Increase in number of asylums granted during the first months of the year

A total of 1,213 asylum applications were processed between January and April 2012. Thirty-seven per cent of the applicants (450 individuals) were granted asylum or a residence permit for one reason or another. The percentage of applicants admitted during the corresponding period in 2011 was 38 (503 individuals).

Asylum was granted to more applicants than in previous years. A total of 125 individuals were granted asylum in Finland between January and April, representing 10 per cent of all processed applications. Asylum was granted to five per cent of applicants during the corresponding period in 2011 and to between two and three per cent in earlier years.

Changes in applicants and decision-making practice

One of the reasons for the increase in the number of asylums granted was the considerable increase of asylum applications received from Syrian citizens. The number of applications submitted by Syrian citizens has been on the increase since the summer of 2011.

The number of asylums granted has also increased as a result of a ruling delivered by the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland at the beginning of 2012, which set a precedent for evaluating the need for international protection in the case of asylum seekers belonging to sexual minorities. The Finnish Immigration Service has revised its decision-making practice following the ruling, and an increasing number of sexual minority applicants have been granted asylum in recent months.

Applicants who do not qualify for refugee status may be granted a residence permit on the basis of subsidiary protection, which is the second strongest form of international protection. The number of positive decisions given on this basis dropped by nine percentage points compared to the early months of 2011.

One likely reason for the drop in residence permits granted on the basis of subsidiary protection is the practice adopted at the beginning of 2011, whereby all applicants from certain provinces of Iraq were automatically granted at least subsidiary protection. This resulted in a momentary peak in the number of subsidiary protection statuses granted at the beginning of 2011. In addition to first-time applicants, the Finnish Immigration Service dealt with Iraqi citizens whose applications were returned by courts to be reprocessed according to the new practice during the first half of 2011. A total of 170 Iraqi citizens were granted a residence permit on the basis of subsidiary protection between January and April 2011, when the figure was 77 this year.

Almost half of all applicants refused

A total of 48 per cent of all applications processed during the first four months of 2012 were refused (582 individuals). Thirty-five per cent of the refused applicants were refused on the basis of the so-called Dublin Regulation, whereby Finland was deemed not to be responsible for processing their applications. The regulation stipulates that if an asylum seeker has previously sought asylum in another country participating in the Dublin system, the country concerned is responsible for readmitting the asylum seeker in question and for processing his/her application.

Number of applicants down on previous years

A total of 795 individuals sought asylum in Finland between January and April this year, which was 14 per cent less than during the corresponding period in 2011 (924 in 2011). Compared to January–April 2010, the number of applicants has dropped by 47 per cent (1,505 in 2010).

A total of 37 unaccompanied minors sought asylum in Finland between January and April 2012. This figure represents a drop of 24 per cent on the corresponding period in 2011, when unaccompanied minors numbered 51.

The most asylum applications between January and April 2012 were submitted by Iraqis (176), Russians (66), Syrians (53), Somalis (48) and Afghans (47). The largest groups of applicants during the first months of 2012 were mainly the same as in previous years, although the order of the countries has partly changed.

The most notable change was the increase in the number of applications received from Syrian and Serbian citizens. The number of asylum applications received from citizens of Somalia, on the other hand, was considerably lower than in previous years. Forty-eight Somali citizens sought asylum in Finland between January and April 2012, whereas the number was 120 during the corresponding period in 2011.

More detailed statistics available online

More detailed statistics on asylum applications processed between January and April 2012 can be found in Finnish on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service at www.migri.fi > Tilastot > Turvapaikka- ja pakolaistilastot.

Further information for the media

Juha Similä, Director, Asylum Unit, tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

Riitta Koskela, Head of Section, Asylum Unit tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi