A user survey on UVI's web site

How to? Read other's experiences. Find useful advice on shipping, immigration, residence permits, visas and more.
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sy
Posts: 499
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:43 pm
Location: Helsinki

A user survey on UVI's web site

Post by sy » Sun Nov 30, 2003 12:28 pm

Hi all!

I found that there is a user survey going on when you visit UVI's web site http://www.uvi.fi. Please participate in the survey and give your feedbacks, positive or negative, to the last question. This way let's hope that our voices and concerns will be heard.



A user survey on UVI's web site

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Tom and Jerry

ulkomaalaisvirasto tehoton

Post by Tom and Jerry » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:35 pm

Since the ukranian family was sent back, a wild discusion is held on the opinion pages of HS.

Several people argue that the ulkomaalaisvirasto should be re-organized, stopped or shifted to another ministry, because the ulkomaalaisvirasto have shown for years that they have a very negative attitude towards immigrants.

Several bureaucrats have written answers in which they argue that they are very efficient, that all permit issues should be dealt with at their office and that it is unfair to accuse them.

Today Östen Wahlbeck from Turku writes about this:
mielestäni ulkomaalaisvirasto on omalla toiminnallaan vakuuttavasti osoittanut, ettei se kykene hoitamaan tehokkaasti ulkomaalaisasioita.

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Caroline
Posts: 1126
Joined: Sun Jul 13, 2003 8:38 pm

Re: ulkomaalaisvirasto tehoton

Post by Caroline » Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:17 pm

Tom and Jerry wrote:Since the ukranian family was sent back, a wild discusion is held on the opinion pages of HS.

Several people argue that the ulkomaalaisvirasto should be re-organized, stopped or shifted to another ministry, because the ulkomaalaisvirasto have shown for years that they have a very negative attitude towards immigrants.

I am curious as to how they are defining "immigrants"? By definition an immigrant is any person who moves to a foreign country with plans to live there permanently; which would include: refugees (asylum seekers), people who move to Finland because of job recruitment, foreign spouses of Finnish citizens, students, and theoretically...EU-citizens as well because they are not Finnish citizens even though they are guaranteed unlimited residency in Finland.

But more often than not, HS and UVI seem to always be referring to refugees/asylum-seekers when they say "immigrants". :?:
Former expat in Finland, now living in New Hampshire USA.

sy
Posts: 499
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2003 2:43 pm
Location: Helsinki

Post by sy » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:23 pm

In the Ukrainian family case, police gets away with clean hands, and the doctor and the nurse get away with only a written warning!

There is an external evaluation report on UVI (http://www.uvi.fi/pdf/Uvi_raportti.pdf) done two years ago. But I think problems listed there still exist now.

Talking about foreigners or immigrants in media, they are usually focusing on refugees/asylum seekers. However, there are also many problems, for example, for migrant workers and students.

Of course, UVI should be accused for not being efficient, for their negative attitude towards immigrants, and so on. However, the deeper problem lies on the fact that "in Finland there lacks an overall political strategy on immigration and foreign affairs that would give the direction to the execution of the policy of immigration and foreign affairs in a long term, while considering the international development and the harmonization among EU member states." (taken from the report)

A concrete example is that each year many foreign graduates immigrate to Canada (since Canada seems to be the easiest country to immigrate). What's the point to educate them for free and let them go away to work for another country. The major reason for them to leave Finland is that it's quite difficult to get the PR in Finland, while they can get PR immediately from Canada. We definitely need a better policy to encourage graduates to stay and work in Finland.

Tom and Jerry

Re: ulkomaalaisvirasto tehoton

Post by Tom and Jerry » Fri Dec 05, 2003 10:11 am

Caroline wrote:
I am curious as to how they are defining "immigrants"? By definition an immigrant is any person who moves to a foreign country with plans to live there permanently; which would include: refugees (asylum seekers), people who move to Finland because of job recruitment, foreign spouses of Finnish citizens, students, and theoretically...EU-citizens as well because they are not Finnish citizens even though they are guaranteed unlimited residency in Finland.

But more often than not, HS and UVI seem to always be referring to refugees/asylum-seekers when they say "immigrants". :?:
The difference between these words is culturally quite clear. However, juridically there is a huge difference between these groups:

Finnish citizens, Finns who return to Finland, EU-citizens, immigrants from other countries, refugees.

All HS, UVI and KELA are mixing these words and the people in these groups. All are very active to give the picture that anybody from outside Finland needs all kind of permits. This leads to annoying situation, when especially the KELA people donot know exactly who needs a visa and who not.


The words are in Finnish: ulkomaalainen, maahanmuuttaja, pakolainen, EU-kansalainen, paluumuuttaja. The term ulkomaalainen (foreigner) is used in the law. The others are more inofficial terms, I think.


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