Migri issues residence permit in 2 weeks as fast track service starts

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) on Wednesday introduced fast track service to issue permits for specialists’, start-up entrepreneurs’ and their family members’ within maximum two weeks, said Migri in a press release.

Specialists include, among others, IT experts and employees with a higher education degree, whose work in Finland requires expert knowledge.

The fast track service is introduced together with a new type of permit, the national D visa.

The national D visa enables travelling to Finland as soon as a residence permit has been granted and the applicants have proved their identity.

Unlike before, applicants now receive their residence permit cards in Finland.

“The fast track service is an important signal of the Finnish society’s willingness to welcome international experts to Finland and to improve the customer-friendliness of the actions of public authorities. Due to the fast track service, international experts can arrive in Finland immediately after being granted a residence permit, regardless of where they come from,” said Elina Immonen, Acting Director General of Migri.

Persons applying via the fast track service will get a residence permit decision in a maximum of two weeks. In order to move to Finland via the fast track procedure, the applicants must submit and pay for the application online as well as prove their identity at a service point abroad within five working days.

If the application contains all the required information and attachments, the processing starts immediately and proceeds quickly.

After paying for and submitting the application, the applicants prove their identity abroad and have their fingerprints taken for the residence permit card.

The decision is served via Enter Finland, the online service of the Finnish Immigration Service.

Applicants who also apply for a D visa, or who come from a visa-free country or do not need a visa to enter Finland, do not have to wait for their residence permit cards abroad.

Instead, the residence permit card will be delivered to the address in Finland that they have given in the application.

The Finnish Immigration Service has actively participated in the preparation of the fast track for experts and the D visa. Preparatory work has been carried out during the whole year.

The fast track service has been developed with the help of extensive and close cooperation. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, Business Finland, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, among others, have participated in the preparation of the fast track service.

The number of residence permit applications has increased every year and an increasing number of people move to Finland to work, study or join their family.