Finland Commences Automatic Approval Process for Student Residence Permit Applications.

Since October 19, Finland has implemented an automatic approval system for student residence permit applications, aiming to enhance efficiency and consistency in the process.

As per a statement from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), the entity handling various residence permit applications, an automated decision-making system will be employed to assess student applications that fulfill all the necessary criteria for obtaining a residence permit. 

This automated service specifically addresses applications meeting all criteria and excludes negative decisions or those requiring individual evaluation.

Automated processing will standardise the processing of applications, which promotes safe and seamless immigration. Automation also frees up specialists’ time to work on cases which need individual consideration or further clarification.

Deputy Director-General Elina Immonen

Migri authorities have made sure that this system does the same checks as their officials would do. In spite of the automated decision-making service, applicants remain obliged to identify at a Finnish mission or a Finnish Immigration Service service location.

After that, if the application was submitted by a university student or exchange student through the online service Enter Finland, the processing fee was paid, the application contained all the required information, and all the requirements for issuing the permit were satisfied, the Finnish Immigration Service could then make an automated decision.

However, officials will decide on applications submitted through the automated system that do not meet the requirements or require additional explanation.

Assistive automation has been used by the Finnish Immigration Service before as well, for example, to verify registers maintained by public authorities on behalf of its officials.

On September 28, the Finnish Immigration Service initiated automated post-decision monitoring of study-related residence permits. The general law, which went into effect in May, allows automatic decision-making when the application is approved and no other parties, like family members, are involved.

Now the use of automation will be extended to both automated decisions and post-decision monitoring. When the requirements laid down by law are met, a permit can be issued effectively, and it is also possible to monitor that the requirements are still met during the validity of the permit.

Anna Cheung, Chief Digital Officer

However, applications are still not processed entirely automatically. For instance, the identity of the applicant must be verified by an official. Also, officials must individually evaluate the outcomes of register checks, even though automated processing is used. According to Migri, this is important in terms of security.

Up until the end of July, Finland has granted a total of 7,039 first residence permits for studies to foreign nationals. The majority of students who applied for this permit were from Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, India, and Russia.