Helsinki, 25 March 2024
The development measures of the employment and economic development services (TE services), the Finnish Immigration Service and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment reduced the processing time of residence permits for employed persons to an average of 41 days in February 2024 from the previous year’s figure of 77 days.
A faster processing time for favourable decisions is particularly significant. In February 2024, the average processing time was 23 days for first permits and 21 days for extended permits.
“The Finnish Immigration Service and TE Offices have done excellent work. We aim to ensure that permit applicants and employers can rely on the promise of a one-month maximum processing time, as outlined in the Government Programme. At the core of this work will continue to be ensuring that abuses are prevented throughout the permit procedure,” says Minister of Employment Arto Satonen.
In February 2024, TE Offices made a favourable partial decision on first and extended permits in 12 days on average. The Finnish Immigration Service then took, on average, 9 days to make a favourable decision. In February 2023, favourable partial decisions were processed in 44 days and the total processing time was 66 days.
“I am particularly proud that the specialists at TE Offices have been closely involved in designing an automation system suitable for partial decisions. This has played a key role in reducing processing times. Together we are committed to developing our processes so that we can offer faster and higher-quality services to both jobseekers and employers,” says Director of Uusimaa TE Office Minna Helenius.
“We are aiming for efficient and controlled permit processes. We will process permits faster than before, while at the same time ensuring effective prevention of abuses through good cooperation between the authorities. We have our staff to thank for the good result and for their excellent work,” says Director General Ilkka Haahtela from the Finnish Immigration Service.
Automation speeds up and harmonises processing
Not only have the processing times been significantly reduced, but the waiting lists of applications at TE Offices have also become markedly shorter. In early January 2024, the number of applications awaiting processing exceeded 1,100, but their number had dropped to 59 in February.
In recent years, the Finnish Immigration Service has heavily invested in developing partial automation in decision-making. Decision-making has also been significantly accelerated with the introduction of assistive automation in TE services in January 2024. Automation checks official registers for data that previously had to be manually verified for each application. This saves time, reduces the risk of human error and helps authorities to identify cases involving risks.
Close cooperation between the authorities, improvements in information exchange and harmonisation of practices have played a key role in accelerating, and improving the quality of, processing.
Source – Finnish Government