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Accelerated procedure

Under law, the Finnish Immigration Service must accelerate the examination of an application for international protection if the application can be considered to show signs of abuse of the asylum process.

In an accelerated examination procedure, the Finnish Immigration Service processes your application more quickly than in the normal procedure and, as a rule, within a maximum of 3 months of the lodging of the application. The Finnish Immigration Service arranges an asylum interview with you either when you lodge the application or very soon thereafter. Usually, you will receive an invitation to an asylum interview within 1–3 weeks of when you lodged your application.    

You will be notified if your application is referred to the accelerated procedure or if your application is moved from the accelerated procedure to another procedure.

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Situations where your application is referred to the accelerated procedure

The Finnish Immigration Service processes your application in an accelerated procedure in the following cases:

  • You have not presented such persecution or violations of human rights as grounds for your application that would entitle you to receive international protection.
  • You have presented clearly implausible claims as the basis for your application.
  • You have intentionally misled the authorities because:
    • you have presented false information or documents 
    • you have intentionally withheld information that is relevant to your application
    • you have intentionally withheld documents concerning your identity or nationality that could have had a negative impact on the decision.
  • Finnish authorities have grounds to consider that you, with fraudulent intent, have destroyed or disposed of an identity or travel document that would have helped establish your identity or nationality.
  • You have made the application merely to delay or prevent the enforcement of a decision which would result in your removal from the country.
  • You have arrived from a safe country of origin where you may be returned.
  • The authorities have reasonable grounds to consider you a danger to the national security or public order of the EU Member States, or Finnish authorities have forcibly expelled you from the country for serious reasons of public security or public order. 
  • You have made a subsequent application that meets the admissibility criteria laid down by law.
  • You have entered Finland or prolonged your stay in Finland unlawfully and, without lawful reason, you have not presented yourself to the authorities or not made an application for international protection as soon as possible after your entry into the country. 
  • You have entered the territory of an EU Member State lawfully and, without good reason, have not made an application for international protection as soon as possible, given the grounds you have presented for your application.
    • In these situations, the possibility that your need for international protection may have arisen only after you have arrived in the territory of an EU Member State will be taken into account.
  • At EU level, less than 20 per cent of applications for international protection submitted by citizens of your country of nationality or by citizens of your country of habitual residence lead to granting of international protection.

Accelerated procedure for unaccompanied children

Applications submitted by unaccompanied minors are processed by the Finnish Immigration Service in an accelerated procedure only in the following cases:

  • The child has arrived from a safe country of origin where he or she may be returned.
  • The application is a subsequent application that meets the admissibility criteria laid down by law.
  • The child has, after having been provided with the full opportunity to show good cause, intentionally misled the authorities by:
    • presenting false information or documents or 
    • intentionally withholding documents concerning his or her identity or nationality that could have had a negative impact on the decision.
  • The authorities have clear grounds to consider that the child has intentionally withheld information that is relevant to the application.
  • The authorities have grounds to consider that the child has, with fraudulent intent, destroyed or disposed of an identity or travel document in order to prevent the establishment of his or her identity or nationality.
  • At EU level, less than 20 per cent of applications for international protection submitted by citizens of the child’s country of nationality or by citizens of the child’s country of habitual residence lead to granting of international protection.
  • The authorities have reasonable grounds to consider the child a danger to the national security or public order of the EU Member State, or Finnish authorities have forcibly expelled the child for serious reasons of public security or public order.

Notification of change from accelerated procedure to another procedure

Your application may be moved from the accelerated procedure to another procedure if the requirements for an accelerated procedure are no longer met, or if the examination of the application involves issues that are too complex to be examined under an accelerated examination procedure.

Implications of accelerated procedure

If the Finnish Immigration Service rejects your application in an accelerated procedure, it may consider your application manifestly unfounded. When your application has been rejected as unfounded or manifestly unfounded in an accelerated procedure, you may be removed from the country faster than in other situations, and an entry ban may be imposed on you.

If you wish to appeal against the decision, you must lodge an appeal within 10 days of being served with the decision. You do not have an automatic right to stay in Finland. Instead, you must make an application for permission to remain on the territory of Finland for the appeal procedure, and you must submit the permission application within 7 days of being served with the decision.

Effect of special needs on accelerated procedure

If the Finnish Immigration Service considers that you have certain special needs as laid down by law, you have the right to receive support so that you can benefit from the rights connected with the asylum procedure and comply with your obligations related to the asylum procedure.

If the Finnish Immigration Service deems that such support cannot be provided within the framework of the accelerated procedure, your application will be moved to another procedure.

What is a safe country of origin?

A safe country of origin is a state where there is no risk of persecution or serious violations of human rights. 

At EU level, candidate countries for membership of the European Union are regarded as safe countries of origin under certain conditions. Also the following contries are regarded as safe countries of origin at EU level: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia.

When assessing safety, the Finnish Immigration Service pays attention to the following questions in particular:

  • Does the state have a stable and democratic social system?
  • Does the state have an independent and impartial judicial system and does the administration of justice meet the requirements for a fair trial?
  • Has the state signed the main international human rights treaties and does the state adhere to them?
  • Have there been serious violations of human rights in the state?

You also have the possibility to withdraw your application for international protection. Read the instructions on how to cancel your application.