Finland Times

File Photo Lehtikuva.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs Monday established a pilot project to outsource reception of family reunification applications.

 

The outsourced reception of family reunification applications will start at the Embassy of Finland in Ankara, Turkey, in November–December 2016, according to an official release.

 

The use of an external service provider will make the service simpler and faster for residence permit applicants.

 

From Finland's point of view, the change would mean a more flexible and efficient reception of residence permit applications.

 

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has addressed the surge in asylum applications, which developed towards the end of 2015, by boosting its efficiency and effectiveness and it has managed to rapidly clear the backlog in the processing of the applications.

 

The elements identified by the Ministry in the family reunification application process that can be outsourced are providing general guidance to customers, appointments (for submitting applications and for possible interviews), collecting fees, receiving family reunification applications and feeding the data into the system, scanning appendices, collecting biometric identifiers, photographing the applicant and taking sample signatures for electronic processing of the applications, and technical arrangements related to video interviews and coordinating them with the interviewers (Ministry for Foreign Affairs/Migri).

 

The possibility of an independent DNA sample-taking through a simplified procedure will be clarified, said the release issued on Tuesday.

 

The project will make use of the development of and experiences gained from outsourced reception of visa applications, related electronic operations, and location-independent processing of visas.

 

The Finnish missions in the countries and regions of origin are faced with a heavy workload arising from family reunification applications and interviews to clarify family ties.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is attempting to find a technical and operational solution to help the missions with these issues.

 

It is not possible to increase the number of staff at the missions or to continue with the current system where the missions handle all the preparatory tasks related to the process.

 

The external service provider performs technical and auxiliary services, which do not include discretionary or decision-making powers.

 

The external service provider has the right to charge for its services a reasonable fee, the amount of which will be separately determined between the service provider and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.