The asylum application process is being streamlined – One authority will conduct both the initial hearing and the asylum interview
Press release issued by the Finnish Immigration Service and the National Police Board on 30 October 2015
From the beginning of November, the police and the Finnish Immigration Service will adopt a common operating model in which a single authority will conduct both the initial hearing and the asylum interview at the same time.
The aim is to clear the accumulated backlog of applications. Some 22,000 registered asylum seekers are currently waiting for their asylum applications to be processed.
“With the same authority conducting both the initial hearing and the asylum interview at the same time, we can eliminate the long waiting period between the police investigation and asylum interview – which is currently several months,” says Superintendent Mia Poutanen of the National Police Board.
Once an asylum seeker has arrived in Finland and been registered, an initial hearing is arranged in which the person’s identity and travel route are established. Up to now, the hearing has been conducted by the police or the Finnish Border Guard, after which the applicant has had to wait for an asylum interview by the Finnish Immigration Service.
The initial hearings of asylum seekers will gradually be transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service
The initial hearing – currently conducted by the police – is planned to be transferred in phases from the police to the Finnish Immigration Service, to be held in connection with the asylum interview. According to the plans, the task will be completely handed over to the Finnish Immigration Service in March 2016.
“In addition to speeding up the processing, operational development and management will be easier when the process is controlled by a single entity,” comments Esko Repo, Director of the Asylum Unit at the Finnish Immigration Service.
During the transition period until the beginning of March, the asylum interview, normally the task of the Finnish Immigration Service, will be conducted by the police in connection with the initial hearing and vice versa. The two authorities will join forces to process applications using a single contact approach.
Police resources will be returned to other duties
Police departments have allocated temporary resources for the initial hearing of asylum seekers. These can now gradually be returned to other police duties. The police will continue to receive asylum applications and register asylum seekers after March 2016.
The police already began applying the single contact principle at the beginning of October by conducting the initial hearing of new asylum seekers immediately upon registration.
“At the Tornio registration centre alone, the police have arranged initial hearings according to this principle for some 520 applicants in just over two weeks. This procedure has saved an estimated 21,000 accommodation days in the processing of asylum applications, which translates into savings of nearly EUR 900,000,” notes Superintendent Mia Poutanen of the National Police Board.
Further information for the media:
Juha Similä, Head of Section, Asylum Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
