An Indian student was failed TWICE by Migri - Part II

Experience 2: June 2020

Location: Espoo, Finland.

This was my application for an extended student permit for the 2nd time. I thought the process would be obviously smooth as it was my 3rd time and they were already very well aware of my profile.

But once again, I had to go through this dreadful experience and be a victim of Migri's mismanaged services.

I made an online application and submitted all the required documents. I had also shown the funds to survive for 2 years, intending to apply for a 2 years long permit (as one of my classmates had already applied for that and got it within a week).

After few weeks, I received an online notification on the portal saying that my funds are not enough for 2 years and I messaged them back justifying how are they calculated and also I mentioned to them that if not 2 years, they can consider my application for 1 year if that's what funds are enough for.

After a few more weeks, I received a notification again saying that my permit decision is negative and I am not being granted the permit. I panicked so much. I had my thesis submission coming up, we had a pandemic going on, and receiving this message from the Migri just didn't help.

I called the Migri and explained them but they were not ready to listen at all to my situation and they kept saying sorry, the decision cannot be changed. I tried calling several times hoping that different people would answer and at least someone would be ready to listen to my situation. My call was finally transferred to a senior person in charge and she replied to my email. She showed me the calculations and said that they were not even enough for 1 year. According to her calculations, I had a few euros less than what it was supposed to be according to them, (that might also differ due to change in the exchange rates of INR and EUR, which keeps fluctuating).

Also, the fact that even though I tried showing funds for 2 years and they turned out to be not sufficient even for a year were because they expected me to have full tuition fee for upcoming year ( i.e 15000 euros), even though I would not be liable to pay that as I was supposed to graduate in just 4 months after the permit application and wouldn’t have to pay the tuition fee in the first place.

However, the person on the call said I need to make a new application. I couldn't believe at all that this is what they suggested to an international student who is already having difficulties in having enough money for survival. Making another application meant paying the application fee of 250 euros again and showing all the funds that I showed previously.

In the middle of the pandemic, when the entire world is going through an economic crisis, they demand such type of action. I was extremely furious, but as I was in the middle of my final thesis submission, I decided to not waste much time and carry on with my work.

To my surprise (one of my friends didn't even show enough funds for 6 months and had still got the permit for the same duration (a year) as me but without a single obstacle. I am happy for him but I see no fair or sensible grounds on which Migri makes the decisions).

All in all, along with extreme mental pressure and stress caused by its inefficient services, Migri has caused me a lot of Financial losses too, 2 of the 3 times I used their services.

I am really surprised by how such an authoritative body is run on absolute no common grounds of human empathy and having no consideration of making the lives of International people smoother.

Part I - a stressful experience and financial losses to obtain a first study permit

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