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Negative decision

When the Finnish Immigration Service has made a decision on your asylum application, you will be informed about it by the Finnish Immigration Service or the police. The decision will be served to you in your mother tongue or another language that you have stated you understand. If necessary, we will use an interpreter or a translator when we serve the decision to you.

These links will take you directly to the different sections of the page:

Notification of the decision

Together with the decision, you will receive instructions for clients. The instructions can also be found on the page ‘Negative decision for an asylum seeker’.

If we make a negative decision on your application, you have the right to appeal against the decision to the Administrative Court. If you do not appeal the decision, you do not have the right to stay in Finland and you must leave the country.

If you wish to leave Finland, you can apply for assisted voluntary return.

Watch a video about negative decisions.

If you are applying for asylum and some other residence permit at the same time, your applications are processed separately at the Finnish Immigration Service. When you receive a decision on one of your applications, the processing of your other application will continue at the Finnish Immigration Service normally.

You cannot get a residence permit in Finland on the basis of studies, work or pursuing a trade if you are staying in Finland and

  • you have applied for asylum and have not received a decision on your application yet or 
  • you have received a negative decision on your asylum application.

For more information, see the page Asylum seeker’s right to work.

Appealing a decision

If you receive a negative decision on your asylum application, you have the right to appeal against the decision to an Administrative Court.

Appeal instructions will be attached to the asylum decision you receive. The instructions specify the Administrative Court to which you may appeal, the appeal period, the attachments needed, and the ways you may submit your appeal to the Administrative Court.

When is a decision final?

If you do not appeal a decision, it will become final when the appeal period expires. At this point, the police may remove you from the country. If you have applied for assisted voluntary return, you will not be removed from Finland even if the decision which you have received is already final.

A decision is also final in the following situations:

  • You have not applied to the Supreme Administrative Court for leave to appeal a decision made by an Administrative Court, and the appeal period (30 days) expires.
  • The Supreme Administrative Court has not granted you leave to appeal a decision made by an Administrative Court.

Decisions that cannot be appealed

If you have cancelled your application and received a decision on its expiry, you cannot appeal this decision. Additionally, you cannot appeal a decision made by the Finnish Immigration Service to grant you a residence permit on the basis of temporary protection. It is also impossible to appeal a decision made by the Finnish Immigration Service to grant a residence permit to a foreign national who arrives in Finland as a quota refugee.

Hearing of an appeal by an Administrative Court

The Administrative Courts may reject your appeal or overturn a decision made by the Finnish Immigration Service. If an Administrative Court overturns a decision, it will send the matter back to the Finnish Immigration Service for processing.

If you have any questions about the processing of your matter after the Finnish Immigration Service has made a decision on it, you should contact your legal counsel. If you appeal a decision you have received, kindly direct your questions to the instance where your matter is being processed, such as an Administrative Court or the Supreme Administrative Court.

Appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court

If the Administrative Court rejects your appeal, you can continue appealing by lodging an appeal at the Supreme Administrative Court if it grants leave to appeal.

Removal from the country

When a residence permit on the basis of international protection or temporary protection is not granted to you, the Finnish Immigration Service will usually issue a decision on denial of admittance or stay in connection with the negative decision. If you have already held a residence permit in Finland or your valid residence permit is withdrawn, the Finnish Immigration Service makes a deportation decision for you. 

At the same time, the Finnish Immigration Service usually gives you 30 days to leave Finland voluntarily. If you do not leave Finland within this time, the police may remove you from the country.

Usually, there will not be time reserved for voluntary return if the Finnish Immigration Service has applied the border procedure to your application. Read more about the border procedure.

When will the actual removal from the country happen?

Removal from the country involves first a decision by the Finnish Immigration Service on either denial of admittance or stay or on deportation. If you do not leave the country, the police will enforce the removal from the country. 

Removal from the country when you have appealed

If you have appealed against the decision to an administrative court, the police cannot remove you from the country before the administrative court has made a decision on your matter. If you have applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, the police can remove you from the country, unless the Supreme Administrative Court expressly orders that you may not be removed from the country.

Removal from the country immediately after service of decision on denial of admittance or stay or on deportation

The police may remove you from the country immediately after you have been served with a decision on removal from the country if: 

  • you can be sent to another country that is responsible for examining your asylum application according to the Dublin Regulation;
  • you can be sent to another EU member state where you have received international protection;
  • you have cancelled your application and received a decision on its expiry; or
  • you have submitted a subsequent application which does not contain any new grounds that would influence our decision on your matter.

Removal from the country on the 8th day after service of decision on denial of admittance or stay or on deportation

The police may remove you from the country on the 8th day after you have been served with a decision on removal from the country if: 

  • you have arrived from a safe country of asylum; or
  • your application has been rejected in an accelerated procedure and has been found to be manifestly unfounded.

In all of these cases, you may request an administrative court to prohibit the enforcement of the decision on denial of admittance or stay or on deportation. In that case, you must apply for a prohibition of enforcement within 7 days (including 5 working days) after the decision has been served on you.

The administrative court makes its decision on your prohibition application within 7 days (including 5 working days). The police cannot remove you from the country before the administrative court has processed your application for a prohibition of enforcement.

Read more

Termination of reception services

After your asylum application has been processed, you need to leave the reception centre.

If the police are unable to remove you from Finland but it would be possible for you to return to your home country on your own initiative, you may use reception services for an additional 30 days. For example, it may be impossible to remove you from the country if there are no suitable traffic connections or if your home country refuses to receive persons who return under police escort.

The police will inform the reception centre if it is impossible to refuse you entry and you cannot be returned to your home country. After this, you will have 30 days to return to your home country on your own initiative or apply for assisted voluntary return.

After 30 days, you will no longer receive reception services. This means that you can no longer stay at the reception centre and you will no longer receive a reception allowance or other services offered by the reception centre, such as health care.

Children who have arrived in Finland without a guardian are an exception. Their reception services will not end. In other words, children can continue to live at the reception centre until they are removed from Finland.

If the Finnish Immigration Service applies the border procedure to your application and the police remove you from the country, your reception services will end when you are removed from the country.

Statistics

Statistics on asylum seekers whose reception services have been terminated can be found on the statistics page that contains information about reception centres.