Finland to reduce time for grant of work visas to under two weeks

The Finnish government plans to reduce the time taken to grant work visas to just one to two weeks by next year, the country's Minister of Employment, Harakka, said on Thursday.

The move was aimed at attracting more software professionals from countries like India, he said.

"For these expert visas and for these expert work permits, which require a certain (level of) income, but are also on the express lane on permits, we are aiming to get these things handled in one or two weeks," the minister said.

"We are looking to shorten the time frame. This we can achieve next year because we are shifting the whole process of immigration - work-based and study-based immigration - to my Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment from the Interior Ministry," he added.