Transfer of refugee status to Finland
If you have been granted refugee status in another state, it can be transferred to Finland on certain conditions.
You must first obtain a residence permit in Finland
Before your refugee status can be transferred to Finland, you need to have a residence permit in Finland. As a rule, your refugee status can be transferred to Finland after you have stayed in Finland for two years.
It is possible to transfer your refugee status to Finland only if the state which has granted your refugee status has both signed and ratified the European Agreement on Transfer of Responsibility for Refugees. To check which countries have done that, see the
website of the Council of Europe.
How to request transfer of your refugee status to Finland
This is what you should do:
- Make a written, free-form request to the Finnish Immigration Service in Finland. Explain in your request why you think that Finland should be responsible for your refugee status.
- Attach to your request:
- Your consent for the Finnish Immigration Service to send an enquiry about you to the state which has granted your refugee status. You can find a form for giving your consent on our website: Consent. The consent should be in English because it will be sent to the state which has granted your refugee status, together with the enquiry.
- Your refugee travel document or your national passport and any other documents on your refugee status.
You can send the request by post, fax or email. If you choose to send it by email, use encrypted email:
securemail.migri.fi.
If you choose to send your travel documents and other documents concerning your refugee status by post, send them as a registered letter. You can also bring them to one of the
service points of the Finnish Immigration Service. In that case, you can leave the documents in a closed envelope in a letter box at the service point. Your matter can be handled more quickly if you fill in a
covering note with information about your matter and attach the note to your documents. Include your customer number and the diary number of your matter in your documents.
Transfer of refugee status to another state from Finland
If you have been granted refugee status in Finland but wish to have it transferred to another state, contact the immigration authorities of that state.
More information
