A total of 32,476 asylum seekers arrived in Finland in 2015. The number is considerably higher when compared to previous years. For this reason, asylum seekers may still have to wait for several months until they receive an invitation to the asylum interview.
The Finnish Immigration Service has employed more personnel to process asylum applications, but it will still take some time to clear the backlog.
Asylum seekers who arrived in autumn 2015 to be interviewed in late summer 2016 at the latest
The Finnish Immigration Service intends to finish the processing of all asylum applications submitted last year by early autumn 2016. Many applicants might not receive an invitation to the asylum interview until late this summer.
At the moment, the number of pending asylum applications is slightly over 21,000, including applications by those who have arrived this year. The number of applicants waiting for an invitation to the asylum interview is around 15,000.
Asylum applications are not necessarily processed in the order they were submitted, because decisions on applications considered manifestly unfounded, for example, are made following an accelerated procedure. This is why an applicant who had arrived in Finland in December 2015 may be invited to an asylum interview earlier than one who had come here in October the same year.
Please be patient – you will be contacted by the authorities as soon as it is time to process your application.
The processing time for an asylum application is estimated at the asylum interview.
