Report: E-services and strong identification would make it easier for international experts to move to Finland

According to a recent report, it would be beneficial for people to have access to electronic services already before their entry into Finland. This would make it easier for them to attend to necessary official matters.

While Finland remains an attractive country for international experts in many ways, official services could run more smoothly. A report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment looked at the problems foreigners face when moving to Finland and proposed solutions to them. 

“Competition for top talent is fierce, and there is plenty of demand for the most qualified people. We must make a determined effort towards a one-stop shop model. This will be an important asset for Finland when we compete with other countries for experts. The topic has been under discussion for a long time, and thanks to the report, different solutions have now been mapped to support future decisions,” says Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen.

According to the report, the challenges of using Finland’s official services include:

• Immigrants cannot begin official processes in their country of origin because many services require in-person visits in Finland.
• Strong identification and electronic services are not possible.
• Immigrants are required to provide the same information several times, and the information is not transferred from one authority to another.

Solutions include enabling electronic identification and e-services

According to the report, the challenges could be solved in at least two ways. Immigrants could have access to a tool that enables strong identification in their country of origin after they have been granted a residence permit. Access to the tool would be based on face-to-face identification carried out during the residence permit procedure. Another option would be for the migrant to be registered in the Finnish population information system remotely and to have access to a suitable digital service authenticator. 

These solutions could be combined to reduce the obstacles even more. Technical solutions are developing rapidly, and the report also takes into account the preparation of the European Digital Identity Wallet.

Finnish businesses and cities have long stressed the need to streamline immigrants’ service paths. The central government service path is linked to municipal services, which are important to people moving to Finland. 

“More streamlined services are directly linked to companies’ ability to recruit and grow, and for many Finnish businesses international experts are a prerequisite for growth. As competition is global, the services in Finland must also be internationally competitive. The report clearly identifies the bottlenecks faced by international experts when using different  official services and proposes solutions to address them. We hope it will help ensure that these solutions are implemented quickly in practice. A smooth and predictable process is one of Finland’s key strengths as we compete for international talent,” say Glenn Gassen, Director of Migration Affairs at the City of Helsinki, Riikka Pakarinen, CEO of Finnish Startup Community, Suvi Pulkkinen, Senior Advisor at Finland Chamber of Commerce, and Mikko Räsänen, Senior Adviser at Confederation of Finnish Industries, who have reviewed the report.

The changes would require several legislative amendments and information system changes. The report aimed to explore ways in which the service paths of experts could be streamlined. However, the benefits of e-services and strong identification would extend to other groups of people too.

Inquiries:
Katri Niskanen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 373
Teresa Salminen, Special Adviser to the Minister of Employment, tel. +358 295 047 318 (questions for the Minister )