Reception services have been terminated between September and November for 113 asylum seekers who have received a negative decision
Receptions services are no longer provided between September and November for 113 asylum seekers who have received a negative decision. These asylum seekers have also received a decision on refusal of entry which can be enforced and the police have not been able to remove them from the country. This means that the asylum seekers in question have had to leave the reception centre and no longer qualify for reception services, such as accommodation and reception allowance.
Why do they have to leave the reception centre?
The persons in question have received a negative decision on their asylum application. The Finnish Immigration Service has examined their asylum applications and found that they do not have any grounds for receiving asylum, subsidiary protection or a residence permit on other grounds.
When the negative decision is legally binding, the person no longer has the right to receive reception services offered by the Finnish state.
Which law is this based on?
Section 51 of the Aliens Act was amended 1 July 2015. Before this amendment, asylum seekers could be granted a temporary residence permit in cases where they could not be removed from the country. This meant that asylum seekers who the police could not remove from the country, for example, because of the lack of transport connections or because the authorities in the person’s home country were not willing to receive a person who is forced to return, were granted a temporary residence permit.
The law was amended in such a way that if it is possible for the applicant to return voluntarily by himself or herself, he or she will no longer be granted a temporary permit.
Instead, the Finnish act on reception regulates reception services. According to Section 14 a of the act, reception services are provided for 30 days at the most after the police has informed the reception centre that the authorities are not able to remove the applicant from the country and the applicant has not applied for assisted voluntary return.
How soon does a person have to leave the reception centre?
The police inform the reception centre if the asylum seeker who has received a negative decision cannot be removed from the country. After that, the person in question can stay at the reception centre for up to 30 days. He or she can also apply for assisted voluntary return.
What happens when the time limit has expired?
When the time limit of 30 days has passed, the person has to leave the reception centre. The centre will remind the person ahead of time that the time limit is about to expire. The person has the whole time period of 30 days to leave on his or her own or to apply for assisted voluntary return.
When the time limit has expired, the right to stay at the centre ends. The persons will no longer receive reception allowance or other services at the centre. After the time limit has expired, the person is staying illegally in the country.
How is it possible that asylum seekers can return to their home country on their own if the police are not able to forcibly return them?
As strange as it sounds, often in situations where the authorities are not able to return a person to his or her home country, he or she can return on his or her own initiative by cooperating in the matter.
In many cases, the police are not able to enforce a refusal of entry/deportation because the authorities in the person’s home country are not willing to cooperate with the Finnish authorities. For example, the person in question may not be issued with documents required for the return.
The authorities may also not have the correct information about the person’s home country, domicile or identity.
Statistics on the termination of reception services can be found on the website migri.fi
We will start publishing statistics on the termination of reception services, which will be updated monthly. You can find the statistics on our statistics web pages under Statistics.
