The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) confirmed that its national telephone helpline and all physical customer-service points would remain closed on 7 and 8 October as technicians carry out a planned systems upgrade. Signs explaining the closure were posted at service centres, and Migri’s website urges customers to use the Enter Finland e-service or secure e-mail for urgent matters. According to Migri’s IT director, the shutdown allows a major database migration that will integrate new EU asylum-procedure modules ahead of the 12 June 2026 Common European Asylum System reforms. “We are moving sensitive biometric and case-management data to a higher-capacity platform,” he said, adding that the window was chosen because application volumes are historically low at the start of October. Business travellers and employers should note that no residence-permit cards can be collected and no biometrics can be enrolled during the outage. Employers filing fast-track specialist permits are advised to upload documentation in Enter Finland and book appointments from 9 October onward. Migri stresses that application deadlines will be extended automatically if a customer’s scheduled appointment fell on the closure days. Automatic e-mails confirming new times will be sent once the system is back online. The agency expects normal service to resume at 08:30 on Friday, 9 October, although minor delays in case-status updates may persist through the weekend as background synchronisation tasks finish.
Source: Finnish Immigration Service
