Current affairs

Owing to the coronavirus outbreak, Finland, in line with the rest of the Schengen countries, has suspended the reception of normal visa applications in Finland’s missions with immediate effect from 19 March until further notice.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finland’s Missions are monitoring the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic in cooperation with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), and they are in constant contact with key actors with regard to the situational picture and any necessary measures.

The EU is revising its Visa Code in order to facilitate visa procedures for travellers and to respond more effectively to the challenges posed by illegal migration. Finland will start applying the new Visa Code on 2 February 2020 together with other Schengen countries.

This year we celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations between Finland and Greece and we have asked some important people in this respect to express their experiences and feelings between these two countries. Towards the end of the year, we introduce Christine Schildt, who together with her late husband Göran Schildt sailed around Greece until they landed on the little island of Leros.

All Finnish missions abroad and organisations issuing visas, including the Border Guard, Finnish Customs and the Police, started to use the new EU visa sticker on 11 November 2019

Mr. Bardhyl Minxhozhi, who is widely known as “Luli” has served as the Honorary Consul of Finland in Tirana, Albania since 2008. As the title says, Honorary Consul is an honorary position and he is representing Finland beside his own business activities. Finland does not have an Embassy in Tirana, but the Embassy of Finland in Athens is in charge of Albania.

From 1 October 2019, Schengen visas will be issued by the following seven embassies of Finland in Europe: Berlin, Dublin, London, Madrid, Nicosia, Sofia and Stockholm.