Internal Affairs Ministers of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have signed a joint agreement proposing the introduction of biometric control.The four agreeing countries have land borders with three non-EU countries. They are Russia, Belarus & Norway.
Finland is introducing biometric residence permit cards at the beginning of 2012. At the same time residence permit stickers for travel documents will be discontinued.
Changes to the Aliens Act enter force on 1 January 2012, from which date the granting of biometric residence permit cards will begin. Technical delays in the introduction of fingerprint scanning mean that in the beginning fingerprints will only be added to card chips by degrees. If technical problems prevent the scanning of a residence permit applicant's fingerprints, a remark to this effect will be added to the residence permit card chip.
Notwithstanding this deficiency, the card remains a fully authoritative proof of the right of residence for the duration of its validity.
