Transit department for asylum seekers who return voluntarily to open in Vantaa

A transit department for asylum seekers who return voluntarily to their home country will be opened in Vantaa. The department will accommodate 90–100 people, but the accommodation capacity can be increased if necessary.

The transit department that is now being set up for those who return voluntarily is primarily intended for Iraqi asylum seekers who have cancelled their asylum application or received a negative asylum decision and want to return quickly to their home country. The police will take care of returning them to Iraq.

The idea with the transit department is to accommodate those who are returning closer to the airport, which facilitates travel arrangements and returning in a number of ways. If an asylum seeker returns through the transit department, his or her journey to Iraq will be arranged, but he or she will not receive financial assistance for voluntary return.

Others who return voluntarily can apply for assisted voluntary return

Asylum seekers who are returning to other countries than Iraq or need other assistance than a travel ticket can still apply for assisted voluntary return in their reception centre. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) takes care of the travel arrangements if the applicant is granted assistance for voluntary return. Last year, 631 applicants returned to their home country after receiving assistance for voluntary return. In addition, many asylum seekers have returned on their own initiative and at their own expense.

Those who return must, as a rule, pay for their return journey themselves. It is possible to get assistance for voluntary return or obtain travel tickets from the police only if the asylum seeker does not have the means to pay for the return journey.

Preparations are made to establish a separate return centre for asylum seekers who have received a negative decision

The Finnish Immigration Service is also planning to open a return centre for asylum seekers who are refused entry into Finland. The centre will be set up elsewhere than the transit department for asylum seekers who return voluntarily. The centre would accommodate asylum seekers who have received a negative decision and who are waiting for the enforcement of the decision on refusal of entry, in other words, removal from the country.

Planning is still required before the return centre can be set up. The Finnish Immigration Service and the Ministry of the Interior are creating an operation model for the centre and determining how it would differ from a detention unit. There are currently two detention units in Finland that operate under the act on the treatment of aliens placed in detention and on detention units. If an asylum seeker is placed in detention, he or she cannot move freely. The freedom of movement can be restricted on legal grounds only.

More information about the overall assessment of reception centres will be given on Friday.

Further information for the media

Transit department for asylum seekers who return voluntarily: Mari Helenius, Senior Adviser, Reception Unit, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi, tel. +358 295 430 431

Removals from the country carried out by the police: Jukka Hertell, Superintendent, National Police Board, e-mail: firstname.lastname@poliisi.fi, tel. +358 295 480 181