Impossible to get a timely decision

The current bureaucratic system and long processing times make it possible to get a timely decision:

Hi! I would like to share a personal story.

My current residence permit expires on 1.08.2021. It was fixed term, 4 years permit of category A that was granted to me as I got a permanent contract in a big multinational company and after 4 years of having category B permit that I was renewing every year during my Master’s degree studies in Finland. I have submitted the application for the permanent residence permit now on 25.05.2021.

Knowing that it normally takes time to process such applications, I actually first booked appointment at Migri on 20.09.2020. At that point the average processing time for permanent residence permits was about 8 months. I wanted to make sure that I would not have to deal with a period of time when I do not have an active residence permit and not able to leave Finland (either for work or to visit my family) . When I came to the service point in September, I was told that I actually came too early and, as I had not had my current category A residence permit for 4 full years, my application would have been automatically rejected. Indeed, in contrast to the application for Finnish Citizenship, for the application for permanent residence my student years in Finland and the time with category B residence permit do not count. Even the person at the service point told me that it was not very logical but he could not do anything about it, that’s the current rule. Yet, he recommend that I book a new appointment in May 2021, and this is what I did. Fortunately, I could also use the same online application, just had to update a few attachments.

However, as expected, now I am in the situation when estimated time for processing the application is somewhen between end of August to the end of September (still, not that bad as some would say). It means that I am not able to travel for work or personal matters from 1.08.2021 until the time when it finally gets processed, hopefully within estimated time…

I believe the above case is one in thousands of similar ones and hopefully illustrates that, if Finland really aims to attract and retain international talent, Migri should seriously reconsider how to support the country’s objective. It is somewhat crazy that even in such a straightforward case like mine, it still takes 4 months to make the decision. Time for a change!

-- Please sign the petition: bit.ly/ReformMigri