UMPIO project develops broad interoperability in visa procedure

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ project on interoperability (the UMPIO project) coordinates the data related to internal security, border security and migration management in the EU information systems. The UMPIO project will not create its own information system; it is a funding project to develop EU-wide interoperability within the existing national information systems.

Objectives of the project

The UMPIO project aims to achieve the EU’s common goal in the visa procedure to improve the security of the Schengen area. As regards the information systems in the administrative branch of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the aim is a smooth flow of border traffic, better detection of security threats and the combating of identity fraud and illegal entry when the visa procedure uses the interoperability component functionalities related to EU information systems for internal security, border security and migration management.

The UMPIO project is part of a major project to develop the interoperability of information systems for security involving the EU Member States and the Schengen Community, EU agencies such as Frontex and Europol, and eu-LISA, the EU Agency for large-scale IT systems. Interoperability will consolidate border and visa policies.

The Ministry of the Interior coordinates the work in Finland in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance as well as the National Police Board, the Finnish Border Guard, the Legal Register Centre, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, the Government Centre for Information and Communication Technologies, and the Finnish Customs.

The project to develop interoperability implements in its entirety the obligations under EU Regulations 2019/817 and 2019/818, which are binding on the Member States. A national interoperability functionality has to be implemented in accordance with the national Act (Act on the interoperability of information systems in the European Union 28.10.2022/875, in Finnish)(Link to another website.) within the set timeframe.

Implementation

The Immigration Process and System team in the Foreign Ministry’s Information Management sector implements the UMPIO project together with the Ministry’s Visa Unit and the visa information system supplier. The project’s results will be reflected in the visa procedure as changed functions in the VISA national visa information system. The project manager is Tarja Nylander.

Information systems covered by European interoperability and the relevant national authorities in Finland:

• EU Visa Information System (VIS) | Ministry for Foreign Affairs
• European system for the comparison of fingerprints of asylum applicants (Eurodac) | Finnish Immigration Service
• Schengen Information System (SIS) | National Police Board
• Entry/Exit System (EES) | Border Guard
• European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) | Border Guard
• A centralised system for the identification of Member States holding conviction information on third-country nationals and stateless persons (ECRIS-TCN) | Ministry of Justice

Funding

The UMPIO project has been granted EUR 1,813,182,30 in funding through the EU’s Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI)(Link to another website.) for the period 1 February 2022 – 31 January 2025.

Timetable

The UMPIO project has been developing the interoperability of the VISA national visa information system since 2022. The UMPIO funding project will end at the beginning of 2025.

The major interoperability project has been under way for several years. In October 2023, the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council endorsed a new roadmap and a new timeline, according to which all systems and components should be fully running by early 2028.

The timetable for introducing information systems and interoperability components will be decided on in the EU. The first system to be introduced is the Entry/Exit system (EES) at the end of 2024.