Are you in Finland and have you been granted international protection in Greece? If you are pregnant or have underage children with you, there have been changes to the processing of your asylum application
This customer bulletin contains outdated information.
The Finnish Immigration Service has updated its guidelines regarding the processing of asylum applications made by persons who have been granted international protection in Greece and are currently in Finland. International protection means that you have been granted asylum or subsidiary protection.
The changes concern families with children and pregnant women. According to the new guidelines, the Finnish Immigration Service will issue a residence permit on humanitarian grounds to all asylum seekers who meet the relevant requirements, have been granted international protection in Greece and are currently in Finland, if
- the persons concerned are a family with underage children, or a pregnant asylum seeker, and
- no decision has yet been made on the asylum application.
Each application will be considered individually in order to determine whether the requirements for a residence permit are met. We will issue residence permits on humanitarian grounds to families with children and pregnant women because we consider that returning to Greece would be manifestly unreasonable for them in light of the currently limited availability of public services in that country. The new guidelines take particular account of the best interest of children. Permits will be issued for one year at a time.
Your application will be processed as follows:
You do not need to take any action. Wait for the authorities to process your application.
1. If a decision has not yet been made on your asylum application
- Wait for the decision. We will make a decision on your application as soon as possible in accordance with the updated guidelines.
- If you are still waiting for your asylum interview, the decision will be made immediately after the interview.
2. If you have appealed against a decision and the matter is to be decided by an appellate court (an administrative court or the Supreme Administrative Court)
- Wait for the decision of the appellate court. We will inform the appellate courts of the updated guidelines. Matters that are returned to the Finnish Immigration Service by the appellate courts will be decided quickly.
For more information, see:
Language versions
Versions in Arabic, Dari, French, Kurmandzi, Kurdish Sorani, Persian, Russian, Somali, Spanish and Turkish will be added later.
Updated 8 August 2023: This customer bulletin contains outdated information. Additional language versions will not be published because the customer bulletin contains outdated information. A link to the new customer bulletin published on 8 August 2023 has been added.
