Researchers from the Finnish Immigration Service’s Country Information Service visited Kabul, Afghanistan, on a fact-finding mission. During the mission, the general conditions in the city were investigated, especially regarding Afghan citizens returning or being returned from Europe.
The Finnish Immigration Service made several monitoring visits to reception centres last year. According to the 2018 monitoring report, the deficiencies detected on the visits were usually minor and the reception centres mainly operated in an appropriate manner.
Measures taken by authorities against Jehovah’s Witnesses are reported to have continued in Russia in 2019, reveals a recent country information report published by the Finnish Immigration Service. The measures include house searches conducted in the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses and arrests around the country.
Researchers of the Finnish Immigration Service’s Country Information Service visited Baghdad, Iraq, on a fact-finding mission.
A year ago, Business Finland and the Finnish Immigration Service established a new application process for start-up entrepreneurs coming to Finland from outside the European Union. During the first year of operation, Business Finland received more than a hundred requests for an eligibility statement. A positive statement was given on 34 of them, and the Finnish Immigration Service has granted 23 Finnish Startup Permits.
The application period for the post of Director of the Asylum Unit of the Finnish Immigration Service ended on Wednesday 20 March 2019. A total of eight applicants had applied for the post by the application deadline.
The costs of receiving asylum seekers continued to decrease in the year under review. The costs of reception amounted to about EUR 189 million in 2018, compared to EUR 282 million in 2017.
Sexual abuse, forced criminal activity and forced marriages. These are forms of human trafficking encountered by children and young persons currently in Finland, according to a report on human trafficking in children and young persons in Finland prepared by the National Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking and the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), to be published on 21 March 2019. The report is based on a questionnaire circulated among experts working with children and young persons, on expert interviews and on official statistics.
