Year 2011 brought a new vision for the Finnish Immigration Service

Annual Report 2011 of the Finnish Immigration Service

Last year was a period of renewal for the Finnish Immigration Service. The agency updated its vision and strategy and started moving in the direction of the goals stated therein by further developing its processes and cooperation networks.

The Finnish Immigration Service’s vision for 2016 is “From immigration to citizenship – the leading specialist, partner and service provider”.

– Through this vision we aim to strengthen our diverse role: while we share our immigration expertise, we also further develop our customer service, enabling us to work more effectively amidst a growing number of customers and matters we need to handle, says Director General Jorma Vuorio.

The Finnish Immigration Service does not work alone, but has several different parties participating in its processes. The agency’s new strategy also emphasises inter-administrative cooperation and collaboration with interest groups.

– Working alone, our capacity to develop and expedite the processes is limited and therefore we need seamless cooperation with all our partners. In addition, the Government Programme requires cooperation between the Finnish Immigration Service, Finnish Police and Finnish Border Guard.

Legislative changes were also carried out

Year 2011 also saw changes in legislation. At the turn of the year 2011–2012, biometric residence permit cards were introduced. The reform of the Nationality Act that took place in September 2011 was also significant.

– Since the autumn, it was obvious that the number of applications would increase when the period of residence required for Finnish citizenship was shortened.

One of the tasks of the Finnish Immigration Service is to provide information to support political decision-making and both national and international cooperation. The agency was an active participant in the preparation of the Nationality Act and as a result, matters that expedite and facilitate decision-making were taken into consideration in the Act.

The Annual Report 2011 of the Finnish Immigration Service and the appended statistics are available in Finnish on the agency’s website at www.migri.fi > About us> Publications.

Further media information

Director General Jorma Vuorio, tel. +358 (0)71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi