Press releases

Nearly a thousand are receiving help from the assistance system for victims of human trafficking

The Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking (NAS) today has more clients than ever before. Out of its 992 clients, 770 are presumed or identified victims of human trafficking and 222 are their minor children.

EUR 50,000 for football at reception centres – top players to coach asylum seekers

Reception centres will soon be applauding for their own players as the Football Association of Finland (FAF), the Football Players’ Association of Finland (FPA) and the Finnish Immigration Service are set to start coaching asylum seekers in football. Top players from the nearby clubs will be acting as coaches.

Finnish Immigration Service improves customer service at service points – thousands of new appointments to be added to the booking system

The Finnish Immigration Service is improving its customer services. During the summer, the Finnish Immigration Service will open thousands of new appointments for its services points and provide more advisory services to customers. The Finnish Immigration Service is currently exploring the options of upgrading its appointment booking system.

Relocations of asylum seekers from the Mediterranean region are soon completed

On Friday 21 May 2021, Finland received a group of underage asylum seekers from Greece, when ten unaccompanied children and adolescents arrived in Finland. Since July 2020, Finland has received 169 asylum seekers, which means that the relocations are almost completed.

The summer season on strawberry farms is approaching – over 10,000 decisions for seasonal workers processed

The processing of the applications of seasonal workers is progressing swiftly. The Finnish berry and vegetable farms and agricultural employers will again be employing thousands of foreign workers this summer.

The standard of decisions on asylum applications has improved

The number of errors in the interpretation of law and procedural faults in decisions on asylum applications was extremely low in the early part of 2021. Monitoring the errors in the interpretation of law and procedural faults is one of the most important indicators used in the quality assessment of decisions on asylum applications.

Work-based first residence permits are approved faster than before – development work continues

The median processing time for work-based residence permits was halved between January and March compared to processing times in 2020. For example, half of the specialists, start-up entrepreneurs and researchers currently receive their first residence permit in two weeks or under.

Monitoring Report: The operations of the reception centres and detention units were active and competent during the year of the coronavirus

The operations of the reception centres and detention units were generally successful in 2020 although the coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on the daily running of the centres. The management of the coronavirus situation at the facilities was also efficient despite the challenges. The Finnish Immigration Service is presenting its evaluation of the operations at the reception centres and detention centres last year in the Monitoring Report published today.

Finnish Immigration Service to reduce reception centre capacity

Renewed Finnish society course for asylum seekers

Finnish Immigration Service's annual report for 2020 has been published

Quota refugee statistics for2020 published – the coronavirus pandemic affected the selection process

Finnish Immigration Service launches a project to streamline the processing of work permits and permits for students

Pauliina Helminen is the new Director of the Permit and Nationality Unit

The number of human trafficking victims in Finland has increased

Statistics on immigration 2020: Most immigrants come to Finland to work, the coronavirus affected the number of applications

A reception centre in Espoo to be closed down, the capacity of a reception centre in Vantaa to be reduced

Residence permit for a specialist now takes an average of two weeks

The Finnish Immigration Service works to improve the quality of interpretation in asylum interviews

Iraqi citizens lead statistics on citizenship applications