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Responsibility determination procedure

This page contains a brief introduction to the responsibility determination procedure laid down in the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR). For more detailed instructions, see the leaflet you receive when you apply for asylum:  What you need to know about the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation.

Responsibility determination procedure means determining which country is responsible for processing your application. Only one country out of the following can be responsible for the processing:

  • another European Union (EU) Member State
  • Norway
  • Iceland
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein.

We use the term ‘EU+ countries’ to refer to the EU Member States and the other countries listed above. Your application will be examined only in the EU+ country that is responsible for processing your application.

You have an obligation to reside in the EU+ country that is responsible for processing your application. If you reside in another EU+ country, you may be transferred to the EU+ country which is responsible for processing your application. 

If you do not comply with your obligations, you do not have the right to all reception conditions in countries other than the country that is responsible for processing your application. If you reside in a country other than the country that is responsible, the country where you reside will only take care of your basic needs.

The Finnish Immigration Service determines the country that is responsible for your application only when you apply for asylum for the first time. If Finland determines that it is responsible for processing your application, your current application and all possible further asylum applications will be examined in Finland.

Personal interview in a responsibility determination matter

When you apply for asylum in Finland for the first time, the Finnish Immigration Service may invite you to a personal interview. At the interview, the Finnish Immigration Service investigates in more detail which country is responsible for processing your application. The purpose of the interview is also to determine whether there are grounds for examining your application in Finland. However, the decision on which country is responsible will not be made at the interview.

For more information about the personal interview, see the leaflet What you need to know about the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation. The leaflet explains in which situations you might not necessarily be invited into a personal interview.

Reasons why a country other than Finland may be responsible for your application

The EU+ country that is responsible for processing your asylum application is one of the following:

1. The country in which you have close family members or family members you are dependent on, or family members who are dependent on the care you provide them.

  • Close family members are: 
    • For adults: Spouse (married spouse, cohabiting partner or registered partner) and unmarried children under the age of 18.
    • For unaccompanied children: Your parents, or another adult who is responsible for you.
  • Tell immediately if you have family members in Europe. If you do not know where your family members are, immediately notify the Finnish Immigration Service if you later find out their whereabouts.
  • Fill in the family tracing form in which you can give further details about the family members who are in another EU+ country. 
    • The Finnish Immigration Service may request you to also present other evidence of your family relations, for example a marriage certificate or an extract from the population register of your home country.

2. The country which has issued you a residence permit or a visa or the country which you had the right to enter without a visa.

3. The first country you have entered from a non-EU+ country.

4. The country in which you have earlier applied for asylum.

5. The country in which you have studied for at least one academic year and obtained a diploma or qualification.

6. The country that deems that there are humanitarian grounds to process your application in the Member State in question based on family, social or cultural considerations, for example.

If an EU+ country other than Finland is responsible for your application

1. The Finnish Immigration Service requests the country in question to take charge of you, or to take you back if you have earlier applied for asylum in that country. 

2. If the other EU+ country agrees to take responsibility for the processing of your application, you will be served with a decision stating the following:
Huomaa, että osa oikeuksistasi perutaan sen jälkeen, kun päätös on tehty. Näitä oikeuksia ovat esimerkiksi monet palvelut ja tukimuodot. Lue lisää esitteestä Mitä on tarpeen tietää turvapaikka-asioiden ja muuttoliikkeen hallinta-asetuksesta.  

  • Your asylum application will not be processed in Finland.
  • You will be transferred to the country that is responsible for processing your application. The Finnish authorities will deny you admittance and stay and arrange your transfer to the country that is responsible for your application.

Note that some of your rights are withdrawn once the decision has been issued. These rights include, for instance, many services and forms of support. Read more in the leaflet What you need to know about the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation. 

3. You will be transferred to the EU+ country in question within 6 months of when that country accepts its responsibility. If you have appealed against the decision to a court of law and the court has prohibited the enforcement of the decision, you cannot be transferred while the prohibition of enforcement is valid. If the court rejects the appeal or overturns the prohibition of enforcement, the 6-month time limit for the transfer will start over.
 

If your family member has applied for asylum in another EU+ country

The country in which your family member has first applied for asylum finds out which country is responsible for processing his or her application. If the country deems that Finland is responsible for the application, they may request Finland to take charge of your family member. 

Your family member will not be issued with a residence permit automatically. His or her asylum application will be processed and decided in Finland. The Finnish Immigration Service does not have influence over whether the other country initiates a responsibility determination procedure.

If your family member applies for a residence permit for Finland, this will not affect the responsibility determination procedure.

Eurodac fingerprint database

The Eurodac fingerprint database speeds up the process of determining the country that is responsible for processing an asylum application. As of 12 June 2026, the fingerprints, photograph and personal details of all persons over the age of 6 who have made an asylum application are saved in the database. When a person applies for asylum in an EU+ country, this will be shown in the Eurodac database.

Read more in the leaflet What you need to know about Eurodac.