Asylum in Finland

Processing of asylum applications

After you have visited the relevant authorities to make an application and to register it, the processing of your application begins at the Finnish Immigration Service.

Contents of this page:

Asylum interview

Before the interview, the Finnish Immigration Service reviews your application to be able to arrange an interview and to refer your application to the right procedure. We will also assess if you need special procedural guarantees. 

When you receive an invitation to an interview, the invitation will also contain a document with client instructions for the interview. The instructions explain what happens in the interview and what your rights and obligations are in the interview. Please read the instructions carefully.

Read more about how interviews and other meetings with the Finnish Immigration Service are arranged and who can be present at your asylum interview.

Where, when and how is the interview conducted?

The Finnish Immigration Service aims to hold your asylum interview as soon as possible, usually after you have lodged your application for international protection. However, if we are processing a large number of asylum applications, it may take some time before we can interview you. 

The Finnish Immigration Service books a time for your asylum interview and sends you an interview invitation. The invitation will state:

  • the exact time and place for your interview
  • whether the interview will be held in person at the Finnish Immigration Service or by video conference
  • language of interpreting.

You cannot change the interview time. Notify your reception centre immediately if you get sick, for example. The reception centre employees will then contact the Finnish Immigration Service. You will have to obtain a doctor’s certificate stating why you were unable to attend your interview on the scheduled interview day and submit the certificate to the Finnish Immigration Service within one week.

If you do not attend the interview without a justified reason, the Finnish Immigration Service may issue a decision on your application without an interview or consider your application implicitly withdrawn.

Matters discussed in the interview

Tell all the reasons why you are applying for international protection at the interview. You will have to talk about the threat that you have experienced in your home country or country of permanent residence, and about the events related to the threat.

If you have documents to support your statements, bring the documents with you to the interview, unless you have already handed them over to Finnish authorities earlier.

The decision on your asylum application will be based on:

  • the information you have given in your interview
  • the documents you have presented in connection with your application and
  • other information or documents received in the matter.

The interviewer will assess which factors in your statement or the documents you have presented are important for your application and, when necessary, asks you questions to guide you to talk about relevant factors. When making a decision on your asylum application, also the credibility of your statement will be assessed.

Recording of interview

Your asylum interview will always be recorded by the Finnish Immigration Service using audio means of recording. If you wish, you can request a copy of the audio recording by submitting a request for access to documents form. The recordings are stored for 10 years.  

You can get a copy of your interview recording free of charge. The copy will be delivered to you on a CD.

If you wish to record your own interview yourself, recording is possible only during the interview itself in the interview room. Always tell the interviewer if you are going to record your interview yourself.

If you choose to record your interview, remember:

  • Recording must not interfere with the interview. If your recording interferes with the work of the interviewer or the interpreter or keeps you distracted and you refuse to stop recording despite being requested to do so, the interview may be suspended.
  • If you choose to keep your mobile phone on to record the interview, you accept the data security risks associated with your choice. The Finnish Immigration Service recommends that you switch off your mobile phone for the duration of the interview if you do not use your phone for recording.
  • Bringing extra persons or equipment, such as lights, to the interview space for the purpose of recording is not allowed.

Asylum interview with a co-applicant child

Under law, the Finnish Immigration Service must give children who apply together with their family an opportunity to an asylum interview. An interview is not arranged if it is not in the best interests of the child. If the child refuses to be interviewed, the Finnish Immigration Service does not arrange an interview with the child. When the Finnish Immigration Service does not arrange an interview with the child, the decision on the child’s application for international protection contains an explanation of why it was deemed that an interview is not in the best interests of the child.

A child's asylum interview is conducted by a person who has the necessary knowledge of the rights and special needs of minors. The interview is conducted in a child-sensitive and context-appropriate manner, taking into consideration the age and maturity of the child.

A co-applicant child will be given an opportunity to tell in their own words about their own matters if they so wish. We do not investigate the credibility of what the child's parents or guardians have claimed when we interview the child.

When we interview a child or make a decision affecting a child, the child’s age and developmental stage will always be taken into account.

Children are usually interviewed on the same day as their parent or guardian

We will send a separate invitation to the child. The person who has custody of the child (the child's parent or guardian) is asked to attend the child’s interview. We will also shortly hear the child without the parent or guardian present.

In the interview, the child can talk about: 

  • their own fears and worries
  • any violations of the child’s rights that have occurred
  • other factors that are important for the child’s application for international protection.

The Finnish Immigration Service may also arrange an interview with the child at a later stage if the need arises.

After the interview

After your asylum interview, the Finnish Immigration Service continues to process your application. If we need additional information from you, we may send you a request for additional information or conduct a language analysis, for example. In some cases, we may invite you to a new interview because of the additional information obtained.

Additional information and documents

If we need additional information from you, we will send you a request for additional information by letter. The letter states the day when your response must reach the Finnish Immigration Service.

Respond to the request for additional information in time. It is your responsibility to ensure that your response reaches us within the time limit stated in the request. The Finnish Immigration Service may issue a decision on your application even if you do not submit the additional information in time.

If you have a counsel, he or she can send your response to the Finnish Immigration Service on your behalf. Discuss the matter with your counsel.

You can send additional information on your own initiative after the interview

If there are changes in your situation or you receive new information or documents for your application, you must send the additional information or documents to the Finnish Immigration Service after the interview. The documents can be, for instance, a medical certificate or an identity document if you have not submitted them yet. Send the documents as soon as possible. If you have a counsel, discuss the matter with him or her.

If your address, telephone number or email address changes during the processing of your application, inform your reception centre of the changes immediately.

Additions and amendments to the interview report

If the interviewer has not reviewed the interview report in full together with you at the asylum interview, you have been given a time limit by which you may submit your own additions and corrections to the interview report.

If you wish to send additions or corrections, send them to the Finnish Immigration Service, primarily by encrypted email. Write ‘PTK’ in the subject line of your message and include your customer number in the message field. 

It is also possible to bring the documents to a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service or send them by post. Write the reference ‘PTK’ and your customer number on the envelope. Read the instructions on how to send us additional information and documents.   

How to send additional information for your application for international protection

You can send additional information and documents to the Finnish Immigration Service either by email or by letter. Alternatively, you can bring the documents to one of the service points of the Finnish Immigration Service. Remember to include your customer number and diary number in the documents. You can find your customer number and diary number in the top right-hand corner of your interview report or in the request for additional information, for example.

If we have asked you to send us original documents, we recommend that you send them as a registered letter. You can ask your reception centre or your counsel about how to send a registered letter. Alternatively, you can bring the original documents to one of our service points.

Encrypted email

Send your additional documents by email to the address migri@migri.fi using the Securemail service of the Finnish Immigration Service (securemail.migri.fi). The Securemail service will encrypt your message. We cannot open messages that have been encrypted by using other services than the Finnish Immigration Service’s Securemail service.

Read more about how to use the Securemail service.

Postal address

If you choose to send your additional documents by letter, post your letter to the following address: Finnish Immigration Service, PL 10, 00086 Helsinki.

You can bring your documents to a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service

You do not need an appointment or a waiting number for bringing documents. Bring the documents in an envelope, write your customer number on the envelope and leave the envelope in the letter box which is in the service point lobby. Check the opening hours and contact details of service points.

Age assessment

You may be subjected to an age assessment. Age assessment is an important part of establishing an asylum seeker’s identity.

We aim to determine your age primarily on the basis of documents or by interviewing you. The authorities may obtain information about your identity from another EU Member State, for example in the form of documents or an age assessment carried out by another Member State. If you do not have any documents about your identity and the authorities have not received any other information about your identity, your age will be registered according to the age you have stated to the authorities.

If the authorities suspect, on the basis of statements by you, available documentary evidence or other relevant indications, that you have not stated your real age, they may carry out a multi-disciplinary age assessment.

A multi-disciplinary age assessment is a comprehensive assessment in which multiple factors are taken into account. The multi-disciplinary age assessment always contains a psychosocial assessment, and may contain other necessary assessments on a case-by-case basis, for example interviews and an assessment of your physical appearance. The multi-disciplinary age assessment is conducted at the reception centre. The assessment is conducted by reception centre professionals, including at least a social welfare services professional and a healthcare professional.

After a multi-disciplinary age assessment, the Finnish Immigration Service may request a forensic age assessment if the Finnish Immigration Service still has doubts as to your age. The forensic age assessment can be made if written consent has been given by you, your parent or guardian or your other legal representative. If you refuse the assessment without an acceptable reason, you will be treated as an adult. However, refusal alone does not constitute grounds for rejecting an asylum application.

You will receive more information about the age assessment if such an assessment is needed in your case.

If the age assessment reveals that you are 18 or older, we will process your application as an adult’s application.

Waiting for the decision

How long the processing of your application for international protection takes depends on which procedure your application has been referred to. In some cases, the Finnish Immigration Service may prioritise your application. This may be the case if, for example:

  • you have special reception needs and are in need of special procedural guarantees, especially if you are under 18 years old
  • there are reasonable grounds to consider you a danger to a Member State's national security or public order or
  • your application is a subsequent application.

Read more about processing times. 

Because the processing time depends on the personal situation of each applicant, someone who arrived in Finland at the same time as you may receive a decision before you do. This is completely normal. The Finnish Immigration Service will contact you if something is missing from your application.

While your application is being processed, you may usually live in a reception centre or in accommodation you have arranged for yourself (private accommodation).

Stay in Finland during the processing of your application

You cannot leave Finland while your application is being processed. If you do not comply with your obligations, your application may be deemed implicitly withdrawn.