Fewer Int’l students seek residence permit

Although summer is a peak season for applying for residence permit by international students, the number of applications reduced this year significantly due to coronavirus outbreak, said the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) on Friday.

A total of 1,692 students applied for a first residence permit between June and September this year. The number was 3,909 during the corresponding period of 2019.

Between June and September, Migri issued 1,823 decisions on applications for a first residence permit for studies and 90 per cent of the decisions were positive.

Migri uses partial automation in processing and deciding applications for first residence permits and extended permits for studies. Automation is used to check that certain requirements are met and to produce an automatic decision proposal, which is then checked and confirmed by the person who processes the application.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Finnish missions have received only a very limited number of customers applying for residence permits. By law, the processing of an application cannot begin before the customer has proven his or her identity.

“According to our information, many students have begun studying remotely this year, because many educational institutions will start providing contact teaching in January 2021 at the earliest. It is therefore expected that we get applications throughout the autumn. We are prepared for this, and the seasonal workers who have worked for us during the summer will continue working until the end of the year,” said Migri Senior Adviser Janne Paananen.

The possibility of studying remotely does not affect the decision-making.