Those who did not currently hold a Finnish passport or who had changed their details in the Population Registry since they last applied were warned on Tuesday that they would be unable to claim a new travel document.
The nationwide problem was announced in the early afternoon when police notified that they were unable to issue passports to people who did not already have a passport, or for those who had altered their official details – such as a name – since their last passport application.
At the time of the announcement it was not known how long the wait would be for those who found themselves stranded by the system failure. However, experts and police worked alongside the Population Register Centre to clarify the issue, announcing that they had engineered a solution later the same day.
It was found that upgrades to the encryption system over midsummer had prevented the passage of information between police and the Population Register Centre.