First it was the Social Security Institution (Kela), who warned about probable delays in payments of social benefits due to the postal strike which starts next week. A few hours later, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) also joined the list of institutions warning that their services may be affected during the two weeks that the conflict is scheduled to last.
The strike will start on Monday 11 November and will end on Sunday 24 November.
According to Migri's customer bulletin, as a result of this industrial action the letters sent by post by the Finnish Immigration Service "will probably arrive later than normal".
Likewise, letters sent to the Finnish Immigration Service may arrive later than they normally would. "For example, residence permit cards and decisions that are served might arrive later than usual," Migri says.
Exceeding due dates will not affect
According to Migri, the backlogs caused by the strike could continue to affect the handling of the mail even a few days after the end of the strike.
In its release, the Finnish Immigration Service made it clear that exceeding time limits due to the postal strike will not affect the customers' applications.
"If you have sent something to the Finnish Immigration Service by post and the delivery is late because of the postal strike, this will not affect the processing of your matter."
"If you have been asked to send additional documents by a certain date, for example, it does not matter if they arrive late due to the postal strike. We will still take the documents into account when we process your application."
Use online service
Migri recommends those customers who applied online to use the online service also to send any additional documents.
"If you have applied for a residence permit or citizenship in the online service Enter Finland, you can use Enter Finland to submit your documents to the Finnish Immigration Service. You will also be notified of the decision directly in Enter Finland," Migri remarked.
The strike does not affect residence permit card deliveries to Finnish missions abroad, because they are not delivered by Posti.
