Migri to terminate 120 employees at year end

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) is considering temporary lay-offs and will begin cooperation negotiations with its personnel.

The negotiations involve the entire personnel, which consists of 1,025 employees, said an official press release on Thursday.

In 2020, the number of employees will be approximately 900. Compared to this year, the number of employees will decrease by approximately 120 persons.

The agency is considering laying off its personnel for 14 days in November–December. The exact duration of the temporary lay-offs and the number of employees affected will be determined during the negotiations.

The agency does not propose terminations of contracts or reductions of employment contracts to part-time contracts.

The reason for the cooperation negotiations is the agency’s financial situation.

The Finnish Ministry of Finance has proposed that an additional 2.5 million euros should be reserved for the Migri in a supplementary budget for the end of the year.

However, this sum is not enough to cover this year’s deficit.

It is estimated that an additional appropriation of approximately 2 million euros is needed.

Finnish Immigration Service is the agency responsible for processing the residence permit applications from international employees, students and family members as well as for registering EU citizens’ right of residence. It is also responsible for processing asylum applications.

The Finnish Immigration Service runs the state-owned reception centres of Oulu and Joutseno and the detention units of Helsinki and Joutseno.

It 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.