On 20-23 February, the SCOP project organised a study visit on migration and digitalisation for the representatives of the Inspectorate General for Migration (IGM) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova, in Tallinn, Estonia.
The aim of the study visit was to gather information on migration procedures and residence regulations in Estonia and observe the working processes related to the procedures for new arrivals. The questions concerned: residence permits and application procedure, how these processes are managed electronically, how the Estonian state institutions deal with personal data protection and how they manage their internal system and databases.
A three-day agenda comprised of visits to the most relevant stakeholders managing main aspects of migration:
- The Ministry of the Internal Affairs;
- Police and Border Guard Board and its Service Office currently responsible for the applying TPD in Estonia;
- Ministry of Culture dealing with some aspects of integration and currently providing a wide range of services to Ukrainian refugees;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs: policy section, visa and consular affairs and NGOs such as:
- E-Estonia Briefing Centre,
- Integration Foundation,
- Estonian Refugee Council and International House of Estonia.
The Moldovan delegation welcomed the opportunity to engage in active discussions with the wide range of host institutions who openly shared their experience about digitalisation in migration. As part of this component, the project aims to support the Inspectorate to optimise business processes, analyse their workflows, make assessment of the data protection status-quo, provide recommendations on managing processes digitally and develop an internal system of foreigners. The project is funded by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF).