Internal transfers of asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU members states are about to begin. Today, Monday 12 October, Finland announced we would accept the first group of 100 persons from Italy and of 50 persons from Greece.
Pursuant to a European Council decision, the asylum seekers must be transferred to Finland within two months of the announcement. This means that the first group of transferred asylum seekers would arrive by 12 December. Finland will be notified of the transfers in advance.
Groups of a few hundred people will be transferred at approximately three-month intervals. Not all persons will arrive in Finland at the same time; instead, they will arrive in groups within an agreed time frame. Finland is required to notify Italy or Greece of the acceptance of the next group no later than on 12 January, after which the country in question has about two months to send the asylum-seekers to Finland.
3,200 people to be transferred in two years
Finland has agreed to accept approximately 3,200 asylum seekers transferred internally from Italy and Greece within two years. At the moment, a decision has been made regarding the transfer of 2,078 people, and a decision regarding the allocation of the remaining approximately 1,150 people will be made later.
The asylum seekers arriving in Finland through internal transfers will not be automatically granted asylum or a residence permit in Finland. Their applications will be processed in the same way as those of any other asylum seekers. The only difference is that the Dublin Regulation will not be applied to them.
Following a transfer, Finland becomes the state responsible for processing the person's application. If the person in question leaves Finland and seeks asylum in another state, Finland has the obligation to take the person back under the Dublin Regulation.
Finland may not decide the country of origin or the age of the asylum seekers Italy and Greece will transfer. Nor can we choose whether the people are families, single adults, or children. The Council decision gives priority to the most vulnerable people.
Further information for the media
Kukka Krüger, Head of Section, Asylum Unit
tel. 0295 430 431, firstname.lastname@migri.fi
