Kyyjärvi to continue under the administration of the Saarijärvi reception centre

More than 50 asylum seekers will continue to live in Kyyjärvi when the reception centre is closed down at the end of November this year. In the spring, the Finnish Immigration Service announced that the reception centre with 70 beds maintained by the Finnish Red Cross will be closed down.

The residents of the municipality reacted strongly to the news and demanded that the decision be reversed as many of the asylum seekers had already started to settle in Kyyjärvi due to the active volunteer work by the locals and the employment opportunities offered by local businesses. The asylum seekers had become a central part of the everyday life of the small municipality.

As the number of asylum seekers has decreased significantly since last autumn, there is great pressure to keep costs as low as possible in the reception field. For this reason, the decision to close down the centre cannot be reversed. The Finnish Immigration Service, the Kyyjärvi municipality and the Finnish Red Cross (FRC) have, however, been able to find a compromise: some of the asylum seekers living in Kyyjärvi may stay and live in the municipality while their asylum applications are being processed.

The more than 50 persons who will stay in Kyyjärvi are made up of families and adults who have a job or other strong ties to Kyyjärvi. They will continue to live in the flats rented from the municipality. In the beginning of December, the flats will be transferred to the management of the Finnish Red Cross’ Saarijärvi reception centre. Kyyjärvi will thus become a secondary branch, consisting of flats, of the Saarijärvi reception centre.

New applicants not be placed in the reception centre, operations to cease during summer

As the asylum seekers staying in Kyyjärvi receive the decisions on their applications, they will no longer be eligible to receive reception services: those who receive a positive decision will move to a municipality and those who receive a negative decision will leave Finland. Those asylum seekers who receive a positive decision on their application can stay in Kyyjärvi or choose another place to live.

As no new asylum seekers will be placed at the reception centre in Kyyjärvi, its operations will naturally wane and end completely no later than by the end of June 2017.

“The attitude towards asylum seekers has been exceptionally positive in Kyyjärvi as the municipality has seen the asylum seekers as an asset. Because of this, we decided to meet them halfway with a similar solution to the one we used on a smaller scale when the Lappajärvi reception centre was closed down in the beginning of autumn,” says Pekka Nuutinen, Head of Section at the Reception Unit of the Finnish Immigration Service.

The Kyyjärvi municipality considers this compromise a positive decision, even if they had hoped that all operations of the reception centre would continue.

“This decision gives the residents of Kyyjärvi the chance to continue their great work. As municipal manager I am pleased with the fact that the Finnish Immigration Service decided to consider the will of the residents of Kyyjärvi. The municipal counsel had already decided to offer 20 municipal places to asylum seekers who have been granted a residence permit. In my opinion, we can offer even more places if need be,” says Eero Ylitalo, municipal manager of Kyyjärvi.

Further information for the media

Pekka Nuutinen, Head of Section, Reception Unit, Finnish Immigration Service, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: forename.surname@migri.fi