Finland – Changes to Residence Permit Application Procedures; and New Posted Worker Notification Requirement
Proving Identity
Effective November 10, 2016, an applicant will have to prove their identity in person and submit original documents within three months, rather than one month as previously.
The change also applies to applicants who submitted their online application before November 10, but have not yet proved their identity. As an example, if an application was submitted on November 9, 2016, the applicant needs to prove their identity by February 9, 2017 at the latest.
The applicant needs to book an appointment at a Finnish mission to prove their identity for applications lodged from abroad. For an application in Finland, the applicant must visit a police department until the end of 2016. Beginning in 2017, the applicant will need to visit a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service to prove their identity.
Applicants have to prove their identity in person after submitting an application for a residence permit, EU registration, or Finnish citizenship via the e-service Enter Finland. The application will be put in in the processing queue immediately after the applicant has proved their identity.
The applicant must take their passport to the appointment, as well as a passport photo and originals of any documents they submitted in support of their electronic application.
Posted Worker Notification
Beginning January 1, 2017, any employer, based either within or outside the EU, posting employees to Finland to perform work under a service contract, as an internal transfer within the same group of companies or as a temporary agency worker, must notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSH) in Finland.
The notification must be given immediately before the work agreed upon in the contract starts. Reporting is not needed when workers are transferred within the same group of companies for a maximum of five days, except when the company operates in the construction sector.
The means by which the notification must be made have not yet been announced, but the notification must contain:
- Identifying details of the company, contact information, foreign tax identification number and information on the responsible persons of the posting company in the country where the company is established;
- Identifying details and contact information of the contractor;
- Identifying details and contact information of the builder and the main contractor for companies in the construction sector;
- Estimated number of posted workers
- Identifying details and contact information of the postings company´s representative in Finland or information indicating why a representative must not be selected;
- Starting date of the posting of workers and the estimated duration of the posting;
- Place where the work will be carried out; and
- Branch in which the worker will work.
The posting company must immediately report any significant changes to this information during the posting. Should the posting company not fulfil its reporting duty, it will be required to pay a penalty fee for negligence.