers work for instance in customer service.

The Finnish Immigration Service began to renew its personnel structure in the summer, and the work continues even next year. The number of fixed-term positions will decrease, but the share of permanent posts will increase significantly. Some posts will become permanent after an open recruitment process, some posts are filled directly.

Director General Jaana Vuorio states that the work of the Finnish Immigration Service employees consists of meaningful and responsible expert tasks in a constantly changing operational environment.

"We offer an opportunity to develop an extensive professional competence in the immigration sector," says Director General Vuorio.

FACTS

  • At present, the Finnish Immigration Service has more than 1,000 employees all over Finland.
  • The agency has offices in Helsinki, Raisio, Lappeenranta, Vaasa, Oulu, Pudasjärvi, Tampere, Lahti, Kuopio, Rovaniemi and Kuhmo. There is also an office in Mariehamn that is open at regular intervals.
  • To see our open positions, visit the website valtiolle.fi.

Further information for the media

Deputy Director-General Raimo Pyysalo, tel. 0295 430 431, email: firstname.lastname@migri.fi