Some of the asylum seekers that have arrived in Finland want to return to their home countries and cancel their asylum applications.
If you want to return to your home country, you have two alternatives:
You can arrange the return journey yourself
You can arrange the return journey yourself if you have a valid passport and enough money to buy the travel tickets. Your reception centre cannot give you any money or assist you with buying the tickets or with obtaining a passport.
Follow these instructions:
- If you do not have a passport, contact the embassy or consulate of your home country. Contact details can be found, for example, on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
- Buy the travel tickets.
- Cancel your asylum application in person at a service point of the police, the Border Guard or the Finnish Immigration Service.
- Tell your reception centre that you are leaving.
If necessary, you may apply for assisted voluntary return
If you cannot pay for your return journey, you may be granted assistance for voluntary return. In this case, it takes several weeks at the very least to arrange the journey. The arrangements can be made more quickly if you have a valid passport.
Follow these instructions:
- Apply for assisted voluntary return at your reception centre. The reception centre or the Finnish Immigration Service will process your application.
- Cancel your asylum application in person at a service point of the police, the Border Guard or the Finnish Immigration Service.
- You cannot get assistance if your application is still pending.
If you are granted assistance for voluntary return, you can, for example, get assistance with your travel arrangements and with obtaining a passport as well as travel tickets to your home country. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) takes care of the arrangements.
More information can be found at www.migri.fi/return.
