The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) says that it has made the process of obtaining a work-based residence permit for foreigners faster and more efficient in 2021 compared to the previous year.
In a press release, the agency stated that while the average processing time for a residence permit based on employment was 143 days in 2020, it has been reduced to 77 days this year.
According to Migri, the goal is to grant applicants the permit within a month by 2023. It seeks to achieve this through increased automation and the development of more efficient permit processing practices.
The immigration service also claims that specialists such as IT experts were granted residence permits faster than ever before this year, receiving a decision on the permit within 16 days on an average, compared to 22 days in 2020.
Currently, work-based permits are first reviewed by the Economic Development (TE) Offices, following which they are sent to Migri for approval. The latter has recently faced backlash for long queues at service points and lengthy permit processing times.
Tahira Sequeira
Helsinki Times
