Pentti Visanen

The Government programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen´s second Cabinet includes several entries, related to immigration, with objectives to generate an active, comprehensive and consistent policy, with due regard to the need for labour, the often diverse background of the immigrants as well as Finland´s international obligations. As part of this goal, the Directorate of Immigration will become the Immigration Department. This is not just a question of adopting a new name. Instead, the Government programme requires the authorities to contribute to a greater transparency, a better service and a more competitive immigration policy as well as to accelerating the decision-making process and improving the predictability of their actions. 

As stated in the Government programme, a unit responsible for migration and integration will be established within the Ministry of the Interior. It will include the Immigration Department of the Ministry of the Interior and the Directorate of Immigration operating under its auspices. Other units to be relocated from the Ministry of Labour will include at least the Immigration Policy Team of the Policy Department, the Immigration and Work Permit Team of the Labour Market Policy Implementation Department, the Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations and Reception Centres. For the new entity to be formed, a special unit for integration will be created. The Office for the Ombudsman for Minorities and the National Discrimination Board will be relocated from the Ministry of Labour to the Ministry of the Interior.

Promoting an active immigration policy

Once informed about the changes in the ministerial fields, due to the Government programme, the Ministry of the Interior engaged in preparing for them. The Ministry presents a vision of Finland as being the most secure and pluralistic country in Europe, whose international competitiveness is supported by an active immigration policy as well as everybody´s experience of living in society, based on equality and safety. To manage the changes, three working groups have been set, with a focus on combating racism and discrimination and preparing the legal and basic rights as well as financial, administrative, personnel and data administration issues. A separate steering team has been appointed to monitor their work.

The preparatory immigration and integration team has been working on issues concerning immigration and integration, under my management. The tasks have included preparing for the promotion of affairs, related to immigration, integration, refugees, good ethnic relations, and, in terms of expatriate Finns, implementing reforms in matters concerning them, as stated in the Government programme, and monitoring the practical preparations. The team has outlined the framework for a future immigration strategy and made a proposal for an organisational structure in the Ministry of the Interior and the related administrative branch. The division of duties between the Ministry of the Interior and the Directorate of Immigration as well as the needs of regional and local administration have also been considered. In addition, the team has defined the needs for amending the legislation, caused by the changes, and the future operational areas of priority. The team members consist of civil servants working for the Immigration Department of the Ministry of the Interior, the Immigration Policy Team of the Policy Department and the Immigration and Work Permit Team of the Labour market Policy Implementation Department of the Ministry of Labour, the Directorate of Immigration, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The team also comprises representatives of the staff.

The Immigration Department with four units

The Immigration Department, due to start on 1st January 2008, will have four units, including the management support, migration, international protection and integration. Within the Ministry of the Interior, a new legal unit will be founded to match issues of equality and discrimination at the beginning of next year. The unit division of the Immigration Department is based on the central task entities, determined by a survey on the tasks delivered at the early phase of the preparation work, and on the items highlighted in the Government programme and the immigration policy. The units have adopted the view of sharing certain basic processes, such as preparing the statutes and the management by results of the subordinate administration. Promoting good ethnic relations is a shared principle of the whole department. The Ministry of the Interior aims at responding to the challenges of the immigration policy better than at present. Centralising immigration affairs at the Ministry of the Interior will be the first step. In the future, a close collaboration with various operators will be of even greater importance.