Press releases

Highlighting the skills of asylum seekers and increasing activity at reception centres

The reception centre conducts a skills assessment with new asylum seekers, in which information about the asylum seeker’s previous work experience, education and interests is collected. In addition, the skills assessment documents the skills acquired after arriving at Finland, such as progress in Finnish or Swedish language studies.

New videos give advice to residence permit clients

How to apply for a residence permit? Where to find help with choosing the right application? What is Enter Finland? The series of ten videos published today shows immigrants how to apply for a residence permit.

New videos describe asylum process to asylum seekers

Today, a new series of videos has been published about the various stages of the asylum process. The videos are part of the general legal counselling provided to asylum seekers. The counselling refers to providing general information about the asylum process and assisting with access to legal aid, which are relevant to the duties of reception centres.

Immigration statistics 2019: A record-high number of employees applied for a residence permit

Last year, work replaced family as the most common basis for applying for the first residence permit. A total of 12,687 residence permit applications were submitted on the basis of work in 2019 (2018: 10,805).

A record-high number of victims of human trafficking in Finland entered in the assistance system for victims of human trafficking

A record-high number of new customers were entered in the assistance system for victims of human trafficking in 2019. Of the 229 new customers, 70 were estimated to have become victims of exploitation indicative of human trafficking in Finland. The number is much higher than in the previous years.

Survey: Asylum seekers are more satisfied with reception centres than a year ago

Asylum seekers are more satisfied with reception centres than before. This is revealed by client feedback collected by the Finnish Immigration Service. The survey is part of the monitoring activities of the reception system and provided an opportunity to obtain feedback from reception centre clients.

Reports on the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen published

The Finnish Immigration Service has published reports on the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.

Backlog of applications for residence permits by specialists cleared

The backlog of applications for residence permits by specialists has been cleared. In October-November, 851 decisions were issued for specialists. Decisions are expected for fewer than 90 first applications for residence permits by specialists and fewer than 60 permit extension applications by specialists.

Reception centre operations in Rauma to end

Reception centre operations in Paihola to end

Finnish Immigration Service to review approximately 500 asylum decisions

Reintegration of voluntary returnees to Iraq from Finland has succeeded to a fair extent

Finnish Immigration Service to pursue a considerable reduction of processing times

Finnish Immigration Service to begin cooperation negotiations with staff about temporary lay-offs

First report published from fact-finding mission to Afghanistan: focus on overall situation in Kabul

Open lecture series on return migration and mobility – Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq

The programme for monitoring the reception system has been updated

Finnish Immigration Service is developing its country information reports – reports on Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan will no longer be published in every six months

More support for asylum-seeker families and children in reception centres

Forced begging and forced marriages also uncovered in Finland