The Finnish Immigration Service unit handling asylum applications is extending its operations to Turku. Operations will begin at the Police Department of Southwest Finland on 13 August 2012. Two persons from the Helsinki main office will work from Turku, one starting immediately and the other later, during the autumn.
The aim has been to concentrate the work of authorities handling asylum applications in the areas where applicants are housed while their applications are processed. After they have arrived in Finland, applicants stay in so-called ‘transit’ reception centres for the duration of the asylum and interview procedure. These transit centres are located in Helsinki, Lappeenranta, Oulu and Turku. Until now the Finnish Immigration Service has operated in all areas except Turku.
Centralised operations mean faster decisions
Extending the Finnish Immigration Service’s activities to Turku will speed up decision-making, since it will enable officials handling asylum applications to cooperate more effectively in the locales in which asylum applicants reside.
The Finnish Immigration Service’s employees in Turku will conduct asylum interviews, with the aim of doing so as early as possible after applicants have arrived in Finland. They will also make proposals for decisions concerning applications, in cases where a decision can be made after the interview and there is no need for further clarification. These include manifestly unfounded applications, in which the applicant does not base the application on persecution or violations of human rights that would justify receiving international protection.
Further information for the media
- Esko Repo, Director of the Asylum Unit, tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
- Antti Lehtinen, Head of Section, Asylum Unit, tel. +35871 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
