Crimes will not speed up your return home but will delay it

If you have sought asylum in Finland but want to return to your home country, you can either arrange your return journey yourself or apply for assisted voluntary return. It may take some time to arrange a return journey, so please have patience. The quickest way to return home is to arrange the journey yourself.

Remember that committing a crime will not speed up your return home but will delay it. If you commit a crime in Finland, you must serve the sentence in Finland before you can return to your home country.

You can arrange the return journey yourself

You can arrange your return journey yourself if you have enough money to buy the travel tickets. Your reception centre cannot give you any money or assist you with buying the tickets or with obtaining a passport.

If you have a valid passport:

1. Cancel your asylum application:

• You can cancel your application before you leave the country at a police station or at the Helsinki Office of the Finnish Immigration Service.
• You can cancel your application also at the border control at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Make sure to allow enough time for the border control!

2. Buy a travel ticket.
3. Tell the reception centre where you live that you are leaving.

If an authority has your passport:

1. Cancel your asylum application at a police station or at the Helsinki Office of the Finnish Immigration Service. At the same time, ask them to send your passport to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. It takes at least 8 weekdays for the passport to arrive at the airport. You will get your passport at the border control when you leave the country.
2. Buy a travel ticket.
3. Tell the reception centre where you live that you are leaving.

If you do not have a passport:

1. If you do not have a passport, you must get a temporary travel document for your home journey from the embassy of your home country. Please note that if you travel to Helsinki to get your temporary travel document or passport, your reception centre cannot arrange your journey or your accommodation in Helsinki. Instead, you must take care of these arrangements by yourself in advance. It is a good idea to contact the embassy before you travel to Helsinki.
2. Cancel your asylum application:

• You can cancel your application before you leave the country at a police station or at the Helsinki Office of the Finnish Immigration Service.
• You can cancel your application also at the border control at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Make sure to allow enough time for the border control!

3. Buy a travel ticket.
4. Tell the reception centre where you live that you are leaving.

If necessary, you can apply for assisted voluntary return

If you cannot pay for your return journey, you may get assistance for voluntary return. In this case, it takes several weeks at the very least to arrange the journey.

Follow these instructions:

• Apply for assisted voluntary return at your reception centre. Ask the personnel at the reception centre for more information. Instructions can also be found at www.migri.fi/return.
• Cancel your asylum application in person at a police station or at the Helsinki Office of the Finnish Immigration Service. You cannot get assistance if your asylum application is still pending.
• If you are granted assistance for voluntary return, you can get assistance with your travel arrangements and with obtaining a passport and receive travel tickets to your home country. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) takes care of the arrangements.
• The arrangements can be made quicker if you have a valid passport.

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