The Government aims to improve the status of victims of human trafficking and strengthen their right to services, regardless of the progress of related criminal proceedings in a human trafficking case. The purpose is to loosen the link between assistance to victims and criminal proceedings by amending the Act on the Reception of Persons Applying for International Protection and on the Identification of and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings. This is in line with the Government Programme. The Government submitted a proposal on the amendments to Parliament on 20 October.

The Ministry of the Interior has sent out for comments a draft of a temporary amendment to the Aliens Act that would ensure the validity of residence permits issued in Finland to recipients of temporary protection for as long as the temporary protection is in effect in the EU. With the amendment, first residence permits would be issued directly for the entire period of validity of the temporary protection. Moreover, those who have already received residence permits would not need to apply for an extension separately.

A special act prepared by the Ministry of the Interior would lay down provisions whereby the validity of residence permits issued by Finland on the basis of temporary protection would be extended automatically under the act for the duration of temporary protection in the EU. This would mean that people would not need to apply for extension of their residence permit separately. A residence permit card is issued to indicate a residence permit, and various options for the practical implementation of the card will be assessed during law drafting.