Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Data collection on EU Blue Cards statistics based on the EU Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. EU Blue Cards statistics were produced under Directive 2009/50/EC. As of 19 November 2023, this Directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics apply from the reference period 2024.
The following datasets were collected under the initial framework by 2023:
EU Blue Cards by type of decision, occupation and citizenship (migr_resbc1);
Admitted family members of EU Blue Cards holders by type of decision and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Cards holders and family members by Member State of previous residence (migr_resbc3).
Starting from the reference period 2024, EU Blue Cards statistics cover the following datasets:
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and occupation (migr_resbc11);
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and size of employer (migr_resbc12);
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity duration, age, sex, citizenship and economic sector of employer (migr_resbc13);
Persons subject to decisions on residence permits for family reunification with EU Blue Card holders, by duration, age, sex and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Card holders admitted for long-term mobility by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and previous country of residence (migr_resbc31);
EU Blue Card holders’ family members admitted for long-term mobility by age, sex, citizenship, and previous country of residence (migr_resbc34);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and occupation (migr_resbc41);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and size of employer (migr_resbc42);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and economic sector of employer (migr_resbc43);
EU Blue Cards granted to beneficiaries of international protection by length of validity, age, sex and citizenship of the holder (migr_resbc5);
EU Blue Cards granted to beneficiary of free movement rights by length of validity, age, sex and citizenship of the holder (migr_resbc6);
Long-term permits granted to former EU Blue Card holders by age, sex, and citizenship (migr_resbc7).
Directive 2009/50/EC was transposed at national level on 01 January 2012.
Directive (EU) 2021/1883 was transposed at national level on 13 May 2024.
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Residence permits statistics, EU Blue Cards.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Number of persons.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.7. Reference area
Finland.
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Data collection on EU Blue Cards statistics based on EU Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. The EU Blue Cards statistics is produced under the Directive 2009/50/EC. From 19 November 2023 this directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics are applicable starting with 2024 reference period. The legal acts detail the data provisions Member States are obliged to supply to Eurostat.
Statistics Act 280/2004 grants Finnish Immigration Service its mandate and responsibilities as a role of Other National Statistics Authority (ONA) when producing European and other official national statistics.
The main source for data is the national UMA-register which is owned by the FIS who has direct authority over it. No data are shared throughout the statistics production processes.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society. The General Data Protection Regulation applies in Finland.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Data Protection Regulation applies in Finland.
8.1. Release calendar
No national dissemination.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
No national releases. See Eurostat release policy.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
No national dissemination.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
No national dissemination.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
No national dissemination.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Member States have the responsibility of providing statistics to Eurostat in accordance with the Directive 2009/50/EC. From 19 November 2023 this directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics are applicable starting with 2024 reference period.
Eurostat provides Technical Guidelines to the countries describing the procedures and the quality requirements for the statistics collected. All the statistics are compiled according to technical guidelines.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Data quality management and assessments are an essential part of the continuing process of the administrative register development and maintenance. Statistics are based entirely on administrative register sources.
The statistics are produced in compliance with the Directive 2009/50/EC (from 19 November 2023 this directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883) and following guidelines and instructions provided by Eurostat. Consistency validation checks are performed before publishing the data.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Finnish Immigration Service attended a peer review (2021) with NSI and other ONAs where compliance with the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice (ES CoP) was analysed.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Statistics are nationally used by different end users e.g. policymakers, officials by national administrations, or academic researchers.
EU relevance: Within the Commission, the main user of migration and asylum statistics is DG Home Affairs. However, these statistics are also frequently used by other Directorates General. The statistics are used in several publications of the Commission, as well as in the preparation of regular reports, policy proposals and analysis. For example, the Commission's Annual Report on Immigration and Asylum uses these statistics as a means to quantify progress made towards the implementation of the 2008 European Pact on Immigration and Asylum and to highlight recommendations for further actions. Migration and asylum statistics are also used by the European Migration Network (EMN) as a basis for its annual EU- and national-level statistical and analytical reports. The statistics also provide an input to the EMN studies and reports that address specific issues of current policy importance. The statistics collected under the Regulation are widely used in official publications and by a wide range of users. In addition to publication on the Eurostat website and on-line dissemination database, there are regular Eurostat quarterly and annual publications that provide updated statistics and statistical commentary. The statistics produced under the Regulation are regularly used by national administrations, academic researchers and civil society groups working on a wide range of topics including the integration of immigrants, the development and monitoring of national asylum and immigration procedures, and the projection of the future population and labour force.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Statistics are produced using data from administrative registers. Overall data accuracy can be assessed as high.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Statistics are produced using data from administrative registers. No known processing errors. If errors are detected, they are corrected without delay according to the revision policy.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
No time lag on data availability. The data is produced and send to Eurostat within the mandatory deadlines.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There are not any problems of comparability between regions of the country.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
No applicable coherence deviations other than mentioned section 15.3.2.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Eurostat statistics and official national statistics on the same statistical phenomena have some differences in terms of definitions. ESS statistics follow the ESS Standards and technical guidelines.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal consistency is ensured through various time series-based validation checks during the data production process.
The statistics are based on administrative register data sources hence the cost and burden to produce the statistics can be assessed as moderate.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The general Eurostat revision policy applies. Data revisions are made only in case of a known error in the produced statistics.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
The statistics based on data from administrative registers are supplied to Eurostat via Edamis portal (CSV/SDMX format).
The data is collected from and provided by respondents during an administrative process of Finnish Immigration Service. Case management system (UMA) has data validation rules applied during administrative process of customer cases.
18.4. Data validation
In addition to data quality operations performed during maintenance of the administrative register and national statistics production, Eurostat validation checks apply when the statistics are delivered to Eurostat database.
Eurostat on data validation procedure: Before publishing the data, consistent validation checks are performed. The data is validated through all processing steps, combining manual/visual validation with some tools integrated within the templates and the production environment.
Data collection on EU Blue Cards statistics based on the EU Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. EU Blue Cards statistics were produced under Directive 2009/50/EC. As of 19 November 2023, this Directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics apply from the reference period 2024.
The following datasets were collected under the initial framework by 2023:
EU Blue Cards by type of decision, occupation and citizenship (migr_resbc1);
Admitted family members of EU Blue Cards holders by type of decision and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Cards holders and family members by Member State of previous residence (migr_resbc3).
Starting from the reference period 2024, EU Blue Cards statistics cover the following datasets:
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and occupation (migr_resbc11);
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and size of employer (migr_resbc12);
Persons subject to EU Blue Card decisions by length of validity duration, age, sex, citizenship and economic sector of employer (migr_resbc13);
Persons subject to decisions on residence permits for family reunification with EU Blue Card holders, by duration, age, sex and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Card holders admitted for long-term mobility by length of validity, age, sex, citizenship and previous country of residence (migr_resbc31);
EU Blue Card holders’ family members admitted for long-term mobility by age, sex, citizenship, and previous country of residence (migr_resbc34);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and occupation (migr_resbc41);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and size of employer (migr_resbc42);
Persons subject to a rejected application for EU Blue Cards by reason, age, sex, citizenship and economic sector of employer (migr_resbc43);
EU Blue Cards granted to beneficiaries of international protection by length of validity, age, sex and citizenship of the holder (migr_resbc5);
EU Blue Cards granted to beneficiary of free movement rights by length of validity, age, sex and citizenship of the holder (migr_resbc6);
Long-term permits granted to former EU Blue Card holders by age, sex, and citizenship (migr_resbc7).
Directive 2009/50/EC was transposed at national level on 01 January 2012.
Directive (EU) 2021/1883 was transposed at national level on 13 May 2024.
7 August 2026
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
Number of persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
Finland.
Calendar year.
Statistics are produced using data from administrative registers. Overall data accuracy can be assessed as high.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
Annual.
No time lag on data availability. The data is produced and send to Eurostat within the mandatory deadlines.
There are not any problems of comparability between regions of the country.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
