Finnish representations processed more than 800,000 visa applications in 2008
Press release 3/2009
9 January, 2009
Finnish representations around the world treated 806,156 visa applications in total in 2008, which is 12% more than in the previous year (718,483). The number of applications was higher than ever before.
More than 90% of the applications (a total of 742,237) were processed in the four Finnish representations in Russia where the number of applications increased with 15% last year. 144,204 visa applications were processed at the Embassy of Moscow and 524,404 at the Consulate General in St. Petersburg. The two separate offices in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk that operate under the administration of the Consulate General processed 54,268 and 19,361 applications.
Representations that processed more than 5,000 applications also included the Embassy in Kiev (12,496), the Embassy in New Delhi (6,970), the Embassy in Bangkok (5,776), the Embassy in Beijing (5,765) and the Consulate General in Shanghai (5,276).
11,850 negative visa decisions were issued at the representations last year, a total of 1.5% of all applications. The amount of negative decisions varies greatly depending on the country. The representation issuing the most negative decisions was Finland's Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria (78%), and the least – under 0.5% - in for example Murmansk and London.
The Ministry invests in visa operations
In 2007, the Foreign Minister launched a so-called visa project which aims at developing the visa operations at the big visa representations in Russia and Ukraine due to high numbers of applications causing long waiting times at our representations. Improving the visa operations serves two purposes: it enables to provide good customer service but it is also a national benefit considering tourism from Russia to Finland is a significant source of employment. Out of all Schengen countries Finland is the one that processes the most visa applications in Russia.
Finland's principle is that a visa will be granted to the applicant if there are no specific obstacles. In Russia, following its national guidelines Finland implies in full the flexibilities laid down in the Schengen regulations and in the Visa Facilitation Agreement between the EU and Russia. Out of all visas granted by Finland in Russia, more than 80% are long-duration multiple-entry visas. The granting of such visas has been made possible by our well functioning visa data system which allows real-time checks on the visa and by an excellent national cooperation among authorities. Moreover, Finland hasn’t automatically required a visa invitation. Several other Schengen countries have even considered Finland’s visa guidelines too flexible.
In order to maintain our flexible visa operations, the visa representations in Russia and in Ukraine have invested considerably in human resources, for instance. The technology is also being developed. As part of the visa project, a new centre was established in the summer of 2008 in Onttola, Kontiolahti, to assist the busy representations in Petrozavodsk and in St. Petersburg. It has been decided to keep the centre operational at least until September 2009.
It is still too early to estimate the effect of the global financial situation on the number of visa applications, for instance in the Finnish representations in Russia. However, the number of applications at the Finnish Embassy in Moscow decreased slightly in November-December compared to the previous year, as well as compared to the year 2006 when there was a very high increase in the demand of visas at the Finnish representations in Russia.
More information: First Secretary Vesa Häkkinen, Unit for Passports and Visas, Consular Services, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5219, +358 40 726 1379