Finland’s government has proposed introducing a long-term national D visa in order to promote labour migration, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
According to the statement published by the same Ministry, the new visa would first include specialists, growth or start-up entrepreneurs together with their family members, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“The proposal is important because, for its part, it will facilitate labour migration. After necessary assessments, it will also create a foundation for extending the national D visa to cover researchers and students,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.
The D visa permits all persons to stay in Finland for over a year. It also enables persons to remain in the country for a more extended period of time, compared to the standard short-term Schengen Visa.
“Finland needs more experts with diverse talent profiles to keep the wheels turning in society. The migration authorities must respond to this need by providing efficient services. In other Schengen countries, a national D visa is already in use for varying target groups,” the Finnish Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo pointed out in this regard.
Such a proposal follows the government’s budget session of September last year, through which the preconditions for an accelerated residence permit process, also known as fast track service for specialists, as well as growth entrepreneurs and their family members, should be inspected. The Finnish government back then stressed that such a fast track would be ready in June 2022.
In February this year, Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent the draft law related to the Alien Act changes, prepared with the country’s authorities, for a round of consultations. Back then, the same Ministry addressed a proposal to the government regarding the adoption of the national D visa under the Schengen Convention, which enables all persons to reside in other countries in the Schengen Area for three months within six months.
Such a visa also supports the introduction of the two-weeks fast track service pledge so senior specialists or start-up entrepreneurs together with their family members would be eligible to travel to the Nordic country as soon as they are granted a residence permit, meaning that they do not need to wait for a residence permit card abroad.
“The fast track is one way to make it easier for experts to move to Finland. A number of other measures are also under preparation to speed up and streamline residence permit processes,” the Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.
The Minister stressed that the new roadmap for education-based and work immigration consists of many measures that will “make the service paths easy and straightforward.”