Foreign Ministry's press releases

A legislative amendment, which will enter into force in June, will enable the introduction of a long-term visa. A long-term visa is related to work-based immigration and a fast track procedure for entry into the country. In the first phase, a long-term visa can be issued to senior specialists, start-up entrepreneurs and their family members.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit Ankara on 8 February. During his visit, Minister Haavisto will discuss the bilateral relations between Finland and Turkey and topical foreign policy themes.

Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality Thomas Blomqvist will attend a virtual meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation on 8 February. This will be the first meeting during Norway’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2022. Finland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers ended at the turn of the year.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit Tehran on 7 February. During the visit, Minister Haavisto will meet, for example, President Ebrahim Raisi and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian as well as heads of the Iranian offices of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and other representatives of the international community.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit Doha, Qatar, on 6 February. During his visit, Minister Haavisto will meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and representatives of the international community.

On 3 February 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared inadmissible two applications concerning the length of proceedings for damages in a criminal case.

The time limit for lodging an application before the European Court of Human Rights will be reduced from the current six months to four months on 1 February 2022.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen will visit Sweden on 2 February and meet with Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde and Minister of Defence Peter Hultqvist.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will visit Saudi Arabia and Oman from 30 January to 3 February 2022. During his visit, the Minister will meet Saudi Arabian and Omani ministers and representatives of business life. He will also participate in LEAP, a global technology and innovation event, held in Riyadh from 1 to 3 February 2022.

Finnish diplomats have been targets of cyber espionage by means of the Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group Technologies, which has received wide publicity. The highly sophisticated malware has infected users’ Apple or Android telephones without their noticing and without any action from the user’s part. Through the spyware, the perpetrators may have been able to harvest data from the device and exploit its features.