Finland to grant work visas within two weeks from next year: Finnish employment minister

The Finnish government plans to reduce the time taken to grant work visas to just one to two weeks by next year, the country's Minister of Employment, Timo Harakka, said on Thursday. The move is aimed primarily at attracting more software professionals from countries like India, he said.

"For these expert visas and for these expert work permits, which require a certain (level of) income, but are also on the express lane on permits, we are aiming to get these things handled in one or two weeks," the minister told PTI in an interview. "We are looking to shorten the time frame. This we can achieve next year because we are shifting the whole process of immigration - work-based and study-based immigration - to my Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment from the Interior Ministry," he added.

The average time taken by Finnish immigration service - known as Migri - to grant a first-time residence permit or work visa is 52 days. Between October 2018 and October 2019, Migri granted first-time residence permits to over 1,500 highly skilled information and communications technology (ICT) professionals. Around 50 per cent of them were Indians.

On the talks that have been going on between India and European Union since 2007 regarding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Harakka said "individual companies are investing very strongly as we speak" irrespective of a trade agreement. "Obviously, this could be increased by securing a level playing field both ways. There are always sensitive areas. But if we can ensure fair deal and fair compromise where both Europe and India need to open up sectors for competition, this (FTA) could be agreed (signed)," he added.

Harakka on Thursday met Union Minister of Railways and Commerce Piyush Goyal, Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar as well as Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)