Finland has granted residence permits to a total of 900 Thai berry pickers, allowing them to enter the country for work purposes during the harvest season.
As the Finnish authorities disclosed, around 1,300 applications have been submitted by Thai berry pickers so far this year, and each one has already been processed.
Since the number was not that large, the authorities were able to process the applications more quickly and in time for the harvest season.
While 900 applications have been approved, the remaining 400 applications received a negative decision, mainly due to failure to meet all the requirements, Schengen.News reports.
Earlier in March, Finland suspended the reception of Schengen visa applications from berry pickers from Thailand for the second consecutive year.
Instead, for the first time ever, the country now requires Thai wild-berry pickers to obtain a residence permit for an employed person to be able to take up employment in the sector during the summer season.
Wild-berry pickers who come from Thailand to Finland are required to have a residence permit for an employed person this summer. All pickers have received a decision on their residence permit application.
The decision of Finland to require Thai wild-berry pickers to apply for residence permits has been taken in an attempt to put an end to labour exploitation and human trafficking.
Commenting on the requirement, Tuuli Huhtilainen, who is responsible for processing residence permit applications for work purposes, said that the move is necessary to assess applicants.
The same explained that this process permits the authorities to deny permits if they suspect that any worker is being exploited.
Permit Applications Have Been Processed Within 20 Days
Thai berry pickers have been able to make permit applications since the end of May and to ensure that the country has enough resources before the berries are ready to be picked, Finnish authorities took measures to process applications faster.
According to the Finnish Immigration Service, the permit applications submitted by Thai berry pickers have been processed within an average of 20 days for those who received positive decisions.
On the other hand, the processing time for negative decisions stood at 35 days.
This summer, the average processing time for positive decisions has been 20 days. The processing time for negative decisions has been slightly longer, 35 days.
In addition to Thai berry pickers, Finnish employers also have to complete some requirements and submit additional information that is necessary.
When Finland issues the permit to Thai berry pickers, the latter still need to get permission to leave Thailand from the local authorities.
