Amendments to requirements for granting international protection
The requirements for granting international protection under the Aliens Act will be specified. The Government submitted its proposal for amending the Act to Parliament today.
According to the proposal, international protection would only be granted to those fulfilling the requirements laid down in EU and international law. Residence permits would no longer be issued on humanitarian grounds.
Thus far, those applying for international protection in Finland may have been granted asylum, or issued with a residence permit on the basis of subsidiary protection or humanitarian protection. In all these three cases, the applicant is granted international protection. However, where the requirements for granting international protection are not met, a residence permit may be issued on compassionate grounds.
The number of residence permits issued on humanitarian grounds has been very small: last year's figure of 119 accounts for approximately seven per cent of all residence permits issued in Finland on the basis of international protection.
The amendment aims to bring our legislation in line with EU law and the relevant legislation in other member states. In future, the concept of international protection would be in compliance with Union legislation and refer to refugee status and subsidiary protection only.
This amendment would not affect any international obligations binding on Finland.
Procedure for serving asylum decisions and collecting processing fees also amended
The procedure for serving decisions on applications for international protection, or 'asylum decisions', will be simplified. Besides the police, the Finnish Immigration Service could directly notify applicants of its decisions other than those to remove a person from the country. In practice, the Finnish Immigration Service would give notification of decisions to applicants who have been granted asylum. This amendment would save the resources of the authorities and speed up the procedure for serving asylum decisions now that their number is growing.
In addition, the collection of processing fees will be enhanced. It is proposed that the authorities would not continue the processing of an application for asylum until the applicant has paid the chargeable processing fee.
The above amendments should come into force without delay.
Inquiries
Ms Elina Immonen, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 488 593, [email protected]
Mr Jorma Vuorio, Director General, tel. +358 295 418 860, [email protected]
Information specified on 4 February 2016: The number of residence permits issued on humanitarian grounds accounts for seven per cent of the residence permits issued on the basis of international protection.