HS Rautavaara | Locking bank IDs led the customer into a vicious circle – A simple solution was invented for a common problem

Look to the camera, the expression becomes serious and the flash light flashes.

In the council hall of Rautavaara municipality, a mass photographing of passport photos was organized on a winter Wednesday.

The photo got Rauvaara residents moving, as passport photo services are not normally available in the municipality.

The photo shoot organized now is part of the Henkkarit kalliki campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to help those residents of rural areas who do not have an official ID card or whose ID card is about to expire, in acquiring an official ID card.

Passport or obtaining a photo ID may be difficult for rural residents, especially those without a car and the elderly. Small towns don't have a photo studio or a police permit service point, let alone public transport to get to the nearest town to run errands.

In the campaign, applying for an ID is made easier by bringing a photographer to the scene. At the same event, advice and help for filling out the electronic identity card application is available.

On the second day, a bus transport to the nearest police permit service point is arranged for those whose application requires a visit to the police station.

Police Board according to about one million people living in Finland do not have a passport or identity card issued by Finland. Some of them may have a passport from another country, but it is possible that almost a million Finns are without an official identity card.

The law does not oblige Finnish citizens to have an identity document.

However, its absence can make it difficult to manage your own affairs. Especially when the services are increasingly electronic services, says Elina Huerta rural development association from Mansikka ry.

Huerta says that he has heard many stories about how it has become difficult or impossible to take care of one's own affairs.

A strong identification is required for the digital services of the tax authority or Kela or Omakanta for social and health services. It can be done, for example, with online banking credentials, but you can't get them without an official ID card.

For some, the lack of ID has prevented voting in the elections. Huerta says that he also heard of an elderly person who lived in a rural area, who paid his bills smoothly in the online bank, until he made a typo and the online bank credentials were locked. IDs were not opened even at the bank's branch, because the official identity card was missing.

A driver's license is not an official ID, although in some situations it is sufficient to prove identity or age.

in North Savo attempts have been made to lower the threshold for rural residents to obtain an official identity card.

The operation started from Vesanno. There, it was noticed that a large number of residents did not use digital services at all.

It turned out that many did not have online banking credentials. And many did not have an official identity card either, with which the online banking credentials could have been obtained from the bank.

“When this chain of why-why-why continued, we started to wonder if we could somehow make this issue easier,” says Huerta.

The municipality of Vesanto and Mansikka ry, which works in rural development, organized a passport photo day and, in the same connection, organized help and support in making electronic identity card applications. For the second day, a business trip was organized to the police's permit service point in a neighboring municipality.

The event was very popular. And when the information about the event spread to the neighboring municipalities, they wanted to organize something similar elsewhere as well.

Now Together with the municipalities, Mansikka ry has organized Henkkarit for All events in nine municipalities in North Savoia, including Rautavaara. The campaign is also financed by the welfare region of Pohjois Savo.

A total of around 950 people have been through passport photography.

“When this was organized for the first time, we had no idea how big it was. This is strongly related to digital exclusion,” says Huerta.

At risk, in a municipality with over 1,400 inhabitants, a total of 82 people had their passport photo taken during the day. Also Katri and Pentti Tuovinen.

Their photo ID cards are expiring in March, so the event was like an order for them. The people from Tuovi get around with their own car, so visiting a nearby town with a passport photo would have been successful even on your own.

But in my own church village, it was handled more easily.

Pentti and Katri Tuovinen were waiting at the municipal hall with their shift numbers to get a passport photo. Picture: Matti Vassinen

Tuovis also have online banking credentials, and they do their banking online.

The residents of Rovavara interviewed by HS, even the elderly, had online banking credentials. And no wonder, because there hasn't been a branch of any bank in the town for years.

Although the use of electronic services is not completely foreign to the Tuovis, they also made use of digital support at the municipal hall. The identity card applications were saved in t
he police system with the help of a digital adviser.

“We still have to walk in the grass because of fingerprints,” says Katri Tuovinen.

The couple is going on a carpool ride, for which a total of 31 visitors with passport photos signed up.

The following week, a bus transport will take them to the license services of the Nurme police station, where the whole day is reserved for dealing with dangerous matters.